Can You Stop Your Eyesight Getting Worse

When we grow up from children into adults, many things change. We get taller. We need larger shoes. Some of us have worsening eyesight and start to need glasses to correct our vision. Why?

The eye develops during a critical stage when we are children. Once we become adults (teenagers even), the eye isn’t really developing anymore and our prescription starts to lock in.

The prescription of an eye is largely based upon two components. The length of our eye and the shape of the cornea on the front of the eye. When we are born, our eyes are actually pretty large (comparatively). Much of the anatomical development of the eye happens before we are born. Now, our vision isn’t quite the greatest right when we are born since many other things have to catch up, but by the time we are toddlers, vision has developed quite well.

For young children it is actually normal to be a little bit farsighted. Our vision is still sharp, however, because the natural lens inside our eye is flexible and can focus through that extra prescription.

_{Her eyes are still developing; Image by Cristina Anne Costello on Unsplash}

Over time as we grow, the eye also starts to lengthen a little bit more.

Gradually, this farsighted prescription disappears until the prescription is perfectly on target (in a perfect world). But some individuals over shoot that target and end up nearsighted.

For Some, Eyesight Gets Worse

Nearsightedness (also known as myopia) is increasing at a rapid rate worldwide. Not only is being nearsighted and having to rely on glasses or contact lenses inconvenient, but more concerning is that being nearsighted leads to a higher risk of problems with the eyes such as retinal detachments. Because of this, researchers have been trying to figure out why.

• Genetics play a good role in the development of nearsightedness. This has been known for quite some time. Children born to very nearsighted parents will frequently become nearsighted. But genetics can’t explain everything.
• The role of environment is increasingly becoming more evident in determining nearsightedness. Children that are involved in more up close work and receiving less sunlight are increasingly developing more myopia. As children are staying indoors and playing on tablets and game devices up close, their eyes are adjusting to this new range of focus. Instead of the eyes being focused out in the distance such as would happen when you are playing outside, the eyes start to focus on what is being seen most commonly, up close.

_{Investigating myopia; Image by Elizaveta Dushechkina on Unsplash}

Since you can’t change genetics, it is more and more important to limit amount of time children spend with tablets and increase the amount of time outdoors. Doing that can help improve their vision development ensuring healthy eyes!

Does Eyesight Stop Changing?

For the vast majority of people, vision stops changing in the late teenage years. Once the body finishes growing, the eye also typically finishes its development.

And when we are fully grown, the eye strops growing. Because of this, the vast majority of people reach a point in their life where their vision stops changing. Their eye has stopped growing similar to how their height stabilizes and they don’t need to replace their shoes regularly. For most people this occurs around the ages of 18-21.

Fortunately it is rare for the vision to continue to change throughout the rest of life after that.

But there are some individuals who can notice continued progression in their schooling years. So who is at risk?

College requires lots of studying. Lots and lots of time is spent in front of books and computers. Fortunately, however, the vast majority of people don’t have anything to worry about. With standard amounts of computer use and up close work, it’s rare for the vision to continue to get worse over time.

However, professional school beyond college requires lots more studying and book work. Excessive time spent in up close work does increase the risk of vision becoming more nearsighted over time. This has actually been observed in a few different population groups: medical students, law students, and engineering students. Some of these students had continued progression of their nearsighted vision during their four years of education!

_{Eyesight can become worse in college and beyond; Image by Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia}

Fortunately, these shifts tend to be small. And also fortunately it doesn’t happen to everyone. But what can be done? Stopping studying isn’t the answer. The best course is just to simply take more breaks and give your eyes some rest. Enjoy time outdoors. And not just your eyes but your whole overall well-being will thank you!

Also check out The Reasons Behind Eyesight Getting Worse in 20s on EyeMountain.com

Not All Glasses Changes Are Worsening Eyesight

However, not all the change in glasses prescription is the same! In fact, each year most people can actually see slight changes in their glasses prescription despite having stabilized eyes.

Each day, the prescription of the eye can be slightly different. A lot of these slight differences relate to factors on the eye which fluctuate day by day and even within the same day. The tear film on the surface of the eye is one of these factors. The tear film is critical for clear focused vision. Subtle variations in the tear film each day can lead to small changes in the actual prescription of the eye. Fortunately, these differences are very small (0.25 or less of prescription measurement). Too small in fact to really be identified in your vision (note: unless you have dry eye and the tear film is fluctuating way too much). But if you take a measurement each day you will get slightly different results. As a result, the prescription of the eye glasses can change just based upon the fluctuation of the measurements.

The important part when evaluating your prescription is to make sure that it isn’t getting progressively worse (and your eyesight getting progressively worse). If in doubt, however, your eye doctor help you figure out.

To learn more check out Exactly When Does Vision Stop Changing on EyeMountain.com

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