I’ve been an optometrist for 30 years (for some people that’s four marriages) and in that time, I’ve heard a lot of crazy things come out of the mouths of my patients. So, I wanted to share with you my top five myths.
Myth #1: The more you wear your eyeglasses, the more dependent you are on them.
This one is my favorite. Eyeglasses aren’t cocaine! You can’t get hooked on eyeglasses unless you’re super persnickety (if you know that word, you’re probably a boomer) about your vision…there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m guilty of this since my Asian dad was an engineer (you can guess how stressful that was) and I was raised being detail obsessive. For example, if I can’t see a blade of grass from the third floor clearly, I drag myself into eyeglass hell until I can see that blade of grass clearly again. Even if you have 20/20 vision, most people can’t see a blade of grass from the third floor. I’m just showing you how obsessive I got with my own eyeglass prescription. Once you have good you always want better. As Confucius said, “You cut one blade grass, the universe quivers…” (just kidding)
More to the point, it’s human nature to want better than what you had before. The same principle applies to your vision. If eyeglasses improve your vision, then you want to see better all the time and not just some of the time, so you wear your eyeglasses often.
Myth #2: Wearing someone else’s eyeglasses can damage your vision permanently.
This one makes me chuckle and is a very common question. Think about this, if you put someone else’s pants on, are you going to permanently do damage to yourself? The worst you’ll get is a wedgie if the pants are too small or embarrassed if the pants are too big especially if you’re in public but it’s nothing permanent. It’s a myth like when your parents say if you cross your eyes, they stay that way. There’s nothing further from the truth. If your parents say don’t cross your eyes, it’s because you look ridiculous.
Everyone has a different eyeglass prescription than anyone else. Your right and left eyeglass prescription is usually not the same so right and left eye must be tested individually to maximize the vision you get.
With that concept in mind, wearing someone else’s eyeglass prescription will only result in you not seeing the best that you can see and nothing more.
Myth #3: Generic Sunglasses are all you need to protect your eyes from the rays of the sun.
This is a valid question. As I’m headed towards being a senior citizen, I’ve become a curmudgeon when it comes to my time and money and part of that is the assurance of quality. That means I would pay more for a brand name that I know is reputable rather than pay less for a knock-off that might not work or break prematurely (buy once cry once).
With generic sunglasses from an unknown company, you never really know what you’re getting other than the fact that they are cheaper. The making of sunglasses involves coatings that protect you from glare, ultraviolet light and distortion and there are processes that “bake in” these coatings. If they cut corners or their processes are not of high quality, the coatings “strip off” or become damaged so you’re not getting the protection paid for.
Myth #4: Eye exercises can make your vision better, so you don’t have to rely on eyeglasses.
I chuckle whenever I see this in advertisements, social media and the news. Your eye ages like the rest of your body and there are eye muscles that handle how you focus, let in light and where you “point” your eyes. All your eye muscles weaken with age. Think about it, do you still have the same strength when you were 18 years old? No…of course not. If you went on the treadmill when you were 70 years old, would you get off the treadmill with the same performance and vitality as an 18-year-old? No, of course not…
Just to be fair, the fact is that eye exercises can improve certain aspects of your vision in terms of how the eyes focus, work together in unison and track and process visual information more effectively. There is a specialty in eye care called Vision Therapy that helps improve the aspects mentioned above.
However, if specifically talking about the sharpness of vision at distance and near, eyeglasses are the only optical device that will do that other than contact lenses and refractive surgery.
Myth #5: Taking a break from your eyeglasses and making your eyes focus by themselves will improve your vision.
This is like Myth #4. If you do bicep curls when you’re 70 years old and rest would you perform the same as you were 18 years old after you rested? No…of course not. So, how does it make sense to take away the eyeglasses that was helping your eyes focus could help your eyes focus better?
I’ve seen this as well in popular media and am often dumb founded by the amount of misinformation that’s circulating around popular news outlets.
The truth is that it’s always a good to rest your eyes especially when doing long hours of near work such as computers, paperwork or just surfing the internet. Your eyes were not built to look at a fixed point for hours and hours.
Eye strain is a common malady these days because of increased use of computers for business, zoom meetings and schoolwork.
However, your eyes will not magically improve if you take out the one thing that makes it focus better which are your eyeglasses. Your eyeglasses are there to correct the refractive error that you have currently which can change with time.
If you don’t use your eyeglasses, you will just increase your eyestrain faster.
Final thoughts
I hope I’ve cleared up some misconceptions and myths regarding eyeglasses. At the same time, I hope that you got a least a chuckle, snicker or laugh by the information that I’ve discussed.
