to ask a really boring question about wearing glasses?

[MoonShapedPool]

After a ridiculously long period of having blurry vision in one eye, pain in the same eye and constant headaches which I put down to sinusitis I went to the opticians a couple of weeks ago and was diagnosed with one short sighted eye and one long sighted eye. Optician prescribed glasses for reading and computer work which made an immediate and startling difference - all good! I love them and can’t believe the difference in my sight now. The thing is after a week and a half of wearing them for close work (which is most of the time as I’m usually studying or working with computers or looking at my phone) it now feels wrong to not have them on all the time. I genuinely feel I see better with them while driving and walking around. I’m no expert and google has not been helpful so is this ok? I’m really new to the whole glasses thing! I realise I am probably being unreasonable to post this in AIBU but you lot are so knowledgeable and I trust you Thank you

If they work then wear them! You can always call in to the optician again,they won't mind putting your mind at rest.

Hi I'm in the same position and my optician told me that may happen, I basically wear mine full time. They said it's not possible for your eyes to become worse because of it, it's just you now know how good your vision can be and why settle for less hope that helps btw I'm embracing the geeky teacher look !

Thank you! I’ve been told daft things about them being damaging long term by people who probably don’t know what they are talking about so I just wanted to check. I’ve recently ditched my full time job and started a science course at college so I’m enjoying the geeky factor too

Depending on your prescription I would imagine you need them for driving for the shortsighted eye.

Can you call up your optician for advice?

Personally, I wear my contacts/glasses most of the time and find it comfortable.

It's absolutely fine.
You can't make your eyes worse by wearing glasses. Whether you are long or short sighted is down to the physical size of your eyeball. You can't change your eyeball size by wearing glasses anymore than you can change your foot size by wearing shoes.
Your brain has quite sensibly decided it likes getting a clear picture from both eyes so just wear them full time.

That makes total sense thank you! We will be studying the eye in physics in a couple of weeks so I should be much better informed soon

It's odd to me that people are like "I wear glasses but not all the time"

From the age of 4 I've worn glasses from the moment I wake up to the moment I put my head down in bed. I feel weird without them!

If they do you good, wear them! It won't do any harm. You've been prescribed them for a reason. Damaging long term indeed! My prescription hasn't changed in a decade of wearing them 14-18 hours a day!

If you don't get on with the routine of on and off you could try contacts which work with a bathroom routine - brush teeth, on/off with the contacts?

Go back to your optician. It could be that if they're prescribed for reading you'll only get good vision at a short distance. I wouldn't wear my reading glasses for driving.

If they make your eye sight better wear them. If there's anything you feel doubtful about ring the opticians and ask all the questions you need to to set your mind at rest.

Wearing them certainly won't make your eyes worse or damage them in some way. If they've stopped your pain and headaches then clearly you're already benefiting from them. Sounds like wearing them all the time will only be a good thing.

Please go back to your opticians and get their advice.

Wearing glasses will not ruin your eyes but if you are less stressed as you can see and not in pain, your vision may have changed a little for the better. Only a qualified professional can advise you on when and how to wear glasses and most will take the time to explain the whys and wherefores if you ask.

Good luck.

I'm sure your optician did a very thorough check, but did they put drops into your eye and look into the back of it? My aunt had those symptoms and it turned out to be melanoma of the eyeball. It is becoming increasingly common, and is often diagnosed far too late. (Although we are in Australia, where of course it is much more common, British and Europeans are travelling to warm countries much more often and are less sun-aware than Aussies, so the incidence of diagnoses is actually higher there than here.)

The advantage of wearing them all the time is you won't lose them!

I've worn glasses (and now contact lenses) full time from age 9. I can get around my house without them if I need the loo in the night, but can't read without them and would feel unsafe crossing roads without them. I don't drive but certainly I would be dangerous driving without them.

Both my parents wear glasses for some things and are constantly losing track of where they are. Especially as they've got older and have more than one paid for different tasks

I am very slightly short sighted and my eyes have improved. Got glasses at 15 to read the board in school. Had to get slightly stronger ones a couple of years later. Used to wear them for lectures and later for driving. Don't need them now at all. Same thing happened with my brother's eyesight and a cousin of my Dad. As people normally become more long-sighted as they get older, our vision corrected itself. I've a feeling I may need glasses for reading eventually! My other siblings do.

You had probably got used to ignoring inputs from the less good eye. Now your brain is acknowledging two inputs, you will notice the blurry vision when you're not wearing your glasses.

Id struggle to find my car on my drive without my glasses!

Wear them when you need them. People used to say the more you wear them the worse your eyes get, but that's just a myth.

It’s easy to become intolerant to blur once you are prescribed glasses.
Which is one of the reasons people think glasses make their eyes worse or dependent.
But if you need any reassurance i’m sure your optometrist will be happy to discuss your concerns.

The brain is a funny thing.
Before you had glasses, your 'not glasses' vision was the only vision you had, so your brain accepted that.
Now your 'with glasses' vision is the best you have, so that's what your brain expects.
So when you take your glasses off, your 'not glasses' vision feels worse than it actually is, because your brain is now used to something better.

That's why people think wearing glasses all the time makes your eyesight worse. I literally never take mine off now, unless it's to put contacts in.

The worst thing about a new prescription is noticing all the muck you've been able to ignore!

All 4 of us wear glasses for various reasons and none of us go anywhere without our eyes on! DS1 often closes his eyes without his glasses on (short sighted) because he can't stand the blur. There's only DS2 who spends any time chilling at home without them - he's very long sighted, so they're heavy, even with thinned lenses

I'm the same - one short-sighted and one long-sighted eye (and slight astigmatism). I don't have to wear my glasses all the time, but I find my eyes get less tired the more I wear them. They are my first pair of varifocals, which makes it easier to wear them more, because I can just keep them on rather than swapping to reading glasses. My optician said there's no reason not to wear them all the time if I want to.

I only take my specs off to sleep and shower. I can't stand blurry vision - or even low light levels. Just wear them all the time. I mean, from a vanity point of view I would love to ditch them but as I don't get on with contact lenses and I can't afford laser eye surgery, well, you can't walked about not being able to see properly, that would be daft.

DD recently got glasses and was told she needs to wear them for watching TV and the classroom board. She’s found that her eyesight is so much better if she wears them all the time so rarely takes them off. She can’t get over how much better everything looks now.

I wear mine all the time and have sep reading ones which are slightly stronger - but thats my age.. I had an eye op at 3 wore glasses till 11 then no glasses till around 23 now back into glasses since then (a long time)

Eyes and brains adjust to what they are seeing, and can even cope with virtual reality and glasses that do two things - learning to see one way looking up and another looking down after a short while. We are clever creatures

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett already made a good point about the illusion that glasses make your eyesight worse because of the contrast when you first take them off.

There is some truth to the myth though AFAIK. When I was growing up I was taught that if you wear glasses all the time they can be a crutch. Basically you think your eyes are fine because of the glasses and then you continue to do bad things for your eyes like stare at screens, read in poor light etc and this is what makes your eyes progressively worse so every time you visit the opticians you need a stronger prescription.

Did you get one of those vouchers for your work to contribute to the cost of the glasses for computer work? I’ve been given one of those by an optician and you don’t qualify if you need your glasses for other things, so the prescription is written as ‘for computer use’ or similar. However it was clearly somewhat dodgy for me to be given it as I definitely need glasses to drive.