How Long Does it Take for Your Eyes to Adjust to New Glasses? (2024)

FAQs

How long should new glasses feel weird? ›

In most cases, it takes two or three days to adjust to a new prescription, while some wearers may experience eye strain and distortion for up to two weeks. This is a common occurrence, as it takes your eyes and your brain to take some time to adjust to processing images through a new lens.

Both your eyes and brain need time adjusting to prescription glasses. Some people adjust to this change in a matter of days while others may take weeks to adapt. When it's new glasses causing blurry vision or a new prescription number in old lenses, you have to give yourself time to adjust.

Although you may see better than before, getting used to glasses for the first time can be inconvenient. If you're dealing with any of this, you aren't alone. When you have a new pair of glasses, an adjustment period is completely normal, even if it is unpleasant.

If you have glasses for the first time, the best way to get used to them is to wear them as often as possible and as directed by the eye doctor. If you have had a change in prescription and the difference is significant, the adjustment period may be two weeks, or even a little longer.

When you wear glasses for the first time, or even when you get a new prescription, you may experience some blurriness or vision distortion as your brain adjusts. Up until this point, your brain and eyes have been overcompensating for poor vision and they need time to learn to process images differently.

The biggest potential problem is a faulty prescription, because your eyes will not adjust to your new glasses. Errors can occur during your eye examination, where the optometrist interpretes your answers about what you can and can't see.

Some eye strain is common when you're figuring out how to get used to wearing glasses. Your eyes are adjusting to the new lenses—and they may feel tired and a bit sore as they work to get used to the new prescription. This should clear up within a week.

Those who need glasses to see both near and far distances – and whose doctors have recommended to wear them full time – should wear their glasses all day. People who are nearsighted or farsighted and have been prescribed glasses for task-specific purposes may only need to wear them for certain activities.

When your prescription feels too strong, you might experience headaches, nausea, and eye strain, among other things. It might not be clear why your prescription feels wrong, but it doesn't take long to notice something's off.

Most issues related to adjusting to new glasses resolve on their own after a few days, but for some people, the adjustment period can take up to two weeks. However, if you experience eye strain, distorted vision and especially headaches for more than two or three days, contact your eye doctor or optician.

What does astigmatism look like on a prescription? ›

If you have an astigmatism correction on your prescription, you'll have both CYL and AXIS values for one or both eyes. You'll see a minus (-) or plus (+) number in the CYL section (If your eye doctor gave you a handwritten prescription, the CYL section would be the second series of numbers followed by the AXIS.).

Blurred vision is the most common astigmatism symptom. It also makes it hard to see details on objects, like the words printed on a menu in front of you, or letters on a road sign in the distance. Other astigmatism symptoms include: Seeing a glare or halos around lights.

If you're an adult who needs glasses due to blurred vision, not wearing glasses doesn't make your eyes worse, but it makes your eyes work harder. Corrective glasses allow your eyes to work less hard which reduces eye strain and all the other unpleasant effects of not wearing your glasses (when you need them).

New glasses can often cause a feeling that is very similar to motion sickness. Like the motion sickness you may experience while in a car or on a boat, as your brain works to adjust to the new lenses, it sometimes has trouble recognizing and adapting to the space around your body.

Unfortunately, wearing glasses comes with a slight adjustment period. Most people will experience headaches and sore or tired eyes during the first few days. However, as your eye muscles get used to relaxing instead of working so hard to make sense of what you are seeing, the headaches and soreness will disappear.

Astigmatism is measured in diopters. A perfect eye with no astigmatism has 0 diopters. Most people have between 0.5 to 0.75 diopters of astigmatism. People with a measurement of 1.5 or more typically need contacts or eyeglasses to have clear vision.

Glasses can be recommended to wear just when studying, reading, working on the computer, driving, etc. Many people do not require glasses for full time wear. If you're not sure, do not hesitate to ask your eye doctor about their recommendations.

