Anyone know a lot about human eyeballs?

I have semi-bad eyesight currently. Last time I went for a renewal of my DL was about a year or two ago, and I was JUST BARELY able to pass without correction. I understand the legal limit is 20/40 in your better eye. I do have glasses, but they are 5-6 years old (and still mostly work). I believe I am close to 20/40 in my non-dominant left eye, and much worse, like 20/90 or so, in my right eye. For close work, I have no problems at all, either eye. This has not always been the case for me, up until age 15 or so I had "20/20 vision". When I get really tired, I have problems getting my eyes to converge, or to both focus on the same point. I get by just fine day to day, but every once in a while someone will be like "wait, you really can't see that?".

I don't wear glasses or contacts or anything on any regular basis. I have tried, and I hate wearing them all. Can never seem to 'get used to it' like people say you do.

Making things worse, I believe that eyes (just like all muscular body parts), can be healed or trained or changed over time. I have read quite a bit on natural vision correction, and I agree with the premise, but have not been able to put a solid effort into trying to fix my problem. I guess the best way to describe how I feel is like that of a person who struggles with weight. I believe there is a solution (eating less and working out more), and I believe it would work, but I have not been able to do it myself.

Now, here is the crux of the issue. Unlike weight control, I can't seem to find ANYONE who seems to be a reputable and trusted (and backed by real science) resource to help me work on my eyesight. "Eye doctors" seem mostly to be in the selling surgery/selling frames businesses, and there are quacks peddling crap in the natural vision correction market just like there are in the weight control market.

I would like to be able to have a chat with someone who is really knowledgeable about eyes and eyesight, and can answer my questions, and pose new better questions, and help me out. Or tell me that natural vision correction isn't real (using logic and facts though, not just "most people don't think it works") and that I should just buckle down and get lasic.

It'd be awesome if you could retrain your eyes. However a lot of times it simply is not meant to be, eye muscles are just that - muscles - and muscles age. Furthermore the lens is flesh and just like how your skin and muscles age over time and your connective tissue sags so you get "old person gut" as your innards all kinda playground-slide out over your pants, your eyes are the same way and the lens loses its flexibility and won't be able to focus as well no matter how strong your eye muscles are.

I can "make" my eyes see a little better if I squint, but I can't make my football shaped eyes, astigmatism, any rounder so, I wear glasses. I didn't know I needed glasses until I failed my eye exam for my learners permit, I spent the first 14 years of my life without knowing any different, when I got my first prescription it was a whole new world, there were leaves on trees, I could make out the livestock in the back pasture. It was amazing, like going from a poorly tracked betamax tape, to 4K Ultra HD Blu Ray.

My glasses are the first thing I put on in the morning, last thing I take off at night, I like being able to see.

To answer your question about who to talk to, do just that, call a few Dr.s, ask locally/regionally. Know someone with glasses? Ask who they use, get some opinions.

I've seen a few Optometrists in my days, but I've never had A[ Optometrist I'd call my own until recently. In the past, whenever I decided I needed new glasses I just went to whoever was convenient, usually someone associated with a Lens Crafters, Pearl Vision, Walmart, Sears, etc. I've been warned of my high ocular pressure in the past, and was told, to keep an eye on it, especially with my family history of Glaucoma. Of course I didn't, and continued to only got glasses when I thought I needed them, every 5-6 years, never the same Dr. so no history to compare anything to.

Now it's come back to bight me in the ass. Last visit, high pressure again, but now my optic nerves are severely cupped. I probably should have started drops for pressure reduction a couple years ago.

Now I'm seeing an Optometrist that has a base line of my optical health, has a great reputation in the community, comes highly recommended by several friends, family, and acquaintances, is easy to talk with, at least appears outwardly to care about me and my well being, and will hopefully help me stave off any further damage to my eyesight. Damage that I have no one to blame for but myself, and maybe genetics a little, but still I was warned before, and I shrugged it off.

I said all of this to say, don't berk around with your eyes! You only have 2 if your lucky, take care of them.

If your eyeball is shaped so that the focal length doesn't exactly match the distance from lens to retina - and most people's don't - then no amount of training or willpower will overcome that. Further, the elasticity that makes it possible disappears with age.

I forgot my glasses one time so I used my good eye to memorize a couple of rows that were too small for me to read while waiting in line and just faked it.

