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Intentional misspelling. Wanted to know your collective thoughts and experiences (first hand ideally) with eyesight degradation. I'm 32 now, and only started wearing glasses about 2+ years ago. It's made a dramatic difference in my vision, naturally, but from the point when I thought I might need glasses, until today, my eyes are definitely worse. Without glasses, with the screen about 2.5 feet from me, I can still read this text. It's blurry for sure, but legible. My right eye is better than my left by a long shot.

Has anyone found that this process eventually stops and you'll arrive at a final prescription?

Has anyone had something like LASIK and found it worth while?

Do you prefer contacts over glasses?

When I first noticed my eyesight perhaps wasn't what it was, I was driving on the highway and found the reflective coating on the various signs really hard to read. Then I was goofing around at a party with my then-girlfriend and put her glasses on to be silly. I was shocked at how clear everything was even with an RX that wasn't for me. Scheduled an eye appointment for the first time ever soon after. In that time, I've had regular checkups and had my RX adjusted once so far. All I can say is how bad things are at any distance comparatively without wearing my glasses.

Here's to hoping those adaptive-display contact lenses that can change focal length to silly distances get to market soon.

My eyesight has gotten bad enough that can't I even read the Text on my display without my glasses.

Has anyone found that this process eventually stops and you'll arrive at a final prescription?

Not really. ever so often you need some adjustments to your prescription.

It could always be worse. I thought my eyes were bad (at 2.5 feet, a 27" 1440p at 100% scale is a blurred mess) but then I put on my wife's glasses and WHOA HOLY **** THIS IS AWFUL

I've got 20 years on you and have worn some sort of lenses since I was 14. In all that time my base prescription (i.e. negative diopters, as I'm near-sighted) hasn't changed that much. What has changed over time (and the increasing sophistication of the machinery used to diagnose eyesight issues) is changes in astigmatism as well as drastic age-related changes in near-field focusing. I've never hit a truly stable spot in the prescription mix.

I currently wear multi-focal contacts for daily use and an old pair of glasses at night, and I've tried several brands of multi-focals. The first ones were optimized for close work but left my distance vision a bit fuzzy. Given my driving habits, that was unacceptable. The current set are great at a distance, but I really should get a set of cheaters for close work. My glasses are an older single-focus prescription that are OK to drive in but useless for anything much inside of 4 feet. Multi-focal contacts are unpleasantly like being perpetually drunk the first time you try them; most brands have 3 concentric rings of varying power and you can't consciously choose which ring to use like you can with bi/tri/vari-focal glasses (the up/down head tilt you see all of us older folks doing when wearing glasses). Instead, you have to wait until your visual cortex learns how to integrate the incoming data into a coherent picture. Until then, the blurriness & headache is about 4-5 strong drinks worth and it's constant; it took me about 3 weeks.

That said, the best thing for me for close work is nothing and if I know I've got a heavy day of close work I'll ditch the contacts, wear the glasses, and just take them off when needed. I'm also having the age-related issue of carrying a small flashlight with me wherever I go.

I have 2 co-workers who have gone the LASIK route, both when they were in their mid-late 30s. One is the same age as me and is already back in glasses for close-range; the other is a few years younger but she can feel the need for cheaters coming up as well.

I have had lousy vision (nearsightedness) most of my life (like, since kingergarten). Things got progressively worse through my teen years, but finally settled down when I was in my 20s. Then around the time I hit 40, accommodation started to go to crap, meaning I could no longer focus on near (closer than about 5 feet away) objects while wearing my glasses. Around the same time, I also developed some annoying "floaters" in my right eye.

I tried progressive lenses for a while, but hated them. The need to tilt my head back to look at the top half of the computer screen meant I had a stiff neck by the end of the day. So now I have two sets of glasses with two different prescriptions -- one for distance, and one for computer work (and reading).

Since I commute on public transit now, I generally don't even bother with the distance glasses most days, and deal with the slightly blurry distance vision. If I'm in a meeting with a presentation, I just try to choose a seat as close as possible to the screen. TBH distance vision with the computer glasses is not that bad in well-lit conditions; I'll even drive in the daytime with them, but for night driving I really need to switch.

The floaters are still there, but don't seem to be getting any worse...

I needed glasses as of 10 years old. My vision got a little worse through my teenage years, but I've had effectively the same prescription for 25 years now (astigmatism might change slightly from year to year, but not acuity). I could probably go find a pair of glasses from high school and they'd still be clear.

