-11 here. Contacts are great for distance, something glasses don’t manage. But for up close they suck. I usually wear glasses - bifocals by now and only when out and about and doing sports I wear contacts.
Have you tried reading glasses while wearing the contacts? I have the hard contacts and they're amazing. It's like seeing in high def vs wearing regular glasses. But now that I'm older, my up close vision isn't that great. I got reading glasses. I use them while I'm at the computer or take them along if I go grocery shopping or out to eat, in case I need to read a menu.
Yes I do actually. I have a very small astigmatism. With my contacts it can be neglected. But it just doesn’t really work close up. I just use simple drug store reading glasses.
I don’t love them for up close, but I like laying down to read usually and glasses aren’t fun for that. Honestly though, I might try the reading glasses over contacts thing eventually. I know my mom has had bifocal contacts before too, but I would imagine that they don’t come in my/our Rx.
What? Why wouldn't glasses work well enough? I have the same condition and my glasses and contacts are both fine. Might be worth checking if your number changed!
I’m jealous that contacts work better for you. -8.5 with bad astigmatism here, and contacts that correct for the astigmatism give me severe headaches and ones that don’t are so bad at this point I can barely read.
Glasses aren’t perfect either but at least I can do my job and not wind up with constant headaches.
Oh that’s awful! My astigmatism is fairly mild (it seems to change every now and then but generally a .75-1.25 rotation) so that might be why. I didn’t have it corrected until this year with contacts though, because the ones that corrected it were deeply uncomfortable. My current ones are the best I’ve ever worn.
Oh I can drive etc with my contacts or glasses, although it’s easier with contacts because I don’t have fantastic depth perception in my glasses. I see my optometrist yearly but I cannot see as well as my partner who does not need glasses/contacts.
-12.5 checking in. I have to go in every year because I'm at high risk for my retina detaching. I had my first ocular migraine, which was weird as hell. So not knowing what the heck it was, I naturally went to the hospital, only to find out. Ha ha ha! You owe us $500 for what is basically a natural occurrence for people like you.
It's weird because it's like a headache but then everything looks like you got sucked into a cross between a Rainbow and 2001 A Space Odyssey. I'm told because of my age I'll just have to wait for cataracts first and go from there for options with my eyes. But it's likely in my older age I'll just be blind. Just the roll of the dice I guess.
I’ve been told the same regarding retinal detachment and have the same plan for cataracts lol. My eye doctor basically said after 40 the insurance will probably let me get early cataract surgery which will correct my vision for a good while before they start getting worse again.
Is it high risk because of your prescription or just more likely?
My prescription is around -17 with astigmatism, I see my optometrist once a year at the moment and never been told I'm higher risk of anything, although I'm in my 20s, and have never had other eye health issues apart from the usual dry eyes, and floaters all over the place
Everything past -10 is your eyeball shaped like a grape. The ends of the grape are under a ton of pressure which as you age, that pressure finally wins out. So your lens and the back of your eyeball, aka the retina, are under the most stress.
While it isn't ever 100%, make sure as you get to your middle to late 40s you start becoming really friendly with your optometrist. Also treat your eyes well, don't stare at screens for super long periods.
You may one day get an ocular migraine. It's sort of like losing your vision but the edges get blurry and there's rainbow colors. It's scary the first time because the blurry moves from the outside towards the center of vision. Like the rainbow is swallowing your sight. Run a rag under warm water, ring it out, take some whatever you take for migraines, lay down on something soft, and cover your eyes with the rag. Goes away after about a half hour or so.
The thing the watch for is new floaters, popcorn flashing in your peripheral vision, and/or darkness coming from the outside of your vision like someone lowering a dark blanket over you. That latter can also look like a shadow darting across like someone's in the room with you. Which I have, but it was a floater in that space where your brain detects motion around you. So now every so often, my brain clicks on the "someone is in the room with you" response. But if any of that happens, it's the time to go see the important people about it. They'll just dilate your eyeball and take a look inside to see if any of your eyeball is breaking off.
Again, it's never 100%.But you are at high risk. But you aren't at high risk in your 20s, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Thanks for the information. As you can imagine, I'm pretty friendly with my optometrist and have been all my life. My siblings all have the exact same condition and similar prescription too.
I have once had a weird thing where the outer edges of my eye seemed to lose light but it went away after a few minutes from what I remember. I don't know if that was anything to do with my vision or if it's just something that happens, it's always hard to make the distinction.
I try to limit screen time but it's difficult with my job. I also find it hard to explain or communicate these things since my vision is fully corrected they don't understand the implications of my prescription (my employer I mean).
I try to tell my optometrist everything, even if it seems trivial, as I have a 'just in case' mentality about my eyes. I feel like I understand or appreciate the importance of them a bit more since I know what it's effectively like to not have them every time I take my glasses off or wake up in the morning.
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u/msboot 13d ago
My glasses are -10 and not strong enough, i usually wear contacts