Would wearing my glasses correct my eyesight permanently?

I was recently asked a question about wearing glasses. It went something like this:

Hi Doc, would wearing my glasses correct my eyesight permanently? After wearing them for a while, is there a point in time where I can take them off without my eyes getting blurry? How can I correct this disease?

This is how I answered:

Very good question! In order for me to answer the question, I first have to put things into perspective. We tend to refer to people who are near-sighted or far-sighted, or people with astigmatism, as having a refractive error.

In a way the word “error” is a misnomer. This is because there are more far-sighted (hyperopia) and near-sighted (myopia) people in the world than there are “normal sighted” (emmetropia) people. It is not a disease.

It’s similar to saying that because you are short or because you are tall you have a problem. In other words, it can be misleading.

Some people are born far-sighted. Some are born near-sighted and some are born with astigmatism. That’s the nature of things.

There is also induced near-sightedness, latent far-sightedness and induced astigmatism, but that is another topic in itself.

In the days of the caveman, we drew large images and we didn’t have any problems. We could see nearly everything. But then what happened? We invented print. Then print got smaller and smaller and smaller.

Now we are faced with the problem of having to focus on fine objects. In addition, we now have cell phones, TVs, computers and other digital devices.

We’re on Facebook most of the time. We’re doing more work with our eyes than we are used to. So now these symptoms are showing up, people are having more headaches, eye strain, blurry vision, etc.

In order to meet the demands of our civilization, we need to wear glasses if we cannot see things at a distance, or if we suffer from the symptoms I just mentioned.

Now, back to the question that you’re asking. Yes, the blurriness is because you’re not wearing the glasses.

If you put on the glasses, you will see less blurry. Over time, your eyes will get accustomed to the glasses and you will be very comfortable.

In some cases, depending on the focusing muscles in your eyes, you will find there may be periods where you can do without the glasses.

If you do this for too long, chances are that the eyes can become strained.

What I’m saying is that you may need to wear your glasses on a regular basis. Remember, nothing is wrong with your eyes. Some people are born near-sighted, some people are born far-sighted and some have astigmatism.

If you were a caveman or you lived on a planet where there was no print, no need to discern objects from afar and there were no TVs or digital devices, you probably wouldn’t need glasses.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

In our technology driven environment, we’re constantly inventing new things. and our eyes now have to adjust to these new things. I hope that makes sense.

Remember to keep an eye on your eyes.