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Original poster

Does everyone have to “engage” their eyes to focus their eyes?

36 replies

SinkGirl · 25/02/2019 18:02

I posted the other day about blurred vision in low light, I have an eye test on Wednesday which is the soonest one I can find as I’m a bit freaked out. The other night I was in a fairly dark room and couldn’t read the text on my phone at all.

I was talking to DH about how in natural light I can read most things but realised I’m slightly straining to focus and if I close my eyes and open them normally so my eyes just feel “natural”, things are blurry.

He reckons that happens to everyone if they “relax” their eyes - things go out of focus.

It feels to me like I have to “engage” my eye muscles for things to be in focus - I’m not sure if that makes sense. If I’ve been doing this engaging / relaxing thing repeatedly like I just have been trying to figure out what’s going on, it’s then much harder to focus on anything.

Is this just how eyes work?! I realise this seems a stupid question but I’m just really used to it being like this and I’m not sure if it’s like that for everyone!

OP posts:

JaneJeffer · 25/02/2019 18:05

Do you have an astigmatism?

averystrangeweek · 25/02/2019 18:07

Mine are a bit like that too, I never used to notice that I was actively 'focusing' when I looked at something, it seemed to happen automatically and I never gave it a second thought. Now I have to make a concious effort. And I still need glasses.

Hot4Holes · 25/02/2019 18:08

Sometimes, if I’ve been staring absently it can take a minute to focus. It’s not like you describe in low light etc though.

I did have issues focusing when outside a while back but it turned out I was short sighted and needed glasses!

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Surfskatefamily · 25/02/2019 19:00

Totally normal. Eyes need to be looking at something to focus, only takes microseconds.
The blurry vision in low light yes get an eye test but dont panic. Eyes change over time. Iv got astigmatism in one eye that appeared late 20s. Not terrible...not going blind. Just might need glasses to read in a decade or so

Original poster

SinkGirl · 25/02/2019 19:11

As far as I know I don’t have astigmatism, it’s never been mentioned in previous eye tests. I’ve been very mildly longsighted since I was a child but nothing like the problems I’m having now. The other night I literally couldn’t focus on the text no matter how much I strained - I couldn’t read what I was typing. I haven’t been for an eye test since I was pregnant in 2016.

I’m more concerned as I’ve had neuropathy in my legs and hands for a while, GP wanted me to wait another month or so before seeing if I needed to see a neurologist - so it’s just making me a bit worried about whether it’s related.

It’s really hard to explain what I mean and I’m not sure I’m explaining it very well. If I look at my phone right now everything is clear, but if I keep looking at it and slightly relax my eyes to the point where I don’t feel any tension and they feel “normal”, it’s blurry (unless I’m in low light and then it’s blurry whatever I do). It feels like I have to tense my eyes to keep things in focus, but maybe that’s what everyone does? It’s so hard to imagine what other people see and hard to describe the subconscious things you do, it’s like explaining how you breathe!

OP posts:

JaneJeffer · 26/02/2019 00:05

I think you're just doing that thing that you had to do when you wanted to see a 3-D picture back in the 90's'

Gibble1 · 26/02/2019 00:14

I went for an eye test a couple of years ago as I was really struggling to see the monitors at work at times and was getting headaches all the time. My eye test was absolutely fine. With further thinking, the monitors I was struggling with was reading red lines againsta a black screen which was in front of a window in daylight. The change for me had been moving to days from nights (so sunlight through windows instead of black night sky) and more arterial line monitoring in a different job and art lines show red on the screen- I was quite used to the blue, white and green waves on screen but did (and still do) find it harder to pick out the red against the black unless I consciously focus.

Smidge001 · 26/02/2019 00:14

jane I was about to say that too!
I think you're just relaxing your eyes and therefore not making the focal point where the text is. Just focus them! Yes, it requires eye muscles to be engaged . It's why eyes get tired and I love going to bed

Crunched · 26/02/2019 00:19

Have you gone the peripheral vision test at the opticians?

EBearhug · 26/02/2019 00:33

I sometimes have to consciously focus when I'm tired, but I do have an astigmatism and different prescriptions in each eye. It's more noticeable now I'm in my 40s, which is probably age and the eyes losing elasticity. If you're that sort of age, it could partly be presbyopia.

Agree with the 3D picture thing, too.

ColeHawlins · 26/02/2019 01:01

Do you mean that you're squinting to focus or that it's taking effort to keep your eyes working together?

First could be caused by a change in your prescription, second possibly a degree of strabismus. Which, in turn, if you had it, might be linked to the neuropathies or might not.

Don't panic. It's unlikely to be anything too worrying.

(To check for possible strabismus, get your OH to try the pencil-following test on you.)

Original poster

SinkGirl · 26/02/2019 08:52

With magic eye you’re moving your focus so that you’re focussing on something far away while looking at it close up. Weirdly I can’t do magic eye pictures!

I did some reading last night and apparently some people can voluntarily relax and tense the muscles that operate focus and other people can’t. But I also read that you shouldn’t feel tension in your eyes when focussing, so maybe the fact I can voluntarily engage those muscles means I am straining them to focus. I don’t know, I couldn’t find much info.,

OP posts:

Original poster

SinkGirl · 26/02/2019 08:58

I’m not perceptibly squinting - it’s like I’m constantly tensing those muscles to keep things in focus and when I consciously stop and relax my eyes so they feel normal, things are blurry.

