Can you ever reach a point where prescription glasses won’t improve your sight?

[Goldistheanswer]

I collected some glasses from Vision Express two months ago and when I went back for a follow up, I explained that I didn’t feel that they gave me much clearer long distance sight. They said that they wouldn’t be ever able to improve on what I had in terms of prescription! I thought, perhaps naively, that opticians can prescribe/fix most vision problems and I still cannot understand why I’m now facing the rest of my life coping with blurred vision. ☹️

Hmm that’s an interesting question, I’m really short sighted too so you’ve created a worry for me that I didn’t have before.

I am very short sighted and my glasses don’t correct my vision to 20/20 if that’s what you mean. But I think a prescription will always make a difference unless you are actually losing your sight, ie seeing blackness not blurriness...

I have a “complex prescription”. Means double figures (negative as I’m short sighted.) I have asked this. The answer - apparently - is no. They can keep going further and further. The only issue (and it is one I already have) is the weight of the glasses. Even with super super thinner than thin lenses my glasses are heavy and do leave slight dents in my head.

Contact lenses are slightly different. There is a limit to what they can do. Until recently I was playing chase with the science - where my prescription was deteriorating but as it was the amount available was improving at roughly the same rate. I was down to one type of lens and apparently had about two years spare. However, there has recently been a bit of a breakthrough and they are now much further on (and although there is still a limit they don’t think I’ll hit it in my lifetime).

Wow that is worrying. What is your prescriptions? I'm at -10.5 (+ quite bad astigmatism) now. It keeps worsening and I'm only early thirties - concerned I'll end up half of my life barely able to see!

I'm not an optician but that doesn't sound right, OP. What's your prescription, are you very shortsighted?

DC2 has a genetic condition and glasses only ever improve their vision for their astigmatism. (We only discovered that very late on.) But, it has always been that way - we just didn't know.
So, you need to ask the reasoning behind that statement I think.

My prescription isn’t that strong but I do need to wear varifocals all the time. It’s just that I had always thought that glasses would always fix my vision at least to a decent point but now I’m really worried that my vision may become so bad that I couldn’t drive. I’m only 50! I don’t know whether the opticians just explain it badly or whether I’m not grasping what is causing it to be like this for me.

@ISeeTheLight

Wow that is worrying. What is your prescriptions? I'm at -10.5 (+ quite bad astigmatism) now. It keeps worsening and I'm only early thirties - concerned I'll end up half of my life barely able to see!

Mine are similar to yours - including the astigmatism. (Apparently when you have a prescription like ours there will pretty much always be an astigmatism as everything is screwed by then.)

I'm really short sighted like the PP but haven't come across this yet. What is your prescription @Goldistheanswer

Yes, they can't get my glasses right for reading small print. I've been to two different opticians four times and they have totally failed to get it so I can read the small print on medicine bottles and food instructions unless I take my glasses off. I can't be bothered to waste my time any more so I just take them off. It's a pain as I need them for the computer but not for reading books or anything close up.

This seems really odd to me. I'd go back another day and ask for more details: and if need be try somewhere else next time. I hope they're not giving you headaches.

I’d go to a different optician. It is a skill not a science.

Have had bad experiences with an optician who prescribed glasses and lenses which left me unable to see clearly and after several return visits I was in despair like you describe. Went to different one who tweaked the balance between distance yet not too strong just right, and the difference was amazing. Suggest you look for a small firm with an experienced optometrist, not a big chain

I'm around -7.50 and wear varifocals. I'm in my mid-50s. My distance vision is perfect and my prescription for distance hasn't changed much in 30 years, it's just my near vision that has in the last ten years, hence the varifocals.

I'd be getting a second opinion, OP, as your prescription might not be quite right. I'd go to an independent optician rather than a chain, they are in my experience better at making sure you are happy and putting things right if they go wrong.

Thanks everyone. I think I will book with a small, independent opticians for a sight check up and find out what they advise.