I am nearsighted, but not too severely so. I can read the text on the monitor just fine as I type this without my glasses on, and it's about two-and-a-half feet from my face. I read much more comfortably with glasses off than on, but as of about 3 feet things start to blur, and I can't read small type at that point. I can drive with my glasses off, practically if not legally - something as large as a car, pedestrian or even a small animal is visible and recognizable even a hundred meters out (I don't drive with my glasses off, because it's neither smart nor legal for me to do so, but I wanted to give a reference).

I have not seriously considered LASIK, because my eyesight is simply not that bad. It is surgery, after all, and does have risks. If I ever got to the point where I couldn't comfortably read or safely function with my glasses off, I would certainly reconsider.

Because I like to take my glasses off to read, or just to let my eyes relax, I don't use contacts. Plus, I've never been able to get past the instinctive negative reaction to putting something on my own eyeball.

I started wearing glasses first part of September. Close up I can do micro surgery with with no glasses, put it 100 feet away and its a different story. First pair I bought has transition lens, thats all well and good unless you work outside like I do and regularly look from places that are bright to places that are dark, can't see spit captain. Now I have a pair of regular glasses and a pair of prescription sun glasses.

I have never needed glasses, but last Fall the ringing in my left ear started, and it hasn't stopped or gotten better. My ENT did two hearing tests on me that showed some high frequency hearing loss in my left ear. I think I've developed a bit of ringing in my right ear now, but I've yet to re-visit an ENT since they weren't able to do anything for my left.

Don't meant to coopt the entire thread, but it seemed somewhat related to the discussion...

https://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=220485

http://www.naturalnews.com/037775_pinho ... asses.html (The author does make sense here)

A lifetime in glasses here, including some really awkward school pictures from the late 1980s in which I'm wearing frames the size of two car windows of similar vintage. Nearsighted with a hint of astigmatism. Prescription changed frequently until mid-20s, then began settling out. It's changed slightly, mostly due to additional astigmatism, in the 10+ years since. It's genetic, the whole family has similar vision issues.

-- haven't ever worn contacts, don't want the discomfort. One sister does wear them.
-- haven't considered Lasik, although the other sister did around age 30, and liked the results.

Eye doctor says I have a bit of yellowing and haze in my lenses, and will eventually be a candidate for lens-replacement cataract surgery, at which time they can correct most of my vision flaws accordingly. But dad and grandpa both have graduated lenses so I'll eventually end up there.

i've had problems with my vision since my early (<5 yo) years..and had been wearing glasses ever since. it then started to degrade up until my early 20's where i couldn't even take a leak standing without my glasses and shortly thereafter it started to be even worse where i couldn't see 5 inches in front of me (no kidding..). i couldn't wear contacts as i am allergic to the various plastics that made contacts at that time.

and i lived my life, like pretty much everybody except i couldn't see sh*t .

when i got to my 30s a few years back, i decided to take the plunge and lazik the sh*t out of my eyes. i only have 1 regret..not doin' it earlier.. OH MY GAWD the difference..i can now wake up in the morning and SEE EVERYTHING without my glasses. although at first i was wondering who the chick next to me was..

sure there are horror stories as with pretty much anything you can search on the intertubes. my surgery went like clockwork. i was in at 10:00AM, and out by 11:00.
the actual surgery is closer to 30 secs per eye. if you go to lazik, you can ask them to put you in contact with people that had the surgery before. based on feedback i have (family members), the pain can be from a "mild discomfort" to "oh sh*t there is a ROCK in my eye please get it out", but it typically only last a couple of days.

now, about 6 years later, i still have eagle eye vision, no dryness, but i now have a floater in my right eye. i can't really see it unless i'm really tired or after 20 hours staring at logs.

Prefacing this by saying I probably have more vision issues than most, if not, anyone here. My eyes are alllllllllllllllllllllll sorts of borked.

I have a severe light sensitivity, color blindness, pretty bad astigmatism, and general blindness (~20/400 corrected). Closest thing is this, but it's not quite that. My siblings and I are like one in so many millions.

I have found contacts to be wonderful for me. Especially since I have a light sensitivity, which means I don't have to buy prescription sunglasses (which can be expensive and a pain). I've worn contacts since I was 12 (now 29.9 years old). The process of degradation doesn't really end, even for "regular eyes," but like Ned said - that just comes with the nature of eyes and organs. Things get old and they don't work as well and that's just how it goes. I still have glasses and prefer to wear them at times as they definitely are more comfortable at times. I am a firm supporter of contacts though, they just make things easier in a lot of cases. I don't think the "discomfort" of contacts is something that really factors in for most people. Once you are used to wearing them (a month or two) they are like you're wearing nothing at all. Just something you have to get used to.

