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My understanding of the parent's post was that someone with -2 vision may expect roughly perfect vision as their eyes age. I couldn't find a study with data, b

My understanding of the parent's post was that someone with -2 vision may expect roughly perfect vision as their eyes age. I couldn't find a study with data, but there are anecdotal guides online (for picking reading glasses) which state that by 60 years old, it's estimated that a person would need about +2.25 diopters in correction. So someone who is around -2 diopters may expect to have roughly perfect vision as they get older.

modeless 6y ago
This is a misunderstanding of what happens to your eyes as you age. Your eyes lose the ability to change focus. People with normal vision will have their focus stuck near infinity and will need reading glasses for close up things. People with mild myopia will have their focus stuck at close range and therefore won't need reading glasses. They will still need glasses to see clearly far away, but they always did, so it won't be a change for them. I guess if I had to choose, I would pick needing glasses for far away rather than up close. But I wouldn't trade normal vision for myopia just to avoid needing reading glasses in old age.
- panopticon 6y ago
  My parents had corrective eye surgery in the last decade (corrected their myopia), and they claim the eye surgery damaged their "reading vision." They lament the loss of their reading vision, and I have to keep explaining that they're experiencing presbyopia and not some damage the surgery caused. My myopia is pretty bad (-9.25 and -8.5 in contacts), so I don't even get the benefit of reading without correction.
  - modeless 6y ago
    For a disease which affects literally everyone as they age, presbyopia is astonishingly unknown. I didn't hear about it at all until I started working on VR and eye tracking.
    - fogihujy 6y ago
      Pretty much everyone knows their eyesight will get worse with age. It's just that most people refuse to admit they're getting older.
  - morganvachon 6y ago
    > My parents had corrective eye surgery in the last decade (corrected their myopia), and they claim the eye surgery damaged their "reading vision." I'm -7.00 / -7.25 and this happens to me if I wear contacts instead of glasses. With glasses I can comfortably read a book or screen from about 10 inches away and beyond. With contacts I have to hold it at arms' length before I can make out small text. This is one of the many reasons I've stuck with glasses over the years. Another advantage of glasses is that I can take them off and have a natural and detailed "magnifying" effect. This comes in handy when soldering small components (wearing non-correcting safety glasses) or examining a circuit board for tiny defects like cold solder joints or broken components.
- dcassett 6y ago
  It's also possible for the distance correction to change as one ages. In my case I have gone from -2 to +1.75 for distance in a span of 20 years.
- Tade0 6y ago
  There's hope that this won't be an issue in the future: https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/news/article/eye-drop-for-presbyopia-moves-through-trials https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/news/article/eye-drop-for-... I've been following the development of this drug since before it was bought by Novartis. I was expecting the average results to get better along with the median, but perhaps the dosage just wasn't high enough in this trial.
  - modeless 6y ago
    Very interesting! Hopefully they have more success in the future. Seems like an enormous market so hopefully there will be more investment.
- aaronscott 6y ago
  Thanks for taking the time to reply and explain; I didn't understand how it works.

modeless 6y ago

This is a misunderstanding of what happens to your eyes as you age. Your eyes lose the ability to change focus. People with normal vision will have their focus stuck near infinity and will need reading glasses for close up things. People with mild myopia will have their focus stuck at close range and therefore won't need reading glasses. They will still need glasses to see clearly far away, but they always did, so it won't be a change for them. I guess if I had to choose, I would pick needing glasses for far away rather than up close. But I wouldn't trade normal vision for myopia just to avoid needing reading glasses in old age.

panopticon 6y ago
My parents had corrective eye surgery in the last decade (corrected their myopia), and they claim the eye surgery damaged their "reading vision." They lament the loss of their reading vision, and I have to keep explaining that they're experiencing presbyopia and not some damage the surgery caused. My myopia is pretty bad (-9.25 and -8.5 in contacts), so I don't even get the benefit of reading without correction.
- modeless 6y ago
  For a disease which affects literally everyone as they age, presbyopia is astonishingly unknown. I didn't hear about it at all until I started working on VR and eye tracking.
  - fogihujy 6y ago
    Pretty much everyone knows their eyesight will get worse with age. It's just that most people refuse to admit they're getting older.
- morganvachon 6y ago
  > My parents had corrective eye surgery in the last decade (corrected their myopia), and they claim the eye surgery damaged their "reading vision." I'm -7.00 / -7.25 and this happens to me if I wear contacts instead of glasses. With glasses I can comfortably read a book or screen from about 10 inches away and beyond. With contacts I have to hold it at arms' length before I can make out small text. This is one of the many reasons I've stuck with glasses over the years. Another advantage of glasses is that I can take them off and have a natural and detailed "magnifying" effect. This comes in handy when soldering small components (wearing non-correcting safety glasses) or examining a circuit board for tiny defects like cold solder joints or broken components.
dcassett 6y ago
It's also possible for the distance correction to change as one ages. In my case I have gone from -2 to +1.75 for distance in a span of 20 years.
Tade0 6y ago
There's hope that this won't be an issue in the future: https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/news/article/eye-drop-for-presbyopia-moves-through-trials https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/news/article/eye-drop-for-... I've been following the development of this drug since before it was bought by Novartis. I was expecting the average results to get better along with the median, but perhaps the dosage just wasn't high enough in this trial.
- modeless 6y ago
  Very interesting! Hopefully they have more success in the future. Seems like an enormous market so hopefully there will be more investment.
aaronscott 6y ago
Thanks for taking the time to reply and explain; I didn't understand how it works.