The necessity of wearing prescription glasses

Now seen as a fashion statement, glasses are becoming more popular than ever. But even with their new found fame, glasses still aren’t most times worn by people who need them. Whatever the reason may be, not wearing your prescribed glasses can result in serious short and long term effects.  According to Dr. Faith Ogundipe, […]

Now seen as a fashion statement, glasses are becoming more popular than ever. But even with their new found fame, glasses still aren’t most times worn by people who need them. Whatever the reason may be, not wearing your prescribed glasses can result in serious short and long term effects. 

According to Dr. Faith Ogundipe, a consulting optician with J.A Eagle Hospital, Abuja: “Corrective glasses help to compensate for a mismatch in corneal shape of the people who need them; which helps them see clearly and reduce eyestrain.”

Headache is a short term effect of ignoring your prescribed glasses. If one has to squint constantly to see clearly, they are much more likely to experience headaches. The eyes cannot relate effectively to the brain, and that’s why the glasses are prescribed. Ignoring this will only be doing more damage to your eye. The brain has to put in extra effort to receive signals from the eyes, thus causing headaches.

Another short term effect is itchy and red eyes. This doesn’t happen to everyone, but it’s common. Because your eyes are working harder than they should, the cells in the eyes react, causing them to be red and most likely swollen. This is very dangerous because it doesn’t just affect the eye cells; it also affects the brain cells to some degree.

On the other hand, long term effects of not wearing glasses include incomplete development of the eyes. Getting a clear image to the retina helps the eyes develop, so when vision isn’t clear it keeps the eyes from developing normally. This, in the long run, can lead to permanent blindness, especially for the aged.