Can glasses worsen nearsightedness and Myopia?
** Update 2019: I have pretty much confirmed, at least for myself, that getting stronger glasses each year was the cause of my myopia. I stopped going to eye exams and getting stronger glasses since 7th grade, which is over 15 years ago now. I also made deliberate effort to never wear my glasses except when needed to read far. During that time, I only went back once at the end of college to replace broken glasses, and that prescription ended up being pretty much the same as eight years prior. Another seven years later, today, after going back to replace broken glasses, my prescription still ended up being close to what it was over a decade ago.
My eyes went from 0 to -5.00 diopters from 4th to 7th grade in a matter of 3 years, during which doctors gave me stronger glasses every year. Eight years later after avoiding eye doctors for so long, my replacement glasses ended up still only -5.25 diopters. Now, my newest prescription 7 years after that is -6.00 diopters, of which I currently have to practically argue with the eye doctor not to prescribe the full amount and restart the worsening cycle. It's a bit too much a coincidence to think it had nothing to do with when I stopped upping the prescription every year.
There's an idea that Myopia, or nearsightedness, might not be solely heridatory or inherited. Some are saying that by wearing glasses or other corrections, one can worsen the eyes, leading to a constant increase of prescriptions over and over again.
The concept goes that your eyes become nearsighted in order to "relax" from seeing things too close up. Your eyes are strained when focusing on close objects, whereas seeing far relieves them. In other words, your vision becomes blurred because the eyes grow tired and want to avoid focusing for a while.
By wearing glasses, you are basically ruining the point, making everything close up and sharp again. Then your eyes get even worse in order to pursue a state of relaxation. People then think they need a new pair of glasses, which again ruins the point and repeats the cycle.
An important point to realize is that you
can make your eyes better. Much of the nearsightedness or myopia may just be temporary strain and can be reversed by simply allowing your eyes rest, focusing on distant objects. However, if you do
not allow this temporary myopia to clear up before straining your eyes further, it possibly will be permanent and irreversable, which is what many people end up doing.
Here are some further readings if you want to learn more:
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Myopia Explosion - Simple series of FAQs with direct answers as to whether glasses help or go against your vision.
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Myopia Prevention Home Page - This is based on a personal account of the site owner's experience. Very detailed and pretty indepth on how the he or she reduced myopia by about 2.00-3.00 degrees.
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The Myopia Myth: How to Prevent Nearsightedness - A more biased view of the issue. The site owner is author of the book
The Myopia Myth and provides great detail on the problem. He's also invented the Myopter, which combats several of the causes. It's a bit more on the extreme side, but well-intentioned nonetheless.
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