Eyesight issues: Dealing with myopia (nearsightedness)

Quick question for anyone who thinks they know their stuff about vision

So, after two years of ignoring it, I finally went for an eye exam because my vision was getting a bit blurry and my contacts were definitely due for a swap. Better late than never, right? I’ve been nearsighted since puberty, so I’ve gone through everything from glasses to hard lenses, then soft ones, eventually settling somewhere around -2.5 or -2.75.
The part that actually blew my mind was finding out my prescription jumped by 0.75 in both eyes.😲 Here's the thing: I was expecting maybe a tiny shift of 0.25 since things felt slightly off, but a jump that big? It caught me totally off guard.
Is it actually normal for your prescription to spike like that? And should I go get a second opinion from someone else? My doctor seemed just as rattled as I was—we spent a solid hour in there trying to make sense of it.
I’m thinking about switching back to hard lenses. After five years🙄 of wearing soft ones, I’ve realized they just don't work for me; the vision feels unstable. But can you ever actually go back, or am I just on a one-way street toward needing increasingly stronger lenses every single time I visit the eye doctor?😢 What’s the move here? Do I play dumb and stick with my old, outdated prescription, or do I bite the bullet and get the stronger lenses so I can actually see clearly? I'm torn. Being able to see everything perfectly is amazing, but if I upgrade now, is this just the beginning of a never-ending cycle of worse vision?

Give me some hope here. Tell me it won't keep getting worse, and please, if you know a killer eye doctor, let me know. Plz. 😢

Honestly, just go see another specialist because you'll feel way more at peace once you know if the first diagnosis was actually legit or not.
I had this super famous doctor tell me my prescription hadn't changed at all, but I could clearly tell my vision was blurry, so I went to this much more low-key eye doctor who nailed my exact prescription immediately, and since starting the new lenses, things have been looking so much better.

how much of a jump in prescription is actually considered normal?

It’s totally different for everyone, but mine has been steadily increasing my whole life.😢
Sometimes it jumps by a full diopter every couple of years.

I'm switching back to hard contacts because after five years, I realized soft ones just don't work for me—my vision keeps shifting, so is there any way to stop this or am I just stuck waiting for my prescription to get stronger every single time I get an exam?

My medical history isn't exactly great, and I've seriously tried every single treatment out there, yet my prescription just kept climbing regardless, so even though they keep changing whether I wear soft or hard lenses, I just settled on soft ones since they're way more comfortable for my eyes.

My eye doctor never actually gave me my full prescription because apparently, if I had, my near vision would have been a total mess—some technicality about focusing up close, I guess. Anyway, my prescription is actually a "little" stronger than yours.🙂

Last year my prescription jumped by half a diopter, and honestly, I nearly had a panic attack—is it possible my contact lenses are just wrong? My eye doctor told me it’s totally normal for things to fluctuate a bit, saying something like, "Well, you're still young!" (I almost fell in love with her right there in the 😬 clinic, haha), but I was still pretty worried. I mean, in all the twenty years I've worn glasses, my vision has only ever changed by half a step, going from a 3.5 to a 4 total
. But then I sat around thinking about it and realized I've been spending way more time staring at a computer screen lately since I switched from school to freelance translation work... and that's really the only big change in my life. It probably doesn't have anything to do with my lenses, since this is the first time my eyes have shifted in like 7 or 8 years since I started wearing them... or at least, I really hope that's the case...

My prescription used to shift constantly every single year. Sometimes it would jump by 0.25, sometimes 0.5, and honestly, there were times it swung by a full diopter. Knock on wood, though, it’s been totally stable for about four years now. If it doesn't stay put this year, I’m finally going to look into getting LASIK to fix it once and for all.

At the end of the day, you're the one who knows your own vision best—can you actually see better with the new prescription compared to the old one? For me, clarity was the only thing that mattered. Whatever helps me see, I'll take. If I were in your shoes, I’d definitely give the new prescription a shot. You even mentioned yourself how nice it is to actually be able to see everything clearly 😉 So don't stress too much... there's an end in sight. It's just silly to stick with a weak prescription and constantly strain your eyes trying to make up for it.