I have had a few friends that have gone the LASIK route, and they swear by it. Obviously that only addresses issues on the cornea/lens and not the retina, but it doesn't sound like the retina is where most issues lie in this thread. I'd say if life becomes a hassle in everyday, where you are taking your glasses off and putting them back on constantly it'd be something to consider.

Happy to answer more questions if you have 'em. I've been pretty involved in the science of this my whole life and will continue to be hoping that something can eventually help me. I'd love to drive some day

DancinJack wrote:

I have found contacts to be wonderful for me. Especially since I have a light sensitivity, which means I don't have to buy prescription sunglasses (which can be expensive and a pain).

While I've worn contacts since somewhere around 1981 (the abuse of extended-wear contacts during college shall not be discussed here), I've begun to think about moving back to glasses every now and then. Every time I leave the driveway and get sun-blinded cures that right quick. I've yet to see a prescription sunglass lens that can filter out light like Vuarnet Cat-Eyes or Ray-Ban 2030 Predators (my current set of shades). Varilux lenses are useless for real sun-blocking.

Yep, prescription sunglasses just have to make too many compromises IMO.

DancinJack wrote:

Yep, prescription sunglasses just have to make too many compromises IMO.

I'd not be shocked to find that Vuarnet or Ray-Ban would grind/coat their stock lenses for prescription, though I can't imagine it'd be cheap.

To me, based on 35 years experience, if your shades aren't the darkest lenses you can get from Vuarnet or Ray-Ban, they're not shades. After all, my exact Ray-Bans are neuralizer-proof.

steelcity_ballin wrote:

Intentional misspelling. Wanted to know your collective thoughts and experiences (first hand ideally) with eyesight degradation. I'm 32 now, and only started wearing glasses about 2+ years ago. It's made a dramatic difference in my vision, naturally, but from the point when I thought I might need glasses, until today, my eyes are definitely worse. Without glasses, with the screen about 2.5 feet from me, I can still read this text. It's blurry for sure, but legible. My right eye is better than my left by a long shot.

Has anyone found that this process eventually stops and you'll arrive at a final prescription?

It depends on you, really... some people get to a certain point and then stop degrading, others keep degrading. I started wearing glasses in high school, they kept getting stronger. Seemed to level off for a few years after college, but have gotten worse in recent years.

Has anyone had something like LASIK and found it worth while?

My wife had LASIK and absolutely loved it. Her eyes were really bad (starting elementary school) and she got LASIK around 12 years ago. She just recently starting using reading glasses, but that's pretty normal at our age. I am considering LASIK myself - I have an astigmatism and LASIK can actually fix that far better than glasses.

Do you prefer contacts over glasses?

Never tried contacts.

When I first noticed my eyesight perhaps wasn't what it was, I was driving on the highway and found the reflective coating on the various signs really hard to read. Then I was goofing around at a party with my then-girlfriend and put her glasses on to be silly. I was shocked at how clear everything was even with an RX that wasn't for me. Scheduled an eye appointment for the first time ever soon after. In that time, I've had regular checkups and had my RX adjusted once so far. All I can say is how bad things are at any distance comparatively without wearing my glasses.

If you end up going the glasses route, check out the Crizal lenses if they're offered. A bit pricier but definitely worth it in my opinion. They cut down on glare and are much harder to scratch, smudge, etc.

Another recommendation is to get yourself some polarized sunglasses; I use mine almost exclusively for driving and absolutely love them.

cphite wrote:

check out the Crizal lenses if they're offered

Seconded. My "daily" glasses are at least 5-6 years old and the Crizal coating still holds up.

Yeah I'm not going to say don't get Crizal, but there are drawbacks to any AG coating. If you want the clearest possible lens, and we're just talking lens here (disregarding glare etc), AG is always going to reduce the clarity of a lens by some degree. You just have to weigh if the benefits are enough to convince you. I think in most cases, with Crizal, they are.

So I'm not the only here wearing glasses huh, for me it's astigmatism, and myopia. I've had glasses since I was 4 or 5 years old. Speaking of when I was younger I under went eye surgery when I was 4 to have a growth in my eye removed. The last few times my prescription has stayed the same which surprised me, see what happens the closer I get to 40.

biffzinker wrote:

So I'm not the only here wearing glasses huh

Which begs the question: Are we computer geeks because we can't see or vice versa?

