1. Your vision will get worse over time by wearing eye glasses: FALSE
Glasses are simply an aid to improve vision, and they will not cause your eyesight to grow worse. As we get older, it becomes harder and harder to see up-close. If you begin to need stronger reading powers as the years go on, don’t fret. The glasses themselves have not made your eyes worse!
2. If you wear glasses, not wearing them will cause your vision to deteriorate faster: FALSE
If you wear reading glasses, the side effects of not wearing them could include blurriness and distortion. Trying to focus without glasses will not make your vision deteriorate faster, though it could lead to squinting and eyestrain. The primary effects of not wearing your glasses are temporary and, at most can cause discomfort.
3. Over-the-counter readers can hurt your eyes: FALSE
First thing first–using over-the-counter (OTC) reading glasses from a pharmacy or online retailer (versus readers from your optometrist), will not hurt your eyes. OTC reading glasses contain magnifying lenses in different powers that work just as well.
Before buying reading glasses from a pharmacy or online retailer, you’ll want to know the reading power you need. Wearing non-prescription reading glasses that are either too weak or too strong for your eyes could be bothersome, but it will not cause long-term damage to your vision.
4. Wearing reading glasses makes your eyes stronger: FALSE
Wearing reading glasses makes your vision clearer, but it does not have an impact on your prescription. Don’t be confused if you hear reading glasses magnifications referred to as “strengths”–this does not mean it’ll make your eyes stronger over time. Bottom line: You won’t cure bad vision by wearing glasses every day.
5. Sitting too close to the TV is bad for your eyes: FALSE
This rumor hasn’t been true since before the ’60s when television sets emitted mild levels of radiation. Nowadays, TVs have proper shielding so radiation is no longer an issue. Sitting in front of the TV for too long could cause you to experience discomfort, like eyestrain, irritation, or watery or dry eyes. If you find yourself in front of digital devices for extended periods of time, consider a pair of computer glasses.
6. Eating carrots is one way to improve eyesight: FALSE
Eating carrots won’t help someone with already poor eyesight regain clear vision. But, carrots are jam-packed with nutrients known to help protect your eyes, such as vitamin A. Vitamin A is known to play a roll in reducing the impact of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.
7. If you see fine, you do not need regular eye exams: FALSE
If you’ve been cruising through life with 20/20 vision, that’s great! However, many eye and vision problems do not have symptoms, so it’s important to get your eyes checked regularly by an optometrist to make sure they stay healthy as you age.
When you visit the eye doctor, your optometrist is scanning for much more than just vision problems. Through many comprehensive eye exams, health conditions such as tumors and diabetes can be detected before physical symptoms are present.
8. Reading in dim light will worsen your eyesight: FALSE
You won’t go blind from reading in the dark, but it will make it harder to see what you’re reading. In low light, your eyes are doing two things: relaxing to collect as much light as possible and contracting to focus on what you’re reading. Your eyes can become strained and tired, resulting in sore, dry, or watery eyes, as well as headaches. While reading in the dark might be bothersome, these symptoms are temporary and will not cause long-term damage to your eyesight.

Keratoconus | The Anatomy of Your Eye

The cornea is the clear tissue in front of the pupil and iris. It is living tissue but has no blood vessels.
You see through the cornea, just as you would look through a window. Behind the pupil is the lens, which along with the cornea, focuses the light entering the eye. The retina in the back of the eye is composed of specialized nerve cells that transmit the light impulses coming through the front of the eye to the optic nerve and then to the brain. In a healthy, normal eye, light passes through the cornea and lens and is focused on the retina. Sharp vision requires all structures of the eye to be in good working order. Like a foggy window, loss of transparency of the cornea will contribute to reducing vision.

Keratoconus

Keratoconus is a non-inflammatory eye condition in which the normally round dome-shaped cornea progressively thins causing a cone-like bulge to develop.  This can result in significant visual impairment due to the scattering of light before it hits the retina.  It is estimated to occur in 1 out of every 2,000 people and is generally first diagnosed in young people at puberty or in their late teens.  In its earliest stages, keratoconus causes slight blurring and distortion of vision and increased sensitivity to light.  Keratoconus typically progresses for 10-20 years before it stabilizes.  There is no known cure for the condition.

Keratoconus Treatment

Over the past few years, treatments have been developed to help stabilize it in its early stages so that no further surgical treatments will typically be necessary.  Prior to this treatment availability, patients needed to wear rigid contact lenses up until a time if/when there is significant corneal scarring or enough distortion of the vision that a cornea transplant was the only option.  Contact lenses are still commonly used to help improve the vision and there have been significant improvements in the designs and materials of these lenses as well.  We will work with your referring doctor to achieve the best treatment option(s) for your eyes.