I've had glasses since I was about 6 (I'm not 18). My eye sight wasn't really bad but when I was younger I complained about seeing lights when I shut my eyes. So after having my eyes tested I was given glasses. I was supposed to wear them for watching TV, reading etc. but I never really wore them properly. Apart from the flashing lights (which went eventually) my eye sight was actually really good. I never had problems with reading or seeing the board at school. But for the last few years my eye sight has got really bad. In the last few years I've had to go to the opticians about 3 times a year and each time he's said my eye sight has got worse. And for the last few years I've worn my glasses all the time. I can't see things that are so obvious to other people and it's really embarrasing. At school I couldn't see the board properly and struggled to do my work properly because I was too embarrased to ask if I could move closer to the board. My eye sights got so bad I can't even see the numbers on a clock properly without my glasses. Everything looks sort of fuzzy round the edges unless I have my glasses on. If I turn my head to the side without my glasses I can see things better. I'm so upset about my eye sight getting worse. I've asked my optician why my eye sight is worse every time I go to the opticians but I've never really had an answer. And I can't understand it.

Anyone got any reasons why my eye sight is getting worse and worse all the time? It just doesn't seem normal for my vision to be getting worse all the time like this when I'm only 18 :confused:

Thanks

It's more common than you think for myopia to develop in the teens and to get progressively worse. There are posters on this forum with heavy-duty prescriptions. The good news is your eyes should settle down by early to mid twenties. Severe myopia seems to have a genetic factor. Is either of your parents nearsighted?
Have you tried wearing contacts?

K.

I forgot. Your early childhood problem doesn't seem to be related to your present difficulties. Those glasses were for close (farsighted) and all children are farsighted to some degree up to a certain age.

Both my parents wear glasses but neither of them have really bad eye sight.

Thanks. I'll look up Myopia

I've started wearing glasses when I was 8 or 9. I had a severe head injury when I was 15. And now my eyesight is bad -15.75 in the one eye and -15 in the other and continues to worsen as I age, I'm 45. The accident caused me to have macular degeneration which, i've been told, shouldn't worsen as I age like age related macular degeneration. So I have to see an opthomologist every few years and my eye doc dialates my eyes every year. I wear contacts for the most part. I too have gone to the eye doc 2 times a year for several years because my eyesight changed. I can't see anything without my glasses or contacts. I only see forms and vague shapes. What clock?! I can't even see the clock on my dresser!! I do see better with my contacts in than I do with my glasses on. Don't be embarassed to ask to sit in the front because it only hurts you. As far as your eyesight continuing to get worse, nearsidedness, myopia, is different in different people. My mom's glasses are the same strength as my eyes without glasses or contacts on. As far as your parents eyesight not being really bad, that's not a good predictor of how your eyesight will be. Try not to worrry about it as the idea is to enjoy what you do have and can see. God forbid that I won't be able to see anything. :)

Cat Fan: Don't mean to hijack Kelly's thread, but I'm very interested to know how a head injury can cause macular degeneration. What physically happened to the retina? And what would cause it to get worse after the accident?

Thanks,
Keela

Cat Fan: Don't mean to hijack Kelly's thread, but I'm very interested to know how a head injury can cause macular degeneration. What physically happened to the retina? And what would cause it to get worse after the accident?

Thanks,
Keela


Hi Keela,
Please forgive me for taking so long to answer. I grew up showing horses, hunters. When I was about 14, I threw away (shoved my hands up the horse's neck near his ears which makes the reins slack and had no contact with the bridle and the horse's mouth) a very inexperienced horse at the first jump of a triple combination. We crashed threw the first jump, the second the horse managed to throw all the rails above my head, but the third was a cross rail and his neck caught one of the rails and it came and caught me in the nose and eyes. I remember the accident and landing sitting up on my rear end with my legs straight out on the ground looking for my glasses and most of my life before however I still have amnesia about some of my childhood, I have short term memory problems-post its notes are my best friend, I am dyslexic and I have extreme myopia and macular degeneration. I remember spending a lot of time with wires attached to my head at different specialists. Needless to say, it did break my nose bad enough to require a cast on my face. My eye doc discovered the macular degeneration about 8 or 9 years ago. He and my ophthalmologist, a retinal specialist both said it is consistent with the hard hit I took from the fence rail across the bridge of my nose and eyes, the force with which I landed, and my myopia getting worse every year, sometimes twice a year. The doctors at the time of the accident said it was a good thing that my glasses had plastic lenses or I would have been blind. I hope this answers your question. :)

It doesn't exactly answer my question, but through no fault of your own. I can understand how an injury like that could cause retinal detachment, but not sure how it can cause macular degeneration later on. Thanks.

K.

My ophthalmologist said my macular degeneration if from my extreme nearsidedness. Being -15.75 puts a strain on the retina by pulling on it. That's all I've been told. No one in my family has macular degeneration but 75% of my family is nearsided. :)