Before you start wearing glasses, you are accustomed to seeing a blurry world around you. Since this is all you have seen ever - you accept it as normal. When your vision is corrected with eyeglasses you start seeing a clear world. Now when you remove your eyeglasses after wearing them for several months - you are presented with the same blurry world as before. You feel you were able to get around without wearing glasses before but now when you remove glasses you see all blurry and cannot get around. In reality it is your perception that has changed. Now you know the difference between clear vision and blurry vision and do not accept the blurry world.
Of course it is possible that your eye power may also have increased as you age - but this increase would have happened regardless of whether you wore the glasses or not. When children become nearsighted (myopic), usually between the ages of 8 and 12, there is a natural progression in their myopia and a need for a stronger correction over the next few years. These children, as well as nearsighted adults, may believe that glasses have weakened their eyes when their lens prescription needs to be made strong. Glasses, however, do not weaken eyes; they are simply aids to improve vision. People who have been able to read easily close up without glasses may find that they cannot do so as they get older (past 40). When they begin to need stronger and stronger glasses, they may assume that wearing glasses has "ruined" their eyes. In actuality, they are experiencing a normal condition called
presbyopia
- the inability of the aging eye to focus on near objects.
Using you eyes for any length of time does not make them weaker. You may get tired and may even get a headache with long reading hours, but these symptoms have nothing to do with eyes getting weaker. Sitting closer than necessary to the television may give you a headache, but it will not damage your vision. Modern TVs do not emit harmful radiation, so eye damage due to radiation is also not an issue. As with sitting too close to the television, you may get a headache from reading in the dark, but it will not weaken your sight.
Although reading in dim light is unwise because it may cause your eyes to feel tired or uncomfortable, it can't hurt your eyes. There really is very little you can do that will permanently damage your eyes. Similarly, reading small print or reading extensively cannot cause damage to the eyes. This is true even for people who already have poor vision. Although using computers will not damage your eyes, fatigue, eye strain or
dry eye may occur with prolonged use. The eyes are meant to be used!
Any eyeglass or contact lens of the right prescription will help you see comfortably. Contact lenses have a cosmetic advantage - but they do not offer any beneficial effects like preventing nearsightedness from getting worse. Usually people over the age 40 need reading glasses. Over-the-counter reading glasses may be fine if they allow you to read comfortably. These reading glasses do not hurt your eyes. Taller people can stretch their hands further, so if you are 6 feet plus in height, you may be able to get by without reading glasses till late 40s by holding the reading materials further from the eye.
There are no eye exercises that will help your eyes see better or that will prevent the nearsightedness from getting worse.
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