It’s all subjective at the end of the day😢

My stuff is always shifting a little bit, but I guess we're talking about a 0.25 margin or something like that

Still, I'm pretty anxious because I’m basically glued to this computer screen 24/7🙄

I'm at -7 right now, but just a year ago I was at -6.5 in my right eye and -6 in my left.

My doctor told me this prescription is totally normal for someone my age—I'm 19—and said there's no reason to panic.

I wear soft contact lenses.🙏 🙏 🙏

So, I wear glasses, and I’ve noticed this weird pattern where every time I get a new pair, my prescription seems to jump up... It actually got me thinking. I’ve decided I’m not going to let them bump my prescription up until I truly can't see straight with my current ones. Right now, I think I'm sitting at a -1.25. Honestly, glasses feel like a bit of a trap—you usually end up with a prescription that's slightly stronger than what you actually need, and then your eyes just react by trying to adjust to that higher power. It’s like a cycle. And since there’s no reason for your eyes to "adjust" back down to a lower number when you're already wearing a stronger lens... it just keeps climbing...

I I managed to push mine from -2 down to -7.

Uh... kind of my thing, I guess 🙄

Started wearing glasses when I was 7, now I'm 28. My prescription just kept climbing this whole time. Think I started at maybe -1 or something, but now I'm sitting at like -6 or -7 in my right eye. That’s counting the -3.5 cylinder and the -2/-2.5 sphere.

For the last two and a half years, I've been on contacts. Honestly, they struggle with me as much as I struggle with them. My left eye stayed pretty steady, and the right one only went up by like 0.25, but lately—the last 6 months—it feels like my vision is slipping again in that right eye. Kind of scared to actually go see an eye doctor and find out what's happening. I spend all day staring at monitors and do a lot of night driving. I wouldn't jump into LASIK though; there's just too much life ahead of me and I don't know what else is coming. Feels way too early to go burning off tissue.

I'm not a weak or unstable person or anything, but man, it really hurts deep in my chest after I take my contacts out and suddenly realize—how can I not see?

I'm curious about something else—is it true that hitting the gym increases your prescription? It seems logical that it would, like any other physical strain or body changes.

Also, has anyone noticed a difference between contacts and glasses with the same prescription? Okay, there's that basic difference where contacts feel better, but after a while, everything looks fine through the contacts, yet things look super blurry through my glasses.

Alright, if everyone else is gonna whine about it, I guess I’ll join in on the misery train too...

My vision issues started way back in puberty, and after fifteen years of this nonsense, my prescription is sitting at a solid -6.00, and get this—it literally gets worse by 0.25 or 0.50 every single year without fail...

I’m seriously wondering, like, when is this actually going to stop? Because right now, my eyes aren't showing any signs of cooperating at all.

The eye doctors basically just shrugged and told me there’s nothing they can do to fix it, so what am I even supposed to do now? Should I start looking for second-hand white canes on Craigslist? Or maybe start a savings account for a guide dog?! Seriously though, if things keep trending this way, I might actually need one in ten years.

And don't even get me started on the gear—I've tried everything from soft contacts to semi-hard lenses, glasses, sunglasses, you name it... but every single year, it’s the exact same depressing story.

A colleague of mine is actually claiming that his vision has improved simply because he switched from a standard monitor to an LCD screen. While I’ll concede that they are certainly easier on the eyes, this is honestly the first time I've ever heard anyone suggest a change in hardware could actually fix a prescription.
Maybe there's a chance we can convince the boss at the office to stop buying old monitors and just invest exclusively in LCDs?

Haha, Darth... yeah, right. It stops growing once you're six feet under, I guess. 😁

From what I’ve heard, tried, and actually felt myself, those contacts helped slow things down, but man, the vision still keeps slipping. And honestly? I’m super skeptical about all those surgeries. Sure, maybe they knock your prescription down a bit, but it’ll probably just crawl right back up. I follow a few people online who got LASIK, and most of them end up needing more work because their vision regresses. It makes you wonder... what do you even do then? What's the move when there's nothing left to fix with a laser?

