Myths about eyes and eye care come through our Myoptic offices on an almost daily basis. In this
blog post, we’ll dissect five of the most common misconceptions.
1. “Wearing glasses will make my eyes worse!”
FAKE! As they were originally intended, the correct glasses prescription can help to sharpen your
vision. In fact, purposely wearing “weaker” glasses may cause your vision to worsen and/or
develop eye strain and headaches. Think of glasses like clothes. Wouldn’t you want to wear
something that is your exact size?
*In some cases, the measured glasses prescription may be too much for the patient to adapt to all at
once so optometrists will temporarily prescribe a “reduced” prescription to help the patient slowly
adapt.
2. “Poor vision can be inherited.”
FACT. Although not 100% definite, vision has been shown to be related to our genetics. For
example, studies have suggested that if both parents are myopic (nearsighted), their child has a
50% chance in developing myopia as well. However, there are other factors involved with the
development of vision, including diet, time spent outdoors, and time spent engaged in doing near
work activities (i.e., reading).
3. “Reading in the dark will hurt/damage my eyes.”
FAKE! Although reading in the dark will not cause any lasting damage to your eyes, it can
definitely cause eye fatigue and strain. So we encourage you to always use good lighting when
reading or doing any other near work activities.
4. “Eating a lot of carrots will make my eyes stronger.”
FACT and FAKE! Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, which is essential for vision.
However, you can get vitamin A from other foods as well, such as milk and apricots. In fact, rather
than just eating carrots, it’s recommended to have a well-balanced diet.
5. “My vision is 20/20 so I don’t need an eye exam.”
FAKE! An eye exam consists of measuring any glasses prescription as well as checking your ocular
health. This means we’re looking for any signs of eye infections, inflammation, cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma… the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, most of these conditions/diseases
cause minimal to no symptoms in the beginning. So you wouldn’t know you had it until it was too
late. This is why we encourage everyone, regardless of age, and if they need glasses/contacts or not,
to get yearly eye exams.
Thanks, Dr. Eugene 🙂
