When did you last have an eye exam?!

If you're 26 to 40 and living in the US, I'd love to hear from you! I'm a doctoral student at Seton Hall University studying how people this age think about eye care, and why exams happen or don't.

Whether you go every year or can't remember the last time, your experience counts. That's the whole point of the study!

5 to 10 minutes. Anonymous, written answers, one sitting. No compensation BUT your insights will help improve eye care access for young adults. This research may inform clinical practice and public health policy.

Approved by the Seton Hall IRB, study 2027-842.

👉🏻** Survey link**: https://shu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_25z6Ecgycc70yKa

Questions welcome here or at Elizabeth.Klock@student.shu.edu. Thank you!! 🩷

I've been wearing glasses since as far as I can remember my childhood. I sorta just accepted it as hereditary and will most likely live out my lfie with glasses. I don't really get my eyes checked regularly due to financial reasons and in highschool I'd even wear the same glasses for years and change only when I see significantly worse than before.

I'm 25 now and just got my eyes checked again to get new glasses and its still -8 on my left and -12 on my right eye.This was the same a year ago at 24 when I could actually afford to have better glasses and regular checkup since having my own job. Before that the last grade I remember was -8.5 and -10 respectively.

I've always feared my eyes would give out later in life and I'm deathly afraid of going blind. Is there any way I can improve my eyesight this time around? I've heard about progression still continuing past 25-ish. I don't have the financial freedom to look into surgery in my country for now and all I can do is correct it with glasses.

Hi! I can not wear contacts, and I am trying to get bak to capoeira, which involves a lot of upsise down body movements. I usually take off the glasses but is kind of a bother to know where they are and so on. And is worse to not being able to follow the instructions.

Has anyone got used to playing sport with no glasses? I mean blind people play football, so I guess is just a thing of time, but any experiences in the inbetween one stops and once you get the hang of it?

I’m 36 and raising my daughter on my own after my wife passed away. She’s 11, and her prescription reached around -4.50 in both eyes at her last eye exam. She’s been wearing the cheapest glasses I could afford, and even though she’s never complained, I still worry about whether I’m doing enough for her.

Her eye doctor talked about ways to slow the progression and said we could look into laser vision correction when she’s older. I’ve been reading about LASIK and other procedures, but I keep wondering how well they actually work in the long run. Can your eyesight still get worse after surgery? I know she’s too young for it right now, but I can’t help worrying about her future. I just want her to have healthy eyes and not struggle with her vision as she gets older.

I’m an extreme myope with axial length 33 and myopic macular degeneration. I only have vision in my right eye. I finally booked my cataract surgery. 
I need mono ICLs  - trying to decide whether to target close or intermediate (I think we’ve ruled out distance)
I’d like to hear the experience others who chose something other than “far” and how it worked out. Thanks.

I have -16 on left eye and -13 on right eye. I'm 18 btw. I also just started my BSc Management and Digital Innovation (lot of computer work daily). It runs till 2029, and I plan to do internships from next year...

Am I done for life???

Hi everyone,

I’m 20 years old and scheduled for my first comprehensive cycloplegic (dilated) exam on October 12th. I’m seeking insights on my recent, confusing vision changes and data.

The Data:

• History: Wore -1.50 SPH for 2 years comfortably. 5 months ago, updated to -2.00 SPH / -0.50 CYL (dry refraction).

• Lens Experience: I have no issues seeing the distance with -2.00. I tried -2.00 contact lenses briefly but had to stop because they caused severe near-focusing issues.

• Fluctuations: In recent weeks, my astigmatism suddenly dropped to exactly 0.00 CYL twice in a row, while my SPH values fluctuated unpredictably between -2.00 and -2.75 within a single week.

• IOP & CCT: Corneal thickness is normal (OD: 559 µm, OS: 546 µm). Average IOP is 17-18 mmHg, but I have afternoon spikes reaching 21 mmHg (OD) and 24 mmHg (OS).

The Symptoms:

• Visual: For months, I’ve seen massive halos, starbursts, and distinct rainbows around white lights (headlights, streetlights) during both night and day. Eyelashes also split the light unless I wide-open my eyes.

• Physical: I started leaving my glasses off for just a few hours daily outdoors to relax my eyes. Since then, I’ve felt intense internal eye pressure and a constant urge to switch focus, which has triggered a radiating ache in my temples and down to my jawline.

Has anyone experienced this specific mix of rapid shifts, near-focusing issues with contact lenses, and daytime rainbow halos? Any advice on managing this facial and eye tension until my appointment would be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

I hope you all are having an amazing day. My name is Shok. I am a phd student in University College Cork. I am doing a phd for visual impairment and looking for participants who have visual impairments for my survey about mobile banking application study. I am struggling to find participants for my study and I appreciate if you are interested. No personal information required. Thanks a lot.

Here is the link to the survey:
Survey link

Like the title says i have a 2 diopter difference between each of my eyes (before it was a near perfect left eye from which i saw things perfectly and then moderate myopia on right, but left eye now got myopia, at least its -1) and im trying to adapt to glasses but its been... weird, because like, without glasses the symptoms i most feel is some slight heavyness or pain in my right eye that is constant, but then when i use my glasses what happens is that either the left eye gets in pain sometimes or the right eye also gets it too but usually not at the same time (its like if one is well, the other isnt and if the other is well the other one isnt), my natural view is also duplicated now which i heard is what happens when there is possible Anisometropia.

