Near sightedness is a common form a blurred vision that results from the focusing of the image in front of the retina. This causes close objects to be seen clearly, but objects further in the distance are very hazy and difficult to make out. I was diagnosed with myopia in 4th grade – when i received my first pair of glasses which were Tommy Hilfiger. Prior to this diagnosis – i had found myself squinting and frowning and making odd faces and eyes movements to try to see and bring distant objects into better focus. I would experience awful headaches and found myself holding books closer to myself and having to sit on the floor close to the TV or movie theater screen in order to see the image on the screen. I learned that near sightedness gradually gets worse as my eyeball grows and develops with increased age – I did NOT want this to interfere with my academics, sports, or work performance – thus, I immediately visited the eye doctors and voiced my concerns.
My form of near sightedness was not due to a disease, but due to a natural or random change in the shape of the cornea of my eyeball. This change alter the bending of the light entering my eye – thus, the light rays entering my eye were being positioned/focused in front of my retina rather than on it. A normal eye would focus incoming light rays directly on the retina in order to convert the light into neural impulses to send to the brain to form an image.
Funny enough – i was “okay” with getting glasses. I had always wanted glasses ever since I saw my friend in primary school with the fancy pair of glasses. I agree that they add a notion of sophistication and intelligence; a vibe of class and hierarchy; and even a little spunk, depending on the brand you wore.
I do find it interesting how people (including me at one point in time) who do not need glasses yearn to have a pair while those who are dependent on them thank the lord for the invention of contact lenses. Glasses can add sophistication – however, a lot of people dependent on glasses are sensitive and ashamed of them at times. For young kids, it can be a form of embarrassment and a vulnerability to get teased and made fun of. I have never experienced this, but i know a few people who have and it’s unfortunate how something we have no control over can have such an impact on our life and ego.
Glasses are a lot of work – to clean, to keep accounted for, to prevent damage.
Be thankful if you have 20/20 vision.
14 thoughts on “Near Sightedness”
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I find this interesting and not many people know why this happens. Something even more interesting is that the reason squinting helps focus far objects is because it makes the size of the hole that light is entering, smaller. A neat way to test this is to put your fingers into the shape of a tiny hole and looking through it, or looking through something with tiny holes in it (<1mm).
This blog post really works for me. I suffer from nearsightedness but only in some ways. Classrooms have always been a trouble for me to be in, especially when the instructor has a lot of lettering on a slide. I need glasses for things like this, but have never had a problem any other time. I hunt and shoot, and rarely use my glasses. Nice work though.
I am also affected by being nearsighted. The clear front part of my eye known as the cornea has too much curvature. I started to notice the blur of distant objects when I was in third grade. This is common though, with nearsightedness first occurring in school-aged children. Being nearsighted at such a young age has been difficult with the fact that I can’t see far objects without the help of glasses and then eventually contacts. Over the years, my eye sight has gotten worse. I find it frustrating that without my glasses or contacts I can’t make out objects or who people are even. They can be three feet away, and I still wouldn’t be able to tell who they are or what they are doing. My parents have had problems with their eyesight and underwent a procedure called Lasiks which I hope to get soon. My older brother also had the procedure done to his eyes, as well. I hope that in my future I don’t have to rely on my glasses or contacts because of the Lasik procedure.
Like many other people in this world I also suffer from nearsightedness. I first noticed my condition back in fifth grade. At first the only thing affected by my disability was seeing the whiteboard that my teacher wrote on. I could make out the general shapes but I could not distinguish between the letters. Over the years my eyesight has consistently gotten worse year after year, unlike what happened to my brother. My brother also suffered from the same condition around the same time I did, expect he was in seventh grade. Over the years his eyesight actually improved to the point where he now only needs glasses when he is driving at night. Near sightedness is a condition which has run in my family, so at this point its really no surprise when someone needs glasses. One day I hope to receive Lasik eye surgery in the hopes of fixing my blight. However, if I have to live the rest of my life wearing contacts and glasses it wont be the end of the world.
When I used to go to the eye doctor, I would always try and pretend like my vision was bad so that the doctor would give me glasses. I always used to like trying different peoples’ glasses on. When they weren’t making everything around me look weird or making my head hurt, I would usually see how long I could get away with wearing them until whoever actually owned them took them off my face. I just always thought I looked smarter with them on. Any kid between the ages of five and seven would believe that you could become more intelligent by putting a pair of glasses on. When I got older and started junior high and eventually high school, it seemed that every kid who had a girlfriend also had glasses on there face. It’s funny, “four eyes” was such a popular insult on television, and it turns out that in the real world “two eyes” could be used in the proper situation. Now that I’m in college I thank god for my 20/20 vision. If I had to wear glasses around a party my parents would have spent thousands of dollars on fixing broken lenses.
I am also nearsighted and my situation is very similar to yours. People actually don’t understand the struggle of having to wear glasses or contact lens to see everyday it gets annoying at time. That’s what also happened to me. When I was younger I always thought I had perfect vision and I didn’t even realize that at some point it changed. In the 6th grade I sat in the back on the room and I raised my hand to ask if I could move up so I can see the board a little better and my teacher was like shocked I couldn’t see it the board. She said I should go get my eyes checked so she sent me to the nurse and ever since that day I have had to wear glasses or contacts. Every class in high school and now in college I have to wear my glasses to see the board. I can’t even remember what it’s like to not have to wear them.