I am an optician. This is quite a common misconception, that glasses can just be made ‘stronger’ and that it will improve sight.
There are various reasons why it might not be possible to make your vision as clear as you would like it. Assuming that the prescription is correct, as we get older there are changes within the eye that glasses cannot overcome. The main one is cataracts - in which the lens in the eye gets progressively more cloudy over time - everybody will develop cataracts to some extent - the signs are visible I would say from your 30s onwards. Obviously not everyone is bothered by the gradual changes to their vision caused by this, but the glasses cannot sharpen up any loss of clarity caused by cataracts.
There are also other eye conditions which can affect the clarity of your vision.
Maybe go to another optician, ask around for recommendations. Hopefully they will be able to re-test you and explain what your specific issues are.

Wearing a lens in front of your eyes ( glasses or contacts) can help correct anything that is impacted by the natural shape of your lens, but it can't correct for corneal opacity or retinal dysfunction.
Plus as we age the lens loses its ability to change shape do the glasses will bee we'd working with less than optimal eyes, usually .

@lonesomeBiscuit I would actually say it is a skill AND a science, the study of optics is a huge part of the degree

My varifocals don't give me great vision tbh and I am younger than you. The dispensing optician did go to some effort to explain why but I was slightly zoned out as she had just told me the cost
If it bothers you I would try another optometrist. Some even do a money back guarantee if you're not happy with the lenses.
Did you know you are also seeing colours less acutely as you get older? Aging sucks in every way!

I have worked in all the high street chain opticians as a dispenser. There does get a point where you can’t make distance any clearer because it just is beyond what humans can see, not that the prescriptions can’t be made stronger.
My prescription is -10 and I thought that was high until I served a woman who’s prescription was -26! She wore gas permeable contact lenses most of the time but her vision was corrected completely.

Optometrist here and @alocasia is correct. There can be reasons that your sight cannot be made better. I would speak to your optometrist for further explanation.
Oh and optometry is a skill but most definitely a science too!

It was a shock to me when my extreme short sightedness couldn't be fixed by a prescription, but that was because the cataracts I'd had all my life had finally made themselves known in ways I couldn't ignore.
Luckily I was able to get my cataracts removed before they git too bad.

DS is a minus 10 and only 19. I'm really worried about how bad his eyes will be when he's my age. 😬

Its not even always the case that there becomes a point where your vision can't be corrected with glasses - sonetimes its always the case. My middle child is 17 and has worn glasses from age 4 but never with a full correction. And we have seen a lot of opticians, optometrists and opthamologists. We are having another try now as even with his glasses his vision is not good enough to drive which is obviously upsetting for him now almost all his friends are driving. As I understand it, refractive errors can always be improved with lenses but not always to the degree that vision is normal. My DS is certainly a lot better with his glasses than without, but still impaired.
I wear varifocals myself but still take my glasses off for very close work. My optician explained that whilst it would be technically possible to fully correct both my distance and near vision, practically it would be very difficult to combine them in a single lens. I asked for a prescription that meant I could read with and drive with and they are fine day to day but have to come off for things like doing embroidery. There does seem to be a bit of an art to prescribing and making varifocal lenses as I have had some pairs that have been much better than others.

@MrsAvocet yes indeed, prescribing is an art! It’s to do with working out the full prescription and then deciding what to prescribe based on the patient’s needs and also what they are likely to tolerate - the actual true prescription is often not the best prescription in terms of vision.
There are, unfortunately, people who just cannot see as clearly as others - ie they have reduced acuity - and it is not always possible to work out why this is. Hopefully your son will get some answers. You are right that lenses can’t always make vision better to the point that it is ‘normal’.

Thanks so much Alocasia and Mintich for your professional advice. I’ve already had one cataract removed and there’s a small one starting in the other eye. That was in my late forties, which I think is quite early. The optician hasn’t mentioned cataract being a possible problem. I’ve tried face to face twice ad also phoned to try to understand why I’m in this situation. But I’m just told that’s the way it is, that they cannot do anything to improve things further.