Captain Ned wrote:

biffzinker wrote:

So I'm not the only here wearing glasses huh

Which begs the question: Are we computer geeks because we can't see or vice versa?

I suspect a little of both, but probably more of the latter...

Edit: Something else I've noticed the past 2-3 years or so is that when I'm really tired I seem to be prone to a bit of double vision, but only for distant objects.

In my case it's definitely the latter. My eyesight was actually fairly decent before I started logging copious amounts of time in front of a monitor.

Since then, not so much.

steelcity_ballin wrote:

Has anyone found that this process eventually stops and you'll arrive at a final prescription?

Has anyone had something like LASIK and found it worth while?

Do you prefer contacts over glasses?)

That's the biggest problem with LASIK, just because you get it doesn't mean the process stops. Or won't start again when you get older. My RX was unchanged for the last ten years, but last year I had a checkup and one of my eyes had gotten worse. My concern of investing in LASIK just to have to buy glasses again within a few years is the biggest reason I've not gone for the procedure myself. Waiting to see if my RX keeps changing or if it holds steady for another year at this point.

Personally I prefer glasses. I try to keep my fingers out of my eyes, and contacts makes that literally impossible. I've also read enough scary stories about what some labs have found growing in contact cases that I'd just rather deal with the glasses!

Freaky bizarre story: http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/10/ ... parasites/

Granted proper use and regular replacement of contact lenses, cases, and fluid makes contact lenses very safe and most horror stories are from people doing things they obviously shouldn't be. But I still view contact lenses as low risk I can easily skip with glasses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungal_co ... act_lenses

Your eyes change constantly. And the most dramatic change is usually around 40 and then again around 60.

steelcity_ballin wrote:

Has anyone found that this process eventually stops and you'll arrive at a final prescription?

Has anyone had something like LASIK and found it worth while?

Do you prefer contacts over glasses?

LASIK comes with its own set of issues. While some may tell you, you can never be too old to have it done, its your lifestyle that can affect the overall outcome of LASIK. Do you have bad habits? e.g. Drink, smoke, use of the mary jane, etc. etc. Do you have an extreme lifestyle? e.g. sky dive, travel internationally frequently, endurance running, etc? Are you active or sedentary? Do you have an inheritable health history? High BP, Heart or circulatory issues, cataracts, etc?

All of these can affect LASIK. So it's careful to weigh all of these before getting LASIK.

Myself, I have been wearing glasses since I was 10ish. Around 16 I started wearing contacts and haven't stopped since. A couple of years ago I added reading glasses to the mix. 1.0 to be exact. I use them when I am on the PC for anything.

As for contacts, you can't go wrong with them as long as you are diligent. Never sleep in them. EVER. Take them out nightly and use the prescribed solution for them. NEVER use tap water on them. Mr. amoeba might just come to pay you a visit. Give your eyes time to rest without the contacts on, meaning if you are going to be around the house for an extended period of time take them out and use glasses. If you follow the strict rules even the so called daily wear contacts can last a month or two. Four boxes last me a year. Which is all paid for from my insurance. OH and last thing, always have a spare set and a small bottle of solution readily available. Put them in your go bag along with a small bottle of solution. Should you get a nasty speck or something just switch it out and throw the old one away.

My prescription changed rapidly (as in every year) until I switched to hard contacts as a teenager, and after that it only changed very slightly every 10 years. I don't know if it was the contacts, if I coincidentally grew out of the rapid change, or if it was because I started spending more time outdoors:

Apparently myopia reached epidemic levels in China (>90%) so the government finally threw their considerable resources at finding why, discovering children being kept indoors is associated with having their eyeballs keep growing. http://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120 Apparently at least 3 hours of light 20x as bright as is usually found indoors daily may prevent children from ever having to wear glasses. Even 40 minutes produced a marked drop in incidence. It's not reading books but reading books indoors.

I don't wear contacts any more and my prescription still hasn't changed (for decades I always used tap water to rinse the soap from hard contacts as directed but at least it was from the hot tap). If your correction is not severe then I'd pass on the Lasik to avoid having to use reading glasses after 40. Of course if your myopia is severe then chances are you either won't qualify for Lasik or it won't be accurate enough to obviate glasses...

steelcity_ballin wrote:

Has anyone had something like LASIK and found it worth while?

