If you suddenly needed glasses in your 30s...

[SinkGirl]

Did your eyesight continue to deteriorate? I’m getting quite worried about mine now.

I always knew I was long sighted and I had glasses when I was younger but only needed them for reading small text, otherwise I had no issues really. Occasionally when I was really tired my vision would go blurry but I could make my eyes focus if I concentrated.

A couple of years ago (mid 30s) I realised I was straining to focus all the time and then one day I suddenly couldn’t see clearly at all - I remember being on my phone and I couldn’t read it at all.

I made an urgent opticians appointment as it worried me - the optician told me that it was very common as you get older to lose the ability to make yourself focus if you’re long sighted.

My glasses worked well for about a year but then I started having issues and having to strain to focus again. I got new stronger lenses in August and already I an struggling with blurring quite badly - struggling to read this without really straining to focus.

Does it just gradually get worse and worse? I’m 38, I’m worried I’ll be screwed by the time I’m 50 if I need stronger lenses every year or more often.

I can't predict what will happen to you, but for me, yes they did get worse. I started wearing glasses in my 20's but like you I didn't need them all the time and I could force myself to focus if they got blurry. I went along fine for years but then when I was in my 50's my vision got worse and I couldn't focus at all . I gradually got stronger glasses and I had to wear them all the time.

I wouldn't consider myself "screwed" - I'm in my 60's now and I just wear them all the time , it's no big deal. They are stronger but they don't look any different from anyone else's glasses . The lenses are thin these days, nobody needs "coke bottle glasses" like in days gone by.

Sorry I didn’t mean that as it probably came across. I just mean that if I need stronger lenses every 6 months or so, what sort of strength will I need in a decade or so? I’m hoping this slows down as the glasses get stronger!

Glasses make no difference to eye function, just allow you to see better. My only experience of rapid prescription change is when I stopped wearing hard contact lenses and got much more short sighted - they alter the shape of the cornea.

My prescription wanders up and down but not as quickly as yours. Please go back for a full checkup just in case.

Thank you, I will book an appointment. Both times now it seems to be fine for a while and then a very sudden worsening, as if my eyes are just giving up. When I’ve been there’s been no concerns at all in any of the examinations so that’s positive. Maybe I’ll pay for that more advanced eye test thingie they offer now.

I was really worried when I first went as I’ve had peripheral neuropathy for the last 5 years and doctors have fobbed me off about it, so the worsening in my vision worried me but I was told everything looked healthy and normal so that’s good. Will definitely go back though.

What prescription do you have?
I needed reading glasses from about age 40 but my prescription isn't huge.

www.allaboutvision.com/en-gb/conditions/presbyopia/

Kinda. I needed glasses in my 30s. Was told it was as my eyes were getting older (rude!)
I then went in mat leave and went back to work part time. Since then (9 years) my eyesight has got better. I spoke to the optician about it and staring at a computer screen all day was really bad for my eyes!

Many people need reading glasses (ie become long sighted) progressively once they hit 40 plus if they haven’t already had them. It’s not unusual at all. I have always been very short sighted (worn glasses since I was 4 and now -9.50 both eyes) and now I’m 40 I need a reading addition in my lenses. I wouldn’t worry. It seems pretty normal to me.

I realise that - I just didn’t know how common it was for it to get gradually worse or for it to get suddenly worse as mine keeps doing. I can’t remember what they gave me this time - I know they didn’t give me the full prescription the first time as they said I wouldn’t cope with it so maybe my vision isn’t actually worse, I’m just not on strong enough lenses yet.

I’m short sighted. I decided I needed to get my eyes tested in my mid 20s when I realised I couldn’t read road signs until I had almost driven past them.

My prescription has got progressively stronger as the years have gone by, but the deterioration is slow and and not a cause for concern.

That’s good to hear. I guess I’m not sure if it’s actually my vision getting worse or my ability to compensate diminishing - I will ask the optician when I go.

Did they give you a copy of your prescription?

My optician always gives a copy to take away

I’m sure they did but can’t blooming find it - it’s okay, I’ll be going back as soon as I can get in anyway so will ask more this time!

I've been wearing glasses since the age of 6. I've been -6 since I was a teenager so very short sighted. When my daughter got her first pair of very weak glasses last year at 12, the optician told me that as she was needing glasses later her eyesight would be unlikely to become poor. It seems that particularly myopic people start needing glasses as younger children.

Its really individual and hard to say what will happen. I got glasses at 19. Only small correction of 0.5 and 0.25. Im mid 30s now and have 1 and 1.25.
I only wear my glasses to drive and sometimes to watch tv. The Dr told me i should wear them all the time or it will get worse quicker. I think he was wrong 😂
DH got glasses around the same time as me. He was 20 at the time. He just lasered his eyes cuz he needed very strong glasses, i think between 4 and 5.