Only 59% of people ages 25-39 wear correctivelenses, while 93% of people between the ages of 65 and 75 wear corrective lenses. The proportion of wearers rapidly increases after the age of 45. This jump in the numbers can be attributed to presbyopia.

Typically, most people start needing to use reading glasses at some point to compensate for lost flexibility in and around their eyes. So, when will you need to start using reading glasses? Everyone is different, but most patients get their first pair or readers sometime between the ages of 41-60.

Contrary to the generally accepted beliefs that wearing eyeglasses makes you look older and wearing sunglasses make you look younger, our results suggest that the effect of glasses on age perception is rather small.

What prescription is considered legally blind? ›

Simply put, if your prescription is -2.5 or lower, this means that you are legally blind. Visual acuity of -2.5 is equivalent to 20/200 vision. Visual acuity of -3.0, for instance, means that you have 20/250 or 20/300 vision. From there, visual acuity of -4.0 means that you have 20/400 vision.

Adjusting to Glasses for Astigmatism

Your eyes might need a few days or so to adjust, and if you've never worn glasses at all before, it can take a bit longer to get used to them. Give yourself some time and talk with your optometrist if you notice any new or worsening symptoms.

Astigmatism does not always require the use of glasses. A person can have slight astigmatism and still see clearly. Similar to the rest of the body, the eyes change over time, so regular eye checks with your local optometrist are of importance.

So when you wear your new glasses, your brain may need some time to understand how to interpret the new images it's receiving, causing you to feel disoriented or dizzy.

When you get your eyes tested for glasses, you are able to detect 1/4 (0.25) Diopter of astigmatism. Some people can detect even less. Small amounts of astigmatism, up to 0.50 Diopter, probably will not bother you during your normal activities. Vision becomes noticeably blurry with 1.00 Diopter of astigmatism or more.

Astigmatism is a type of refractive error caused when either the cornea or the lens has mismatched curves. This makes vision blurry because there are two image points.

Most times astigmatism is not a serious eye condition, but causes eye strain and fatigue – impacting school and office performances. However, astigmatism can sometimes hide a sight-threatening eye condition. Astigmatism, like myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness), is a common refractive error.

If you experience nausea or dizziness wearing your new glasses, it's likely that you're dealing with a depth perception issue. In a way, you're experiencing motion sickness as your body adjusts to a new way of seeing. This is normal and can last anywhere from two or three days to a week.

You tend to feel grounded and stable because you have a natural understanding of your body and how it relates to the space around it. During the time it takes for you to adjust to your new glasses, your depth perception may falter, which can be disorienting and make you feel dizzy.

When your prescription is too high, you will notice that you begin to feel dizzy and nauseous within some time of wearing your prescription glasses or lenses. This is a sure indication of a wrong prescription.

What happens if you wear glasses that are too strong? ›

When your prescription feels too strong, you might experience headaches, nausea, and eye strain, among other things. It might not be clear why your prescription feels wrong, but it doesn't take long to notice something's off.

Sadly, there is no trick to helping your eyes adjust to a new pair of glasses. The best and only way to guarantee your eyes will adjust and feel comfortable is by wearing the glasses whenever possible. The more you wear them, the more your eyes become familiar with the adjustment.

Is it Normal for My Eyes to Hurt with New Glasses? Some eye strain is common when you're figuring out how to get used to wearing glasses. Your eyes are adjusting to the new lenses—and they may feel tired and a bit sore as they work to get used to the new prescription. This should clear up within a week.

Astigmatism is caused by the shape of the eye's cornea or lens, and glasses can't change those. However, wearing glasses with an incorrect astigmatism prescription can cause other problems, including blurry vision, eye strain and headaches.

If you have poor eyesight, a sudden improvement could be a warning sign of diabetes, the UK's Daily Express reports. High blood sugar causes fluid levels in the eyes to change, and these fluctuations can impact eyesight. So if your eyesight suddenly seems to be getting better, you should consult a doctor.