As for the eye exercises thing—no, I’m dead serious. You see a lot of basketball players dealing with astigmatism. It usually comes down to the eyeball not developing quite right, which messes with how light hits your retina. All that intense training and heavy physical strain is proven to worsen the shape of the eye, basically shifting your prescription. Extreme exertion and pressure changes can even cause blindness, but that's a whole different level of scary.

I want to ask something more on the psychological side, though. How do you guys internally deal with the fact that you can't see, or that you're slowly losing your sight? Like, how do you handle it when someone—even someone you love—is like, "Can't you see that?" or "Are you blind?" Do you just sit there thinking, "...Yeah, I guess I am"? Or do you think, "Yeah, one day this might get even worse"?

Honestly, I'll probably be headed to the great beyond way before I lose any more sight anyway. And hey, maybe I'll just end up in a nursing home, so whatever.

As for me, personally
Honestly, there was a time when I used to feel kind of self-conscious about it, but now? Honestly, screw it! I don’t care one bit if I wear glasses or if my eyesight is basically non-existent... if someone doesn't like how I look, they can just look somewhere else!
And my partner has been absolutely amazing about everything—never once have I felt judged, teased, or misunderstood because of my eyes. In fact, he’s actually been super sweet and has picked up my glasses for me more times than I can count when I couldn't find them myself 🙂

So, most of the time I’m either rocking my glasses or wearing contacts, which means I can see perfectly fine and am pretty much just like everyone else.
Since I have to swap out my contacts every year, and even when my vision dips by a tiny bit—like 0.50, which happens pretty regularly—I've learned how to navigate life just fine, so I don't really struggle too much.

The stuff that actually bugs me is:
- Like, without some kind of eyewear, I'm basically useless. I can't do anything, not even read; I can't even see clearly things right in front of my face!

- Or when I take my contacts out and realize I didn't leave my glasses where they belong, and then I'm just stumbling around the house blindly feeling everything because I literally cannot see a thing. In those moments, I feel pretty pathetic, haha 😢

And oh man, I had such an embarrassing moment this past spring when I finally went to get new glasses after five years. I went from a -2.75 prescription straight to a -5.75... and let me tell you, seeing how thick those lenses were was a total shocker!

But hey, I managed to scrape together enough cash $500 to upgrade to some high-index lenses, so they're a bit thinner now and actually look totally fine.

My only real headache is that every single year, I end up having to spend a little extra $667 on all this eye gear (and obviously, I'm not even counting the doctor visits, contact solutions, or the fees for renewing my driver's license every couple of years and all that jazz).

Psychologically speaking, I think I'm handling it pretty well and I try not to stress too much about what happens when my vision eventually fades more. But since my big hobbies are painting and photography, I do occasionally wonder how I'll cope if one day I can't paint or snap photos anymore. That would be such a bummer for me. If I had to trade my sight for hearing, 😁 I'd choose my sight every single time. 😬
But seriously, why worry about something that hasn't happened yet? Until I actually go blind, I'm just going to enjoy all the perks of good vision thanks to these little pieces of silicone sitting in my eyes.

Once the day comes when I can't even find contacts that fit my prescription anymore, then you guys can come ask me how I'm holding up mentally... 😛

So, here is the situation:

I have been wearing glasses for 20 years.
I started back in early high school with a fairly significant prescription of -0.50 and -0.75.

After that, I had checkups every six months where my prescription just kept climbing, so I eventually gave up on that approach and switched to a renowned specialist in another city.
During those visits, I used some nasty eye drops and took certain pills that could only be obtained through specialty pharmacies—and they were quite expensive.

Following about 2-3 years of that treatment, my prescription stabilized, and I have sat at -3.50 in both eyes for over 15 years now.

A few final points:

- Vision should ideally stop changing after puberty (which is why laser eye surgery isn't performed on minors).

