You are not my optometrist.

January 23, 2016 5:10 AM

I am moderately nearsighted and currently wear glasses with a prescription of roughly -3 in each eye. I take my glasses off to read, and always have. This is not because writing appears blurry with my glasses on, but because reading with my glasses on causes my eyes to strain, or feels like it does, and it has always just felt more comfortable to take them off. Does this make me a bad candidate for contacts or corrective surgery? Do I just need to get used to reading with my vision corrected? Is this something bifocals/bifocal contacts can address?
posted by eugenen to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

My mom's read with her glasses off for years.

If it works for you, I'm sure it's fine.
posted by jb at 5:46 AM on January 23, 2016

I think that taking glasses off is fine.

If you start having trouble reading close up, progressive lenses allow you to correct your distance vision and your close up vision at the same time. I've been wearing them for years (partly to correct astigmatism) and haven't had any problems. They aren't cheap, though.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 6:08 AM on January 23, 2016

As the folks above say, if it works for you it's fine. But yeah, this is something bifocals could address: the upper half would have your current prescription for the nearsightedness, the bottom a different prescription (or even no prescription) for reading.

Heck, that's pretty much a definition of the glasses I'm wearing right now....
posted by easily confused at 6:28 AM on January 23, 2016

I wear contacts but my vision is horrible (like -9). My eye doctor told me that I should buy some of those cheap-o reading glasses from Walgreens or wherever to wear when I'm reading to reduce the strain on my eyes. So I think you could definitely get contacts, and then just counteract the effect of the contacts with a +1 reader or something.
posted by jabes at 8:20 AM on January 23, 2016

Best answer: Bifocal contacts are definitely a thing. Lasik surgery can also help, if that's the direction you want to go. It's called "monovision", meaning that one eye is corrected for distance and the other for reading (and other close-in work). This can also be done with contacts. So just because you wear glasses for distance and find them uncomfortable for reading, you still have several options available for contact lenses and corrective surgery. Your doctor (or optometrist) should be able to explain your options and how each would work for you.
posted by DrGail at 8:31 AM on January 23, 2016

My dislike of glasses (eye-strain, refocusing delays, etc) lead me to try contacts, and then Lasik. I found that contacts worked better for me than glassess, and that Lasik worked best of all.

Fifteen years later, as my optometrist was fitting me for my first pair of post-lasik glasses, I mentioned this difficulty, and she was able to correct for it. My glasses are now perfect.

She explained that one of my eyes corrects better than the other, and optometrists usually correct each eye to the best vision possible. In my case, she corrected to my worst eye, so that my vision was the same, reducing the eye-strain and refocusing time-frame. For the first time in my life, I loved my glasses.

Unfortunately, my next optometrist was dismissive of this, and said that "of course, she balances the eyes", and my new pair of glasses suck. They are technically correct, but once again, I'm taking them off to read and reduce strain.

So, imo it's more about the prescription than the type of vision correction, but that said, Lasik was the most comfortable option for me, regardless of how my eyes were corrected.
posted by bindr at 8:36 AM on January 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm also nearsighted and I also take off my glasses to read, for the same reason. However, way back when I wore contacts (10+ years ago), I don't recall experiencing the same eyestrain that I do when reading with my glasses on now. So my advice would be to just try out contacts and see if they give you the same problem, if contacts are something you're interested in.

bindr, thanks for that info! My eyes are very different (about -3 for one, over -6 for the other) and I've never even asked my eye doctors (I've been to a few over the years) how they balance them. Some glasses I've worn have been more comfortable eyestrain-wise than others, and it's possible my contacts were better for reading for the reason you mention. Next time I'm up for a new scrip, I'll be doing some more research and having a discussion with the doc.
posted by MoTLD at 1:45 PM on January 23, 2016

Contacts don't bother me as much for reading as glasses do, but you also probably need to hold your reading material further away from your eyes (and then keep reminding yourself, since you'll naturally hold it closer), push your chair back from your desk a bit, etc.
posted by anaelith at 6:45 PM on January 23, 2016