To ask if not wearing glasses when you need makes you eyes worse

[User40407]

I’ve always told my ds1 who wears glasses that he should always wear to prevent his eyes getting worse. I’ve just read something that says wearing glasses only corrects your sight when you are wearing them and not wearing them has no impact on your eye sight either way. Aibu to ask if this is true?

I'm short sighted and only wear my glasses to the cinema. My vision has stayed the same for over 10 years. I sometimes think wearing them makes your eyes more reliant on them and if I wear them for extended periods I struggle to see without them

That is consistent with my own experiences, Uptheduff.

My left eyesight is getting better - I wear sunglasses with lenses in and glasses for long distance. I was told at the last opticians appt that it can go too far and may cause trouble in the distant future. My right has been resolutely the same for the last 10 years! No idea why the difference. Did wonder if bedside lighting on my left may have helped when reading in bed/looking at laptop?

I was told at the last opticians appt that it can go too far and may cause trouble in the distant future.

Cheery of them! It's like no one can admit an improvement is a possibility! Yet this research:

iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2126435

suggests than the body does indeed respond to certain stimuli by increasing / decreasing axial length, at least in the young adult subjects. And that was just within 60 minutes of induced conditions! Imagine what more sustained conditions could do!