Vision Improved? How is this possible

[ausrere]

Ok..I've been noticing lately that I have to hold documents a little farther away from me to see them clearly. I figured, ok, I'm getting to the age that near vision should be failing a little. I'm not happy about it, but that's life. I've worn contacts for over 20 years and my Rx has been pretty much the same that whole time (they were originally prescribed so I could see far objects clearly.. is that far sighted?? I always get the near/far sighted stuff confused). .

I went to the eye doc today and she tells me that the reason things close up are blurry is because my vision has improved! She explains that my near vision is being over-corrected by the contacts. She prescribes a new pair of contacts with less correction and poof! words jump off the page now.. and I still seem to see as clearly at a distance as ever.

I didn't know it was possible to have your vision improve without it involving cutting or lasers or what not... is that common? (not that I'm complaining).

 

[AdamZ]

Lisa too many years squinting looking down the barrel of a police special has got to do something to your eyes. Good or Bad.

 

[ausrere]

Lisa too many years squinting looking down the barrel of a police special has got to do something to your eyes. Good or Bad.

Maybe so.. although if it helped in a good way, I'm afraid I'm probably undoing the improvement rapidly by spending as much time as I do now squinting at a PC monitor!

 

[Len Lanetti]

is that far sighted?? I always get the near/far sighted stuff confused). .

Far sighted is when you can see clearly in the distance. It makes it easier to read the eye chart on the wall but harder to pass the test where you read from something hand held.

Len

 

[gkainz]

The last 3 vision prescriptions over 8 years I've had included less correction in one or both eyes. Doc says that the cornea changes shape and just so happens mine is changing shape for the better (at least for far-sightedness, in my case). Who knows how long it may continue, or if it will continue until I'm near-sighted?

Slight change of thread, but has anyone looked into Claroxan http://www.claroxan.com/VisionImprovement/default.aspx or there's another ad I saw a while back claiming vision improvement thru eye exercises? Snake oil or possible positive benefits?

 

[Len Lanetti]

The last 3 vision prescriptions over 8 years I've had included less correction in one or both eyes. Doc says that the cornea changes shape and just so happens mine is changing shape for the better (at least for far-sightedness, in my case). Who knows how long it may continue, or if it will continue until I'm near-sighted?

Greg,

I'm far sighted as well. This is exactly what happened to me through my thirties. For my FAA medicals during that period I could easily pass the distance vision test and I could also squint long enough to pass the near vision test without my glasses. I always wore my glasses even though my medical did not spell it out as a requirement as trying to read charts and such without them is too tiring. Also, as I've worn glasses for as long as I can remember it was normal to have them on.

In my early forties the need for bifocals was apparent and now in my late forties I couldn't read average size print without them. I keep a back up pair of glasses with my current Rx in my flight bag. In a pinch I know I could fly, see traffic and land without glasses but reading most of the print on charts for navigation wouldn't be possible. Navigating over a familiar area by pilotage would be doable but someone would have to read to me a COM or NAV frequency.

Len

 

[gkainz]

Len,
Sounds like we're in the same boat, er, plane on the vision thing. I ended up trying the varilux trifocal glasses at early 40's ... still not completely happy with them, but it's time for another checkup and I suspect another Rx change again...maybe that will sharpen things up.

 

[RotaryWingBob]

Greg,
In my early forties the need for bifocals was apparent and now in my late forties I couldn't read average size print without them. I keep a back up pair of glasses with my current Rx in my flight bag. In a pinch I know I could fly, see traffic and land without glasses but reading most of the print on charts for navigation wouldn't be possible. Navigating over a familiar area by pilotage would be doable but someone would have to read to me a COM or NAV frequency.

Len

Ditto, Len, and it poses a dilemma for me. Bifocals are fine for me in an airplane, but it is really tough to land a helicopter with them because they distort your peripheral vision through the lower part of the plastic bubble. So I have two pairs of glasses and two pairs of sunglasses -- one set with bifocals, one without. Which means I have to hold the chart or whatever a couple of inches from my face

 

[Greebo]

Your brain is growing, and its stretching out your skull and making your eye shape change. It worked out in your favor this time.


Ok, seriously, Eyeballs change all the time, over time. My own eyes started out as mildly far sighted left eye, 20/20 right, but over time they've become 20/20 left, mildly near sighted right.

 

[gismo]

As noted by others, your vision does change over time and the changes can be towards the improvement direction. One thing for sure though is that somewhere between 40 and about 50 you will start to lose accomodation (ability to focus near and far) and will eventually need multifocal correction. And on that note, a friend (and fellow pilot) sells interocular lenses and told me about a fairly recent lens that has multiple focal lengths and thus can eliminate the need for reading glasses for us grey haired folk. He also said that most people over 55 have some clouding of their natural lens and can get lens replacement surgery covered by insursnce even if the new lens is multifocal. You just have to pay the difference in cost for that lens compared to a "normal" one. This is something I'm definitely interested in.

 

[ausrere]

As noted by others, your vision does change over time and the changes can be towards the improvement direction. One thing for sure though is that somewhere between 40 and about 50 you will start to lose accomodation (ability to focus near and far) and will eventually need multifocal correction.

Oh boy..something to look forward to! Actually, that's why I was amazed that she told me my vision had improved. I'm 42, so I figured it was about that time. My father didn't need glasses up until the day he died (at 62) and my mother just got her first reading glasses now at a few years over that, so maybe it runs in the family.

My eye doc, and the AME give me a hard time about wearing contacts as it is. My correction is so minimal that I can easily pass a driving and flight physical uncorrected. But about the age of 22 or so I started having a real hard time focusing on those darn license plates at night, hence the contacts. Now, if I don't wear them, I'll get a headache trying to focus on stuff at what would be in my "normal" vision range for all these years.

 

[Len Lanetti]

Bob,

I have the variable, no line style bi focals I don't get that distortion...though it might be because my accommodation isn't entirely gone and the bi focals are not that strong (yet).

Len