How bad is -4 in both eyes?

[WiseBearOrMare]

I know I need glasses. But don’t think it’s THAT bad. I can see okay without, just no loads of detail

Really random post. Off the back of a friend who works at Specsavers and gasped when I told her but was walking around without my specs (they were in my car)

I think it makes a difference how much time you spend without gkasses on /contacts in. I am - 5.25/-4.0 and my uncorrected vision is much worse when I have been wearing vision aids.

Your friend was right, OP. Wear your glasses, lenses or get them lasered. You really can't see properly without them. Can't believe you don't notice then when you wear them to drive.....

I used to be -5.5 and -4.5 with astigmatism and couldn't even make a cup of tea without my glasses. If you are walking around without them, are you squinting a lot? The squinting is not good for you - just imagine the wrinkles being made!

I'm minus 1 point something in one eye and minus 2 point something in the other and my optician tells me they deal with much worse on a daily basis. I can see to get about just fine but I need my glasses for computer screens, reading and watching TV, and I don't drive but likely would need glasses for it if I did.

But you don't/can't drive. Right ?

Think you need to wear your glasses! My dd is -2 and definitely misses out on things when not wearing her glasses.

I am -10 and obviously can’t see anything without mine!

It's not bad, but you need to wear glasses. Don't you find you're massively awkward if someone you know is coming towards you and you don't recognise them until they're close enough?

I'm -8 in both eyes.

You will end up with terrible wrinkles!

Well as I’m -9.00 and -8.50 not bad at all! 😄

I'm -4.25 in one eye and -4.75 in the other. I've always hated wearing glasses - I had to for reading the board at school/watching TV from the age of 10 or 11, and then I started wearing contacts at 16. I wore dailies pretty much all day every day until 8ish years ago when I switched to the Ortho-K lenses that you wear overnight and they've been a minor life changer. In the zombie apocalypse I'd be pretty screwed once I ran out of opticians to raid 😄

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. I'm -7 and above in both eyes and can see sufficiently well to get about the house without glasses. Yes, it's super fuzzy but I can still see well enough to see things I drop, see things on the floor that shouldn't be there etc Obviously it's all extremely fuzzy but you're not blind at my strength, you can see big things just not sharp or finer detail.

Wow I'm really amazed you can walk around without anything! I mean, I know it's possible but surely disorientating? I'm -3.5 and -3.75 I think and I wear lenses almost constantly because I don't find glasses comfortable all day (I get a headache from the behind the ear pressure). I quite often don't wear them for an hour maybe in the morning and tend to wear glasses then and if I don't my kids say I look like a mole because I'm always squinting at something lol. I can see as such but super blurry and wouldn't be able to see what was on TV properly etc. It sounds like you've just adjusted to that being your vision but it still doesn't sound right really. Definitely give lenses a go!

I'm sure I could manage if I had to, but I feel really disoriented. So I put my glasses on. If I try and do anything for long without them I end up with a migraine.

I’m -4.50 in both eyes. I can function without glasses but not for serious things 😂.

I'm -12 in both so -4 sounds amazing to me

yes, this is very true. I had a housemate once who was really nice, but when I saw him out and about he would totally blank me and I thought he was rude or didn’t want to know me in public. Turned out he didn’t like wearing his glasses, so couldn’t see me from a distance. Imagine how many people thought he was really rude and standoffish!

-4.75 and -5.25 here - I couldn't function without my contacts/glasses. Have you had a recent eye test and is the prescription correct? If it's out of date it might explain why your eyes don't feel right when wearing glasses. But you're missing out on most of the detail of life! How can you manage? Do try contacts, they are life changing!

@cheesycheesy
Are the lenses big? You might be better with smaller frames.
The fashion for glasses at the moment is quite big lenses I had a pair that I couldn't stand for the same reason. They ended up swapping them for smaller frames.

We found out our little boy was -5.5 and -4.5 - somehow he had still learnt to sight read and shown no signs of struggling!!! Felt awful haha - he's clearly not got much vision!

I can get around the house without glasses by sense of smell.
Otherwise it’s glasses most of the time but contacts for driving. That’s because of reduced field of vision.
And now in my dotage I wear reading glasses on top of contacts!

Mnie dropped to - 5.75. at about 10 - 18years old - as blind as a blind thing, then I reached 46 and then got better -4.75 the -4.25 and now at 48 they are -3.5 which is really odd -

Even at -5.75 you can have ultra thin lenses etc so there's no need to worry about milk bottom glasses so you'll be fine - although they are a bit dear.

I used to be -20 in both eyes. After surgery I'm now -4.5 in both. -20 is very disabling if you're doing anything that involves other people but it's not as bad as you might think if you're in the house by yourself, you can still do routine tasks with no problems. -4.5 is a walk in the park by comparison, so it depends on what you're used to. I still wouldn't choose to go out without my specs now but I wear them to correct astigmatism as much as focus.

I am -5 in both eyes and of course I can "see" without my glasses but it's very blurry. Why would you choose to not see the world in high definition?

I find I squint a bit if I'm walking around without my glasses which helps to make things look clearer.

I agree, OP. Fine for walking around somewhere familiar - I have my glasses on top of my head half the time because I’m too lazy to want to look properly.

When I do need to see - ie to recognise people, read street signs, generally pay attention - I do wear them but for slouching around the house or buying milk at the corner shop I often don’t bother.

I wonder if it’s like my gran turning her hearing aid off - as I’ve got older I find it lass tiring to see a slightly blurry world rather than a clear and sharp one.

I am -5.50 and -6.25 and I could potter around my flat without glasses but would get very frustrated fast! It is so much better with glasses and I always wear them. I pay for thinner lenses to stop them being too heavy and find them comfortable to wear.

I never needed glasses as a kid but from 21 years old have had to wear them. Contacts aren't right for me. My Sister uses both glasses and contacts though. It's about finding what works for you but I don't get why you wouldn't wear anything to help your vision.