- Working out at the gym shouldn't impact your vision; even in weightlifting, changes only occur in the muscles being worked, which clearly doesn't apply to eye muscles.

- Regarding this, there are specific eye muscle exercises that supposedly correct vision, though apparently the effects are temporary and require constant practice; I haven't tried them, so I cannot say how accurate that is.

- I have heard claims that myopia can decrease for various reasons, but multiple medical sources have confirmed to me that reducing nearsightedness is practically impossible, unlike farsightedness in young people, which can sometimes improve without surgery or aids.

I know this girl who tried those eye exercises, and her prescription actually dropped—like, seriously dropped from a -3.00 down to a -0.50. But then, after she stopped doing them for a year, the vision went right back to how it was in one eye, while the other stayed fine. Why don't I just try it myself? Honestly, first off, I get this massive wave of "what's the point" hitting me before I even start. I know, I know... I'm my own worst enemy. And second, you aren't supposed to wear contacts or glasses during the training period, and I can't exactly function at work if I'm walking around blind. So, eye exercises? I don't know, man.

As for the feeling of it all, looking back, it’s kind of wild how much I used to struggle when I was at a -0.75 or -0.50. It feels ridiculous now. My big fear is that my current prescription is going to double, and I want to stop that from happening—or better yet, wipe it out entirely. Surgery? No way in hell. Is there an age where you're supposed to just stop worrying about it? Like, am I past the puberty phase yet? I haven't been a teenager for at least ten years, so shouldn't I be over this by now?

Anyway, I picked up some new lenses. I'm getting used to the semi-rigid ones again, and honestly, it's going pretty well. I am totally blown away by how much more I can see in the distance.😁 Does anyone have a recommendation for a good cleaning and storage solution? I got some sample sizes with the lenses, but the solution they gave me is basically like rubbing alcohol; it's super irritating.

It feels like laser eye surgery is just a totally standard, routine procedure everywhere else in the developed world, and most of the time, health insurance actually picks up the tab. I’m pretty sure if your prescription is over -6, it’s considered a necessity, not a luxury. I know for a fact that’s how they handle it in places like Italy, so I’m wondering what the deal is in other countries? Around here, it seems like maybe one or two high-end private clinics handle it, charging an absolute fortune for results that honestly seem hit-or-miss. It makes me wonder how we’re ever going to catch up with the rest of the world if the government can't even provide such a basic, routine healthcare service to its own citizens.

Megan Peterson87,

Nothing regarding eye surgery is considered routine.

As of today, several methods exist for the surgical correction of myopia:

- mechanical iridotomy (I believe this is one of the oldest techniques, originating from the Soviet school)

- implantation of an intraocular lens behind the eyeball (a more recent technique, a true American specialty)

- laser lens thinning (there are both older and newer variations; the older method involves exposing the lens to a specific laser intensity for a few seconds, whereas the newer version begins with a horizontal incision to create a flap. Once the flap is opened, the standard thinning process occurs before the flap is replaced to heal. This allows for faster recovery and lowers infection risks, a technique frequently utilized by our local private clinics)

- insertion of semicircular implants around the iris area (the most cutting-edge method for correcting vision; unlike previous options, this procedure is reversible, meaning everything can be restored to its original state should complications arise)

Generally speaking, laser vision correction is a relatively safe procedure. However, it must be noted that a small fraction—roughly 4%—of operations do not succeed. While those odds are quite encouraging, one hopes not to fall within that 4%. Furthermore, because this is a relatively modern method, the long-term consequences are not yet fully understood, and some patients have reported occasional visual disturbances, particularly when viewing things at night.

I’ve been rocking the same glasses since middle school. Back then, I was barely at a -0.5, but now—and I haven't actually seen an eye doctor in over a year—it’s probably closer to a -3.5 or -4. I really intended to go in for an exam this year to get some new frames, but my doctor told me to hold off because my prescription shifts quite a bit during pregnancy, so I just skipped it.
I don't wear them all the time, either. It's mostly just when I'm on the computer, watching TV, or driving.