If you qualify (ie have a guaranteed correctable issue) do it sooner than later.

just brew it! wrote:

I have had lousy vision (nearsightedness) most of my life (like, since kingergarten). Things got progressively worse through my teen years, but finally settled down when I was in my 20s. Then around the time I hit 40, accommodation started to go to crap, meaning I could no longer focus on near (closer than about 5 feet away) objects while wearing my glasses. Around the same time, I also developed some annoying "floaters" in my right eye.

I tried progressive lenses for a while, but hated them. The need to tilt my head back to look at the top half of the computer screen meant I had a stiff neck by the end of the day. So now I have two sets of glasses with two different prescriptions -- one for distance, and one for computer work (and reading).

Since I commute on public transit now, I generally don't even bother with the distance glasses most days, and deal with the slightly blurry distance vision. If I'm in a meeting with a presentation, I just try to choose a seat as close as possible to the screen. TBH distance vision with the computer glasses is not that bad in well-lit conditions; I'll even drive in the daytime with them, but for night driving I really need to switch.

The floaters are still there, but don't seem to be getting any worse...

Sounds pretty similar to me. I couldn't read the chalkboards at the front of the room at school by the time I was about 6-7 years old. Mine seemed to just gradually get worse over time. I needed a new prescription every 3-5 years or I wouldn't be able to see things properly. It seems to be slowing down the last 5 years or so (I'm 31 now). The last time I got new glasses was because I fell asleep wearing them and bent them badly, rather than because I needed a new prescription. My prescription had changed slightly in that time, but not a lot.

I've also had floaters in both eyes for about 15 years. They were pretty annoying at first but I am sort of used to them now. Any blank bright surface makes them much more noticeable though. Snow is the worst thing possible pretty much, and websites with white backgrounds are bad. DOS is pretty much my ideal OS except for the fact you can't do anything with it. My desktop background is plain black too, and I love any program that I can change to black/dark backgrounds with light text.

As for contacts vs glasses, they both have their pros and cons. Glasses don't cover your whole periphery of vision, and you need to find the right ones so that they aren't pinching your nose or head. Some people think they are ugly or nerdy too. The good thing about glasses is you can literally wear them all day long without any eye strain, dry eyes, etc.

Contacts cover your whole range of vision and if you are concerned with appearances no one can tell you have them. The downside is they take some getting used to. It is usually recommended to start out slow with them, only wearing them a couple hours at a time at first, and gradually increasing that time. They can irritate your eyes and make them dry. Even after years of wearing them I still can't really wear them all day comfortably. They can also fall out occasionally and are very hard to find...plus you need to rinse them before putting it back in unless you REALLY want to irritate your eye.

Basically in my experience you can get by with only having glasses and not having contacts, but not the other way around.

bfg-9000 wrote:

Apparently myopia reached epidemic levels in China (>90%) so the government finally threw their considerable resources at finding why, discovering children being kept indoors is associated with having their eyeballs keep growing. http://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120 Apparently at least 3 hours of light 20x as bright as is usually found indoors daily may prevent children from ever having to wear glasses. Even 40 minutes produced a marked drop in incidence. It's not reading books but reading books indoors.

Interesting. I spent a decent amount of time outdoors as a child and still ended up with myopia, but that was probably counter-acted by our cold winters where we don't go outside very much (and we get less than 9 hours of daylight in December..). I imagine some of it is hereditary too though. Almost none of my relatives/family don't need glasses/contacts. One of my relatives has had LASIK and it seemed to work really well, but I just don't like the idea of lasers in my eyes...however irrational it may be.

travbrad wrote:

One of my relatives has had LASIK and it seemed to work really well, but I just don't like the idea of lasers in my eyes...however irrational it may be.

I didn't like the idea of having the outer layer around the middle of the eye cut, and then peeled pack followed by the quick pulse/shine of the laser in my eyes.

biffzinker wrote:

travbrad wrote:

One of my relatives has had LASIK and it seemed to work really well, but I just don't like the idea of lasers in my eyes...however irrational it may be.

I didn't like the idea of having the outer layer around the middle of the eye cut, and then peeled pack followed by the quick pulse/shine of the laser in my eyes.

Wait until you hear what cataract surgery involves these days.

ludi wrote:

biffzinker wrote:

travbrad wrote:

One of my relatives has had LASIK and it seemed to work really well, but I just don't like the idea of lasers in my eyes...however irrational it may be.

I didn't like the idea of having the outer layer around the middle of the eye cut, and then peeled pack followed by the quick pulse/shine of the laser in my eyes.

Wait until you hear what cataract surgery involves these days.

This the type of surgery you were referring to ludi?
Phacoemulsification