If you wear glasses, you’ll know that it’s critical to constantly change your prescription. You want to ensure that the glasses you’re wearing actually help you see better.
The bad news is that eyes change over time. The lens that you had correcting your vision six months ago may not be the one you need now.
But how do you know a trip to the optician is in order? Let’s take a look:
Frequent Headaches
If you’ve suddenly started to develop frequent headaches (especially when wearing glasses), it could be a sign that you need to change up your prescription. You may have to adjust the focal length so you’re not constantly straining to see things and creating tension.
The most common time to get headaches is when you’re focusing on the computer. If you’re constantly looking at a screen and it’s blurry, it sends your eyes and brain into overtime, trying to correct everything and make it make sense.
The good news is that with a simple prescription, you can bring your sight back to normal again. Just changing the level of magnification is often all you need.
Things Look Blurry Even Up Close
Another telltale sign it might be time to adjust your prescription is when everything just looks blurry, even when you’re right up close to the subject.
Usually, this happens if the shape of your eye changes and you need a new level of magnification. Even tiny adjustments to your natural lens can result in significant vision changes that a lot of people don’t expect. Worse still, these can occur over the space of a couple of months, so it is something you’ll need to stay on top of.
Pay special attention to your eyesight after the age of 40. Once you get past this milestone, things can sometimes change from week to week, especially if you already have an existing prescription.
Persistent Eye Strain
Another sign it might be time to rethink your prescription is if you have persistent eye strain. If you’re constantly struggling to see things properly and can feel yourself having to put in a lot of effort, that’s a sign that you have a problem (and you should fix it).
When you look at something, it shouldn’t take a lot of effort, even if you usually wear glasses. If it does, it means that your eyes and your brain are trying to make sense of something distorted.
Outdated Glasses
You might also want to update your prescription if your glasses are outdated. Styles come and go, so wearing the same spectacles for years on end doesn’t always feel right.
These days, you have more choice than ever over what you wear. For example, you can get Ray Ban prescription glasses, created by professional designers to complement your face. These are meant to help you slot into the modern environment.
You can also get glasses from many other brands. The point is that you have more choice these days and don’t need to stick with standard, generic prescription options if you don’t want to.
Double Vision
What about double vision? Again, that can be a sign that you need to change your glasses prescription. Many people experience this as a type of “ghosting” where images don’t appear fixed but seem to have a faint shadow of themselves.
This effect is particularly noticeable when looking at lighting or text. Usually, this occurs if there’s a mismatch between your eye alignment and the lenses themselves, and it’s something you’ll want to fix quickly to avoid headaches and other issues.
Lights Have A Halo
You might also need a new prescription if every light you look at has a halo. This effect comes from having the wrong strength prescription. Sometimes, glasses can amplify lighting, making it hard to see anything else.
Holding Items Away From Your Body
Another sign you have a problem with your glasses prescription is if you find yourself holding items away from your body. Often, people do this unconsciously to try to adjust for the fact that their lenses are the wrong setting.
You will notice this in multiple contexts. For example, you might hold a menu at a restaurant further away from you so you can read the words and see the images properly. You might also do the same when peeling through a book or looking for instructions.
Usually, this means that you have an issue with near-focus, something that affects a lot of people as they get older.
Squinting More
Squinting more is a sign you can’t see as well as you’d like, and you’re changing your face shape to get a better image. Your brain’s idea here is to narrow your focus to sharpen your view, creating a kind of “pinhole” effect that cuts out extraneous noise.
The only issue is that squinting doesn’t permanently solve the problem. It’s a poor attempt to see better without the proper lenses.
Therefore, if you’re in this position, consider going to the optician. Ask them what you need to change about your current glasses and ensure you get the right lenses for you.
Words Moving Across The Page
If you notice words moving around on the page, that can also be a sign that you’re in need of a new prescription. Ideally, they should stay fixed in place. If you have wavy vision, it usually means an uncorrected astigmatism (a common elongation of the eye ball).
You can’t do much about astigmatism itself. It’s something that’s baked in, unfortunately. However, you can correct your lenses so you can deal with it better.
It’s Been Over A Year Since You Last Went To The Optician
Finally, it might be a sign you need to go to the optician if it is more than a year since your last visit. Leaving long empty gaps between checkups is a bad idea, since you don’t know how your eyes are developing or what lenses you need. If you’re over 40, you’ll want to go to the optician at least once a year, preferably more.
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