Now EYE Know! – Will wearing glasses make my eyes weaker?

Here are some common concerns we hear our patients bring up.

“My kid has a prescription but I only have them wear their glasses when they really need them so their vision doesn’t get worse.”

Children should wear their glasses as prescribed by their doctor. In some cases, if kids don’t wear their glasses their vision could actually get worse. This is especially true for near-sighted (myopic) children. Depending on the amount of prescription the doctor may only prescribe glasses to be worn for certain activities like during school or while watching TV. Stronger prescriptions may be required to be worn all day for all distances. Please talk to your doctor about when your child’s glasses should be worn

“I have glasses for up close but I don’t want to wear them too much so my eyes don’t get too used to them.”

Wearing glasses regularly will not make your eyes any weaker. Starting in our 40’s it is normal to experience a change in near vision. Typically, it gets harder and harder to focus up close and you may notice you have to hold things farther away. This will continue to get gradually worse over the years regardless of wearing reading glasses or not. This is caused by the natural loss of flexibility of the lens inside your eye. Wearing glasses will not speed up this process. However, wearing your glasses regularly will help you see better and have more comfortable vision!

“I have glasses but I only wear them when I need them for driving. I don’t want my eyes to get lazy.”

If you are an adult your prescription is not expected to be affected by wearing glasses or not. If you wear your glasses, your vision will be better and yours eyes will not “get worse” due to wearing them. When you remove your glasses you may notice that your uncorrected vision is not as sharp as your corrected vision with your glasses on. This is not because your glasses made your eyes worse. You just have an increased awareness that your natural vision is not a clear as your vision with your glasses.

If you have any questions feel free to ask Dr. Jennifer Aslam or Dr. Lara Priest!