[Paleopsych] NYT: Really?: The Claim: Wearing Glasses Can Weaken Your Eyes

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Really?: The Claim: Wearing Glasses Can Weaken Your Eyes
NYT January 25, 2005
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

THE FACTS Glasses can bring a blurry world into focus, but
some people suspect that by doing all the heavy lifting the
glasses may speed the natural decline of vision. But
ophthalmologists say this is an illusion.

How well a person can see is largely determined by the size
of the eyeball, something a pair of glasses cannot change.
The average eye is about an inch from the cornea, in the
front, to the retina, in the back. When the eyes are either
too large (shortsightedness) or too small (farsightedness),
the cornea cannot properly focus images on the retina, and
glasses can help compensate.

Dr. Robert Cykiert, an ophthalmologist at New York
University Hospitals Center, said the contrast between poor
and normal vision becomes more obvious when people wear
glasses for a while and then take them off. But glasses
have no lasting effect on eyesight.

Reading in the dark won't damage your eyes either, Dr.
Cykiert said, though you may get a headache from all the
squinting and straining.

THE BOTTOM LINE Glasses will not make your vision
deteriorate more quickly.

scitimes at nytimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/health/25real.html