One eye is much worse than the other and I’m struggling to get it to focus at all.

When I was reading up last night I found there are other muscles that some people can tense at will and others can’t - there’s one in the ear that I’ve always been able to, makes a rumbling sound. Some people can do it by closing their eyes really tightly but I can do it without moving my eyes at all. A very useless skill to have 😂

OP posts:

lololove · 26/02/2019 09:45

I have astigmatism and I'm long sighted in one and short sighted in the other. I have to find a middle ground which to my eyes credit doesn't take that long but it does visibly happen to me if you get me.

Sometimes when my eyes are tired it's easier to stare off middle distance and let them go out of focus rather than concentrate. Does that sound familiar to you? Could be similar perhaps?

Original poster

SinkGirl · 26/02/2019 10:16

It’s so hard to describe something that you do automatically isn’t it?! Maybe it is something like that. I just no that by very slightly relaxing or tensing some random muscle my vision goes in and out of focus and I’m not sure which is the natural state (eg whether I’m compensating by tensing those muscles or if that’s what everyone does to focus).

OP posts:

Original poster

SinkGirl · 27/02/2019 11:57

Just in case anyone ever comes across this one day and it’s useful, I had my eye test this morning. What I’m experiencing isn’t normal - she described it as latent hyperopia, essentially I am significantly long sighted but have been able to force my eyes to compensate for that so they’re constantly having to work hard to focus everything.

My prescription is much worse than it was (+3.5 and + 3.0) but they are only giving me glasses that are half that initially as my eyes will still want to compensate. As time goes on, it will get worse as my lens can’t flex as much. My eye test today was quite a shock, I hadn’t realised how much I was compensating literally all the time - my vision is absolutely bloody awful when I don’t!

OP posts:

JaneJeffer · 27/02/2019 12:04

I'm glad you got an answer. Reminds me of this

Its amazing what your eyes can do to compensate. I've got cataracts and the good eye takes over!

Mari50 · 27/02/2019 13:27

How old are you OP?

Original poster

SinkGirl · 27/02/2019 17:08

I’m 36, so not generally old enough to have such an obvious deterioration in my vision but she said to me it hasn’t really deteriorated, I’m just not compensating as well now so it seems dramatically worse.

OP posts:

Grace212 · 27/02/2019 17:12

OP how do you know if your eyes are compensating?

I was quite surprised by the last eye test - convinced I would be told I need glasses but no. I do have astigmatism in one eye though.

Mari50 · 27/02/2019 18:05

To be fair SinkGirl with an underlying prescription of +3ds it’s not surprising that you were having difficulties and it’s not unusual to have near issues if you haven’t been wearing glasses to correct your underlying hyperopia. The amount your eyes were having to work was probably the absolute max of your ability at your age. Your distance vision probably isn’t suffering at the moment but it will. As you continue to lose the ability to focus your eyes (accommodate) you will notice a deterioration in both distance vision and near vision- without glasses. And you’ll find you rely on your glasses more and more. You may even discover you’re more than +3ds. As soon as I read your post though I thought you would be around the age you were and hyperopic. It’s not unusual at all.
Presbyopia (the loss of ability to accommodate/focus) sucks. I say that as someone experiencing it just now. And it sucks twice as much when you’re long sighted- me too!! Sorry. But good there’s nowt else going on.

Original poster

SinkGirl · 27/02/2019 18:23

Yes, I’m really relieved - Friday night I completely lost the ability to read text on my phone and it scared me to death! I’ve had neuropathy in my limbs for 18 months so was worried it was related but everything looks normal.

She’s starting me off with glasses that are half that strength and they’ll need to be increased over time

OP posts:

Original poster

SinkGirl · 27/02/2019 18:25

@grace212 for ages now I’ve noticed that I’m constantly slightly tensing my eyes and when I relax them so they don’t feel tense any more my close and far vision is bloody awful. Occasionally my eyesight will just go and I can’t focus at all, I guess that’s the muscles giving out?

OP posts:

Grace212 · 27/02/2019 18:42

OP that sounds hard work.....

I'm not really having that, just a sense that things aren't as clear as they should be when I'm not concentrating, if that makes sense.

katseyes7 · 27/02/2019 18:52

Yes! l got my new reading glasses two weeks ago. And as usual, l've tried them for a week, and one eye is just 'fuzz'. This happens every time. l have one eye long sighted, one short sighted, and astigmatism in both. l've been reading with one eye 'squinted' half shut to try and focus. During the eye test my optometrist even got his supervisor to re-check, and she said she didn't want to take it "too far."
So l went back on Saturday, was re-tested and they've changed the prescription of the 'fuzzy' lens to a massive degree.
The issue seems to be that when they do my initial eye test, they don't want to "take it too far up" but as a result it's never enough! So this time l think they're going the other way and hoping that'll work.
This has happened every time l've had new glasses for the past 10 years. Each time it's taken three attempts to get the prescription right. So fingers crossed!

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