I can pass the DMV eye exam without my glasses, but damn if there wasn't a world of difference.

I was 20/20&20/30 until I was in my teens. By the time I went back to college I had to sit in the front row to read the board. A year and a half in I broke down and got glasses at 22.

I have anecdotal evidence that eye training works up to a point: someone who was rejected for WWII service because of his eyesight, and trained relentlessly, while working in a munitions factory, until he passed. That said, by the time he got in I believe the standards had also relaxed a bit.

"Glasses" aren't a generic thing: they have to fit your head, and they have to fit your eyes. Not just the correction in the lens, the actual side-to-side, up-and-down placement of the parts you look through. Somewhere in your town there has got to be somebody who knows how to do this right. Find them. Then enjoy being able to see stuff.

+1 on being fitted. I have been wearing glasses for 31 years now and until about the age of 28, I wore glasses from a private practice optometrist (I still remember his name, Dr. Paul Dowd. He was a car guy, too, had pictures of his '67 Corvette on the wall). Then I went to the first mall outlet that had a 2 for 1 special and I was out the door for $200 including exam. I wore one pair of glasses for four years until they broke, then I wore the other pair. Despite being ordered at fitted at the same time, they were NOT the same and I had a terrible time adjusting to each set.

Last year I finally broke that second set to nonrepairability so I bit the bullet and went for new glasses. I always avoided getting new glasses because of the Bad Experience with the last couple pairs and I didn't have $1500 for a really good set. I found a middle ground and got a thorough eye exam (not just a read-the-letters thing, they spent like 90 minutes checking my eyes out) and properly fitted frames and they got the focal points right.

I still had problems adjusting, but mostly because my brain had learned the poorly-fitted glasses and had to unlearn. Now, I don't feel like I'm crosseyed if I take my glasses off, or just tip them down and peer over the rim for a close in look because I am fighting the need for bifocals and somewhat failing.

http://drdiane.net

This is the lady that helped me relearn to see after the crash. She specializes in tbi injuries and kids with strange vision problems. Her shop is full of weird testing stuff, and she will have you doing vision exercises and such. She fully believes in thr plasticity of the body, which includes the eyes that perceive light, and the brain that makes vision from that.

She's not near you, so that is out. But i bet she could refer you to some folk like her that are near to you.

You don't really get used to wearing glasses, you just learn to tolerate them. Becomes a decision on how well you want to see. I've been wearing glasses for about 30 years now after an eye injury and have bifocals now (sucks getting old ). Still bothers me that I can see around the lenses.

wlkelley3 wrote: You don't really get used to wearing glasses, you just learn to tolerate them. Becomes a decision on how well you want to see. I've been wearing glasses for about 30 years now after an eye injury and have bifocals now (sucks getting old ). Still bothers me that I can see around the lenses.

I legitimately don't notice them at all, to the point of sometimes going to bed with them on.

wlkelley3 wrote: You don't really get used to wearing glasses, you just learn to tolerate them. Becomes a decision on how well you want to see. I've been wearing glasses for about 30 years now after an eye injury and have bifocals now (sucks getting old ). Still bothers me that I can see around the lenses.

This. I started wearing glasses at 8, stopped around 12 and finally started about 3 years ago at 18. I have Astigmatism and Amblyopia in my right eye but can get by day to day because my left eye is fine. As a kid, I did lots of "patch time" to correct the vision in my right eye. It helped some, but there came a point of diminishing return. I could have spent several hours a day using only my bad eye, but its an incredibly frustrating thing to use only the bad eye and have the results only improve slightly.

That's primarily why I went with glasses. I have too much going on that requires my eyes to be functional to be able to spend hours a day working for something that may or may not give me results

Your glasses are 5 to 6 years old? Get an eye exam and new glasses. I was cheap and went about the same amount of time with a pair of glasses. When I got the new ones. WOW! Just WOW!

Know who knows a lot about eyeballs? Eye doctors.

I have been with the same doctor for at least 15 years. I have been on the prescription for several years, which was pretty cool as 40 came and went.

A few months ago things were looking a bit soft. Yep, it was time to move up a notch or two. My distance vision is way better with the new contacts.

Robbie wrote: I don't wear glasses or contacts or anything on any regular basis. I have tried, and I hate wearing them all. Can never seem to 'get used to it' like people say you do.