I have a similar story. I had always wanted glasses because my friends had them, but I didn’t need glasses when I was younger. My brother and sister did, and because I knew that eyesight changed with development in childhood, I thought that I wouldn’t need to get them. I thought I had passed that point. But, sure enough, in my 8th grade year I started having issues with seeing the board from the back of the class. I have worn glasses ever since.
While I do like my glasses, I would like to have contacts. Glasses can be a hassle sometimes. Especially when it comes to cleaning them, wearing sunglasses, or using peripheral vision.
I have a similar experience to yours. When I was younger, I never had a problem with my vision. I would go to the doctor for my yearly check up, and had 20/20 vision. As I got older, I spent much time on the computer. When I say “much time,” literally I would at the computer for hours straight, probably at least 5 hours a day. I was straining my eyes. Because along with my time spent on the computer, I also watched TV during the course of a day. I noticed in school I started having a hard time seeing the board from far away. In 6th grade I got my first pair of glasses, D&G. So I wasn’t really ashamed, I was rockin my glasses in style. Since 6th grade, my prescription has not changed much. I tried out the contacts, but they were more of a pain than glasses, especially if you don’t have the daily disposable ones. I had acrylic nails, and once they would start to grow out I had a hard time being able to get the contacts out. So for now, I stick to my glasses, that I wear more than not, and I’m just fine with that.
Now I want to go find my first pair of glasses, that’ll have to be a priority of mine next time I go home!
This really hits home with me too. I had a similar story, except my glasses came a little later in high school. I am an avid golfer and baseball player so it was tough for me to adjust at first, and I opted to go for contact lenses. They truly fascinate me in a way that’s different than glasses. I agree completely with the sophistication aspect, as it’s proven people will perceive you as more intelligent with glasses. To each his own I suppose.
I can relate to your concerns growing up. I was diagnosed with myopia the summer after 1st grade. In fact, my eyes are so abnormally shaped that my ophthalmologist has to order me special contacts. When I was younger, I remember thinking glasses were so “cool” and that I wished I had them. However, after my doctor wrote out a prescription for glasses to correct my nearsightedness, my outlook changed a bit. I will never forget the first day of second grade when I raised my hand during reading time and asked my teacher if I could go to my desk to get my glasses. I experienced a kind of premature example of the “imaginary audience” effect. I felt like everyone was looking at me, silently judging me. I would feel great when I went into the school nurse’s annual checkup and crushed the eye test while wearing my glasses or – later on – contacts. However, when I had to take off my glasses to measure my uncorrected vision, I became more self-conscious. I’d definitely advise those with 20/20 vision to count their blessings.
It is so true what you’re saying about people wanting glasses with perfect vision and people who need glasses mostly want them gone. I remember when I first had to get glasses when I was young and absolutely hated them. They felt like they interfered with everything, sports especially. Contact lenses were a blessing, but even now with contacts I wish that I could just go without any sort of corrective lenses. The technology allowing corrective surgery is so astounding to me. There are a ton of possible factors that affect peoples’ vision, and it seems like we can fix all of them with different surgeries. Being nearsighted definitely has been an annoyance throughout my life and many other peoples lives, but the fact that we can almost certainly get surgery and get almost perfect vision is just awesome. All I know is that if I get corrective surgery there is no chance that I will wear glasses again if I have the choice, even for fashion.
I also have nearsightedness and have had glasses since I was in kindergarten. My step-dad is actually an eye doctor and uses my eyes to test new contacts and glasses. As more strain is placed on the eye by looking at a board, reading, on the computer, or looking into the distance, the eye actually increasingly gets worse, as you said. As a trial, I got bifocal glasses and contacts when I was in 6th grade, and within the next two years after that, my eyes actually got better. My vision actually changed and stopped progressively getting worse. Since bifocals use a different lens, that “zooms” in more, my eyes did not have to strain as much and stopped the progression. I also have astigmatism, which is when the shape of my eye is slightly different. This causes my lens to have two different focal points. There are special contacts and glasses lenses that make my separate focal points come together. Like you also said, I though glasses would be fun to have and wear. Nowadays, I find glasses and contacts more of a hassle. When I am old enough, I plan on getting corrective laser surgery and wearing clear glasses to accessorize my outfits instead.
I have also always wanted classes, so when i was little i would try on my friends glasses to see if my eyesight would get worse. Its funny, people who have glasses wish they had perfect vision, and people with perfect vision, wish they had glasses. I don’t get why we always want something different then what we have. Anyways, my brother and my sister both had glasses from the natural changing of their cornea as well. But my brother is far sighted and my sister is near sighted. I know that my sisters eyes are progressively getting worse as she is growing up, but my brothers are just the same. I still wish i was either near sighted or far sighted just so i could have stylish glasses.
I definitely agree that many people who do not need glasses actually want them and many who need glasses don’t want them at all. I have “good” vision as one would say, but I always wanted to have a pair of glasses. It looks nice with certain outfits. I actually have the opposite problem than you, even if not severe. I have to back up from a picture or text sometimes to focus it in a little better. I don’t think that I am farsighted but I am more so than nearsighted. My boyfriend has the same problem as you though, and he actually hates contact lenses which is funny because almost everyone I know prefers contacts over their glasses. I guess that is just personal preference. I like how you described that your cornea was the problem. I’ve only actually met one person who had this problem that I know of, and I find it interesting. I wonder what the cause for that is… maybe genetics or some other biological cause.