my eyeballs are being weird!
January 8, 2023 5:17 PM Subscribe
Do reading glasses ever help with distance vision too? Are my eyeballs broken?
I went to the eye doctor in november and got a full eye exam. the doc said my rx hadn't changed (-6.5 in both eyes, I KNOWWW) however he recommended a new brand of contacts that were more comfortable. (i wear the kind you throw away every day, and i wear them all day long.) He also said that i was sort of on the cusp of needing reading glasses but wasn't there yet. BUT THEN! i feel like my close-up vision deteriorated overnight. (perhaps it has something to do with the new kind of contacts? they have the same rx as my old ones though.) when i visited my folks at xmas, i tried my dad's reading glasses (+1.5) and they not only fixed my close-up vision, but also seemed to help my distance vision? What? I went to the drugstore and got a pair of reading glasses and they do very much help with the close up stuff, but they also help with distance vision? I will go back to the eye doctor when I can, but it's expensive, and I'm wondering if this is something to worry about, or common, or...what? (i'm 45, F, otherwise healthy, and USA if that matters.)
I went to the eye doctor in november and got a full eye exam. the doc said my rx hadn't changed (-6.5 in both eyes, I KNOWWW) however he recommended a new brand of contacts that were more comfortable. (i wear the kind you throw away every day, and i wear them all day long.) He also said that i was sort of on the cusp of needing reading glasses but wasn't there yet. BUT THEN! i feel like my close-up vision deteriorated overnight. (perhaps it has something to do with the new kind of contacts? they have the same rx as my old ones though.) when i visited my folks at xmas, i tried my dad's reading glasses (+1.5) and they not only fixed my close-up vision, but also seemed to help my distance vision? What? I went to the drugstore and got a pair of reading glasses and they do very much help with the close up stuff, but they also help with distance vision? I will go back to the eye doctor when I can, but it's expensive, and I'm wondering if this is something to worry about, or common, or...what? (i'm 45, F, otherwise healthy, and USA if that matters.)
When I started correcting for close-up vision, I noticed my ''middle field" vision improved. I realized this because I had a chatty relationship with my optometrist and commented to her while I was trying diffèrent contacts that I had felt a general improvement in vision but I couldn't explain how exactly. She said that the in between fields, which to me were things like being able to see my car radio or details on TV, improved by correcting close- up vision. There wasn't anything I hadn't been able to see to a functional degree, but things started looker "richer". Does that fit for you at all?
posted by Tandem Affinity at 5:31 PM on January 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Tandem Affinity at 5:31 PM on January 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: the doc said my rx hadn't changed (-6.5 in both eyes, I KNOWWW) however he recommended a new brand of contacts that were more comfortable. (i wear the kind you throw away every day, and i wear them all day long.) He also said that i was sort of on the cusp of needing reading glasses but wasn't there yet. BUT THEN! i feel like my close-up vision deteriorated overnight. (perhaps it has something to do with the new kind of contacts? they have the same rx as my old ones though.) when i visited my folks at xmas, i tried my dad's reading glasses (+1.5) and they not only fixed my close-up vision, but also seemed to help my distance vision? What?
In very nearsighted people, myopia often gets less severe over time. Mine peaked around -10 in each eye in my mid 30s and got a little better from there.
I think your original less comfortable contacts were artificially stabilizing your correction by forcing your corneas to conform to them, but your new contacts allow your corneas to relax to a more natural conformation, and that new conformation reflects a decline in your correction that developed over time, but didn’t show up because your old contacts were molding your corneas.
And the old contacts aren’t out of your eyes long enough before the eye exam for your corneas to relax into their natural shape, but a day or so with your new contacts is long enough, and suddenly the new contacts are over-correcting.
Then when you put on reading glasses, that’s equivalent to reducing your correction, as metahawk points out, and you see better because that reduces or eliminates the over-correction.
So I would say you need a new exam and a pair of the new more comfortable contacts that aren’t as strong.
posted by jamjam at 6:32 PM on January 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
In very nearsighted people, myopia often gets less severe over time. Mine peaked around -10 in each eye in my mid 30s and got a little better from there.
I think your original less comfortable contacts were artificially stabilizing your correction by forcing your corneas to conform to them, but your new contacts allow your corneas to relax to a more natural conformation, and that new conformation reflects a decline in your correction that developed over time, but didn’t show up because your old contacts were molding your corneas.
And the old contacts aren’t out of your eyes long enough before the eye exam for your corneas to relax into their natural shape, but a day or so with your new contacts is long enough, and suddenly the new contacts are over-correcting.
Then when you put on reading glasses, that’s equivalent to reducing your correction, as metahawk points out, and you see better because that reduces or eliminates the over-correction.
So I would say you need a new exam and a pair of the new more comfortable contacts that aren’t as strong.
posted by jamjam at 6:32 PM on January 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: jamjam this makes sense. i really wish i hadn't bought a year's supply of the new contacts. jfc. wow! thank you everyone. i was worried i had a brain tumor or something.
posted by capnsue at 6:42 PM on January 8, 2023
posted by capnsue at 6:42 PM on January 8, 2023
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posted by metahawk at 5:26 PM on January 8, 2023 [1 favorite]