I'd work on that if I were you. I also used to have GOOD vision, like sit down with a rifle with open sights and put bullets in a 1" circle at 100 yards (weather and gun permitting) good. I started to lose my distance vision around 21, and I also didn't want to go to the trouble of correction. 2 years later, a few days ago, I finally bit the bullet (couldn't read road signs until I was right on top of them and almost failed my drivers license renewal) and got myself examined, the contacts I have in right now aren't quite right (I suspect the followup will fix that) and I know they are there if I think about it, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing. Try going in again, 5-6 years is a lot of time for your prescription to change, the improvement will probably be worth the trouble this time.

It took me two weeks to get used to wearing my glasses when I first got them at 45, and almost a year to get used to the progressives.

The only time I notice them now is when they frost up coming in from the cold, or when they get rained on. Why the hell does rain always land on the inside of the lenses?

Your eyesight does change over time. I think in most cases, it gets worse though.

It is possible that it can get better though, I grew up with a friend that since kindergarten and through grade school had the thickest ass glasses you would ever see. He was farsighted i think. By the time he got to high school he no longer needed to wear glasses at all, his vision actually got better. We were kids, of course he wasnt doing any sort of vision training.

My prescription changed every time I got my glasses when I was younger, and it was always a noticable improvement when I upgraded my specs. The past 3 times though my prescription either didnt change or just barely changed at all to the point where it was hardly noticable. I dont keep track but I think I go about 4 years between eye exams or so.

Im pretty horribly nearsighted. To read the text on this website clearly without glasses I have to hold the laptop within 6 inches of my face.

mtn wrote: I legitimately don't notice them at all, to the point of sometimes going to bed with them on.

Been wearing glasses 24/7 since 2nd grade, me too.

Thanks everyone for the responses, and that is a very interesting link foxtrapper. I will follow up - maybe even just searching using similar language from her sight will be useful: google "Optometric Vision Therapy" rather than "Natural Vision Improvement".

I also know professional athletes (who depend on their vision perhaps more heavily than others) use vision training to stay sharp and get sharper. Seems it may help - and who knows how much better the training can get after some years of scientific testing.

http://www.livescience.com/50835-brain-training-improves-vision.html

Larry Fitzgerald overcame vision disability through vision therapy

I hate glasses. They fog up, and tend to get filthy at the stable or garage. I use disposable contacts - which I only put in when I leave the house. I keep handfuls of cheater reading glasses in my laptop bag, car, suitcase for reading, since I can't see fine print with my contacts in. But I can't drive with them out...

Tunakid #2 just had his first eye exam about six months ago. Hhe has one ok eye and one awful eye. The doctor is really good. For $30 (not covered by insurance), he works on various things with him. Currently, he has to do two hours per day with an eyepatch over his good eye to teach the brain to start using the other one. He also got glasses with wildly different prescriptions in each eye.

Your not the same as Tunakid #2. Find a good optometrist. They are out there.

Streetwiseguy wrote: It took me two weeks to get used to wearing my glasses when I first got them at 45, and almost a year to get used to the progressives. The only time I notice them now is when they frost up coming in from the cold, or when they get rained on. Why the hell does rain always land on the inside of the lenses?

I just wear a baseball cap when it rains. It keeps the lenses dry.

Robbie wrote: Thanks everyone for the responses, and that is a very interesting link foxtrapper. I will follow up - maybe even just searching using similar language from her sight will be useful: google "Optometric Vision Therapy" rather than "Natural Vision Improvement". I also know professional athletes (who depend on their vision perhaps more heavily than others) use vision training to stay sharp and get sharper. Seems it may help - and who knows how much better the training can get after some years of scientific testing. http://www.livescience.com/50835-brain-training-improves-vision.html Larry Fitzgerald overcame vision disability through vision therapy

Fwiw, a lot of those things in your links are things they had me using and doing after the crash. In my case there was no damage to the eyeballs themselves, it was to the brain.

For example, those psychedelic posters that sorta twist and squirm? Those could drop me to the ground after a few seconds and do me in the rest of the day. With timer training, I can look at them and stay on my feet.

I ended up with lenses that have a built in twist, to counter the twisting my brain apparently imparts, and a blue tinting that calmed me. Seriously calmed me. And a little basic 20/40 correction.

So yea, I'd really encourage you to visit one of these specialists and try some vision therapy.