Is It Normal for My Corrective Lens Prescription to Change Every Year?

Seeing clearly is one of life’s greatest gifts. Your eyesight is precious. You seem to need a prescription for a new pair of glasses or contact lenses every year or so. You may wonder: Do my eyes really change that much? Could I have an eye disease? 

Our board-certified ophthalmologists and optometrist with Wolchok Eye Associates, PA, conduct comprehensive eye exams to help you maintain optimal vision. They explain that it’s normal for your corrective lens prescription to change just as you experience changes in your body from childhood to adulthood to your senior years. 

Childhood 

Your child’s eyes grow and change rapidly from birth through the teen years and into early adulthood. The eyeballs don’t reach their full size until your loved one’s early 20s; as a child grows, the eyeball lengthens. 

As your child’s eyeball changes shape, your loved one can develop a refractive error in their vision. The most common vision condition in childhood is nearsightedness, or myopia. While your child may have been able to see the whiteboard from the fourth row in the classroom in first grade, they may not be able to see it clearly in fifth grade, and they might need a new prescription each year for a few years. We monitor your child’s vision carefully. 

Adulthood 

It’s not uncommon to need a new glasses prescription each year if you’re farsighted, nearsighted, or have astigmatism, although many people don’t need one that often. Around age 40, you may begin to notice that it’s harder to see the expiration dates on medicine bottles or other fine print, which is the time in your life when the lens in your eye starts to lose flexibility. 

Now you have a condition called presbyopia. You may need a prescription for a new pair of glasses annually for several years until your near vision stabilizes. 

If you have diabetes, another autoimmune disease, high blood pressure, or a family history of eye disease, you know you need to be vigilant about having an eye exam every year because of the increased risk of eye disease. Also, your prescription may change yearly based on the management of your health condition. 

The senior years 

If presbyopia wasn’t an issue earlier, it’s likely to become one during your senior years as the lenses in your eyes harden. You may need bifocals, which improve near vision and distance vision. You may need to increase the wattage of lamps near where you read at your home. The eye muscles that regulate your pupils are weaker, so you see less light. 

If you wear glasses or contacts, the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends getting an eye exam every year when you’re 65 and older, which is when your vision may start to become cloudy because of cataracts. You’re also at increased risk of other eye diseases, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, during your senior years.  

Call Wolchok Eye Associates, PA, today for a comprehensive eye exam.