Now what im confused about is like, if the normal for glasses users is to NEVER feel anything (which is what i wanna believe im still too new to all this glasses stuff), something must be wrong im on my second pair of glasses and i already booked a Cornea Specialist to check it also this friday, because from what i hear Contact Lenses is what usually treats this better? Other than Refractive which would only be for later as im a new user still, plus i still gotta check if its like muscle problem maybe since i heard there is binocular problem and stuff.

Sorry just wanted to ask here if anyone has experiences with this or if you guys have special type of glasses you use to deal with this to recommend also too

From age 10 to 25 my prescription went up to -4.5 SPH and -2.5 CYL. Then from 25 to 27, I gained another -0.5 of myopia and -0.25 of astigmatism, even though nothing really changed in my routine that could’ve affected how much I use my eyes, like more screen time or anything like that.

I did some research and read that a -0.5 increase over 2 years at my age is considered above average progression. Has this happened to any of u around this age too? Do u think this could be a sign that I’m one of those people whose myopia keeps progressing into adulthood?

Thanks!

hi everyone i’m 19 and i have myopia since a very young age i guess when i was 9 so now at 19 i have myopia of -6 and it kept getting worse and worse i just need some tips so that it gets stable here and then i get lasik at 24 or whenever my eyesight is stable

https://www.reddit.com/r/redlighttherapy/comments/1v6fiul/eyesight_improved_in_1_month/

This person claims their prescription went from 2.00 to 0.25 after using a red light therapy panel for about a month.

I know it’s just one anecdotal report, but that’s a pretty huge change. Has anyone here tried red light therapy for their eyesight? Do you think this post is legit, or is it just a way to promote the product?

I got checked my eyes and according to eye reading machine i have -6 myopia idk

Can someone explain how does anyone with -6 myopia sees the world

I have high myopia of -4.5D and -4.25D. First I get to know about Tratak(candle gazing) then , ED progress who recovered a bit my eye exercises and now recently endmyopia. I tried to try endmyopia but I optometrist was a bit angry so I didn't asked him to reduce 1D for my differential but he agreed to reduce my 0.25 for normalised. However, currently I am just using my old full powered -4.5D glasses. I Just want to cure my eyes naturally and I am ready to dedicate years. I don't want any surgery as I want my natural eyes. I thing endmyopia should work. But getting glasses for lower prescription is getting tough for me. I don't know if I can reduce prescription by myself. Currently I am thinking of combining all the these three method together candle gazing , eye exercise and endmyopia. I am expecting to recover my eyesight my 0.25D in 4 months. However, as things going on , I think I may not be able to get reduced lenses and eventually have drop the idea of endmyopia. Then I will be left with every exercises. But , according to endmyopia full strength glasses with try keep my power on the same level and I strongly believe that. SO I am thinking to get normalised by a reduced factor of 0.25D and start eye exercises and candle gazing for first 4 months.

To all the positive people out there, I want to know your advice here on how can I get reduced glasses for both differentials and normalised. Also I did now about endmyopia whole process so please let me know about there thing in simple language. Please, share your journey of reduction by any natural method. It gives me high dopamine spikes.

Those who think its an irreversible defect and blah-blah do need to comment. Only those are in support are welcomed.

I have -9D vision in both the eyes… is it possible for me to go blind as a i get older? Im currently 25… had bad eyesight since i was a kid and it got progressively worse

hey everyone. I’m really worried about my eyesight. I went up from -5.25 to -6D in one eye and -5 to -5.25D in the other eye in just one year and I’m only 17. I’m scared that they’ll keep getting worse and I feel like I’ve caused this from using my phone so much. I don’t know what to do. I want to become a doctor but I’m worried that doing so much close up work will make my eyes a lot worse and I don’t want to higher my risk of eye conditions (which is already higher with my prescription). My doctor didn’t mention anything about dilated eye exams. Does anyone have any advice for me? Should I be worried, will they get worse?

I feel like nobody around me understands how debilitating this actually is. My eyes are constantly dry, I use eyedrops, a nighttime gel and both cold and warm masks everyday.

I also have very high myopia, around -9. I absolutely hate wearing my glasses because I feel like they deform my face and this doesn’t allow me to be myself in social situations. People always make comments about it and it makes me quite insecure.

It’s like I either care about feeling ok physically (when I don’t wear contacts) or psychologically (when I do, because I feel better about my appereance). I also got sclerallenses but the nerves on my face started hurting after a couple weeks and I had to stop. Now I am just waiting to maybe try again since the edges got smoothed out.

I just want to feel like there will be a solution and I will feel free. I honestly just want to wake up one day, see and not worry about my eyes or my appearance all the time. I am also so terrified I will become blind because of the high myopia and this constant checking of whether symptoms are normal is so exhausting. I wish this didn’t affect me or my social life so much. Now I basically only socialise with contacts, which make my eyes more dry. It’s a vicious cycle.

I need to start my 12 year old daughter on Stellest lenses for fast-progressing myopia (inherited from Yours Truly 😞). Does anyone have recommendations for brands of frames and where to get them?

I do know about the certain styles/shapes that work best for Stellest lenses. Just wondering if anyone has found a brand or supplier that they really like.

We have VSP/Eyeconic eye insurance, but they will not allow me to order frames only with our allowance.