Eye sight and glasses related problem/question - any experts around?

[Wiifitmama]

I have worn glasses all my life. I am short sighted. A couple of years ago I got varifocals as I am now getting old! No problem adjusting to them, all fine. Until about a month ago when I noticed problems in the evening seeing the TV clearly from the couch. So I booked an eye test which I had last week. Surprisingly, my eye sight has not changed. Neither my long sight or short sight. No glasses needed. I asked why I was having trouble in the evening and they suggested adjusting the angle the glasses sit on my face.

So, the problem is that my sight is no better. I have spent much of today on the couch and it has been quite bad. I am beginning to think it is specific to the way I use the TV and couch....I sit with my laptop on my lap at about arms length from my body (legs stretched out and the screen is almost by my knees. I work on my laptop and also watch tv so looking down then up a lot. Usually this is evening only but today has been a mega work session and I have been doing it all day.

When I look up from the laptop to the TV, I literally feel as if my eyes don't focus right away. I have to blink a few times and then it clears a bit. Today, after a day of doing this, my eyes feel tired and I am a bit headachey. I am really confused and have no idea what is causing this if my glasses are actually the correct prescription.

If anyone has any thoughts and anything I can go back to the optician to check, I would be very grateful!

Hopeful bump

Is it possible your eyes are dry? We don't blink as much when using technology so eyes can dry out. I have dry eyes anyway and using the computer definitely makes them worse and they do sometimes get blurry when changing from looking at something close to far away.

Good suggestion but no. In fact, my eyes water a lot. Thank you for answering though!

watering eyes is a symptom of drye eyes.
I know it sounds absurd, but the composition of the tears chamges and the body tries to compensate by producing more water.

try tear replacement drops from the chemist.

That’s interesting. I had no idea. I will chat with the optician and see what he says.

You mention you're 'getting old' - so am I and I find adjusting focus a bit of a problem now too. I like to mumsnet on my phone in the evenings and when I look up at the tv it's blurry for a little while until my eyes adjust. I wear varifocals too but they don't help with this problem.
This very issue was discussed recently on Gransnet, maybe it's time for you to pop over there?

I wear single vision glasses I get confused with long/short sight....I wear them all the time!

I get this kind of thing if I'd been doing a lot of close up work ie on the computer a lot or using my phone a lot. It's as if my eyes forget they need to refocus on more distant things.

I've found regular breaks makes a huge difference. Even just lifting my head and focusing on the garden fence about 20m away, then focusing on the patio doors 5m away, then back to the fence and I do it a few times then get back to work it's like the muscles get a bit confused and just need stretched a bit (if that makes sense)

@noonaim ha ha! I am 46 and my eldest son is 17 so thankfully not a gran yet! However I would be really interested to see the thread where this was discussed. Do you have a link?

Yes the taking breaks and exercising eyes thing makes sense. I do try to do that a bit but today was particularly bad.

It could be that you are using the laptop at one distance and the TV at another and your eyes need to adjust to a different distance.

Varifocals vary massively - at their simplest they 'do' distance and reading but not the 'intermediate' vision that you describe with your laptop. When you went back to the optician did you explain about the laptop?

It could be that you need a varifocal lens that does distance, reading and intermediate. Unfortunately there is often a compromise - your optician can help you to talk through what would work best.

My optometrist told me that the speed with which your eyes can adjust to focusing at different distances tends to be the first thing to "go"...

I noticed it when I was in my early 40s and needed reading glasses a year or so later.

DH found the same thing happened to him a couple of years later than me (which is annoying, since I'm younger than him!! ) and then he also needed reading glasses around a year after that.

But yes, apparently mid 40s is about right for your focus to start to become less responsive, I guess.

My varifocals have the long distance bit at the top, a 'blank' bit in the middle for laptop work and a reading bit lower down. I am supposed to move my head to use them.

I found it really difficult and still don't really use them for reading/close work and tend to take them off! They are fine when I'm driving for long distance work/seeing dials in the car but that's through the middle blank bit.

When I first got them, the optician advising 'blinking' as I changed focus and it did seem to help. Tbh, it was a year before I could wear them for any length of time apart from driving! Luckily, I don't need the reading bit of them very often.

Thanks everyone. I think you have got it. It absolutely feels like an inability to adjust between distance focus. When I am just walking around doing normal stuff I do not have this problem.

My varifoclas ate top quality highly expensive so I don’t think that is the problem. I have not had problems with them since I got them two years ago until this issue.

Having seperate reading glasses will not work as the laptop is not close to me. It is at full arms length so not at close reading distance.

It sounds like this is something that is just part of old age rather than something I can fix which is a bit depressing. However I will go back and speak to my optician.

so, did they mark up the glasses and check they're fitting correctly...any scratches on the lenses..
could be dryness or also could be to do with the light - have you changed for a less bright bulb recently.

it also could be that you're very sensitive to small changes in prescription, sometimes when we say no change, we mean not enough change to warrant changing them.

Yes they marked them up and actually changed the angle of how they sit on my face to see if that helps (it didn’t - in fact it is possibly worse). I wonder if you are right and I am super sensitive.

It’s called Presbyopia, and it starts in late 30’s / 40’s in some people. Sorry.
lookafteryoureyes.org/eye-conditions/presbyopia/

faded - the OP already has varifocals for presbyopia.

I read that link, thank you, but I don't think it fits.

New symptom today - I have been out all day a stage show and museums with my kids. No computer use at all until just now. Normally, I am fine daytime doing everyday things. It is only evenings with the laptop/tv situation that I notice it. But today, my eyes have been bothering me since later morning. They feel tried, a little unfocused. and I feel a little headachey. I am actually starting to get worried!

I will of course call my optician tomorrow but I am wondering if this is a result of the angle change to the fit of my glasses they made last week (it was Wednesday last week) or something more serious going on. But what!?

Presbyopia would explain why your lenses (the lens in your eyes) are taking longer to adjust between near and farther distance. But you update about today might also indicate a medical problem. Maybe, if your Optician can’t resolve your problems with your glasses, then a check up with your GP/PN might be a good idea.