Why has my eyesight improved - 34 years old

[Spaghettihoops1]

My eyesight has improved from -5.50 to -5.00 and im 34 years old. The optician was concerned but said we would keep an eye (bdmm dmm tshhh) on it. She asked me if I've been unwell lately and i said no but in hindsight I've had stomach bugs x 2 and tonsillitis/ suspected COVID all since mid march and I'm now ill again, with what I thought was a cold but I've just noticed I now have a fever and feel achy all over.

Has anyone else experienced eyesight improvement at a similar age or know what could be causing this?

I think I recall my optician telling me that short sightedness improves with age - my contact lens prescription has changed slightly over the past twenty years.

But obviously no idea if that’s what’s going on with your eyes.

It does sound as if you’re generally rather run down at the very least - so a GP appointment might be a good idea.

Thanks @Gruelle she did say it improves with age but not as young as I am. I had bloods done not that long ago for iron but maybe I'll go back and ask for more

I’m an optometrist and that change wouldn’t surprise or worry me at all.
Accommodation reduces gradually with age starting from mid-teens. Most young people over focus, so the initial reduction in short-sightedness is just due to the eye relaxing.

My eyesight improved quite dramatically after having covid quite badly in 2021. So much so I stopped wearing my glasses to read. I didn't go to the optician though, I just carried on enjoying a return to good eyesight and didn't think too much about it. Did the optician give any explanation as to why illness might improve it?

@theeyeofdoe that's really reassuring thank you.

@Iamthemoom that's really interesting, I wonder if it's a common theme. No she didn't. I still wasn't feeling 100% when I saw her so I didn't think on my feet quickly enough and ask the questions that hindsight me wishes I had asked

@theeyeofdoe, this is interesting - so, if a teenager stopped needing glasses for reading, would their eyesight keep changing until they needed glasses again for distance? Or is the answer No, eyes are complicated 😄?

I reversed 2 prescriptions during mat leave. Less screen time and hormonal changes helped. A year back at work and it deteriorated again.

Mine improved around that age, my optician told me it was normal

I'm 40 and mine has improved slightly in one eye
It's a novelty as from age 6 - 28 it was worse every time! I did have perfect vision, had a big head injury and ended up short sighted

My DIL gave up working and her eyesight improved.

This is interesting. I’m on a screen all day and definitely notice improvements after holidays and resting my eyes.

So you also get a reduction in the amount of long sight (hyperopia) in early teenage years. So my daughter who was around +4.00 is now +2.50. It then stops changing, but then will their vision will get worse again as they lose accomoddative facility in middle age.

It's very unlikely that she'll need glasses for distance any time soon.

My optician told me your eyesight changes with age towards long sightedness. So if you start off nearsighted, you can get an improvement in the middle and then end up with reading glasses instead in your 40s or thereabouts.

Sadly it's not that straightforward. You end up being a little less shortsighted, but then need to either wear varifocals or take your glasses off to read when you get older.

Same thing happened to me. I needed glasses for driving/cinema in my late 20s. Gave up my job using a computer all day to become sahm and within a few years didn't need glasses anymore.

@theeyeofdoe, my optician said I'll need glasses for reading soon, and I'm definitely holding things a bit further away to read them comfortably. I currently have a mild prescription for distance (I don't need it to drive legally though). I hate the idea of varifocals - DH didn't get on with his first ones, and I really don't think I'd like them. Can I just get separates instead?

I'm the same age and mine are doing the same. My optician isn't worried and said I'm not too young to be developing some long sightedness. Surely, it's all individual: people who put their eyes under more strain are probably likely to "age" then quicker

I've had glasses for distances since I was 13. My prescription ws never stong, only -1.5 or something like that.

I recently had a eye test and found out my prescription for distances has reduced to 0 in one eye and -0.25 in the other! But I now need reading glasses 🙁

Aw seriously? I was holding out for the possibility of a few glasses free years!

I am very short sighted . I need reading glasses too ( age related which are still a relitively minus prescription just less than my distance .

Yes, absolutely.
It's much easier if you can get used to varifocals though - mine took me a month!

@theeyeofdoe Could I ask you please if people with very high myopia cope well with varifocals? I have just been advised to have them but my eyes are 14.25 and -14.50 . The varifocal adjustment was 3 in both eyes.
I have been coping for years with sliding specs down my nose to read or removing them !

I am unsure about spending £100's on varifocals as I have hated the thick look of my specs over the last 10 years or so. I am very lucky to still be able to wear contacts as well . Thank you.

Mine has gone worse during the years. In my twenties I was -1 and now -6. Nowadays I need reading glasses as well

I've worn glasses since I was 13. I'm now 37 and at my last eye test was told I no longer need to wear them. I'm 37.

I'm not @theeyeofdoe but I'm -11 and -9.75 and I wear varifocals with no problems