I was sitting in a car with a friend the other day and he asked me if I could read a number plate on a car parked further up the street, and I couldn't! He could. So we got out of the car and tried some others and I'm starting to think that my eyesight might be borderline these days in terms of driving and stuff.

It's weird though, I don't notice any issues day-to-day, I don't think I struggle to read stuff that's far away, I don't really believe I need to read distant number plates anyway, do I? I don't know what to do.

If I go for an eye test they're going to try to sell me glasses - you can't trust opticians when they've got shops full of glasses they need to sell! And I don't want to be stuck wearing glasses all the time if I don't really need them all that badly. I look like enough of a ****ing poindexter already...

But I suppose you never know whether you need glasses until you see what the corrected version of your vision looks like, but you can't find out unless you go and have some dude try to sell you glasses. Grrr!

What should I do?

I think you should go take the test before it gets worst. If you don't want glasses theres a thing called contact lenses that exist nowadays (dunno if they did in your time.) :P

I have contact lenses and glasses. Basicly you kinda need both. When your at home you wear the glasses for stuff like computer because the contact lenses will get your eyes tired really quickly when watching a screen and then when your going out you put the contact lenses on. That simple. No one will even notice you have contact lenses...

All it will do is slow down the speed at which your eyesight is getting worst. (that sentence probably did not make sense to you)

Yeah You say Your eyesight is okay but then when you get a 7 of 10 on your physics exam because you used minus instead of plus you'll go to the doctor!

Check your eyes mate.

My brother used contacts and it looks like too much of a pain in the arse, I don't think I'd bother with them.

I don't have any issues with reading or using a computer screen, it's just stuff that's a long way away that gets a bit blurry. But do I really need to see that stuff anyway? It's not like I'm having problems driving or anything, it's just that (I think) legally my eyesight might not quite be good enough to drive a car.

I bet there are tonnes of drivers who ought to wear glasses who don't though.

Maybe you have normal eyesight, and your friend is far-sighted?

Yeah but for now its like that but usually when your eye sight is bad it gets gradually worst and worst. That's why glasses and contacts exist, it's to slow down that deterioration (or in some rare cases completly fix your eye sight.)

Contacts are not a pain in the ass at all... I put mine on in 2 minutes and 27 seconds (PB) and I don't even feel them at all. I'm sure you can sacrifice 5 minutes in your day to put them on and off :S.

Anyways, it's your choice but I think you should check your eyes. I've never thought of opticians that way though lol. Come to think of it, it's possible that they'll sell you glasses for the heck of making money. :P But still, if you know your eyes are bad then test them. If it doesn't affect your life at all then its your choice but usually it gets worst.

Or like Arco said, maybe your friends a mutant.

I think they will try and sell you glasses when you don't really need them, the only time I have found glasses vaguely useful has been flying, even then they spend as much time being a pain in the arse getting in the way as they do actually improving vision.

Quote from arco :

Maybe you have normal eyesight, and your friend is far-sighted?

A-ha! This is the kind of smart thinking we need around here. Thank you!

It's nearly 4am here but I'm tempted to call my friend and shout "HAH! MAYBE YOU ARE FAR-SIGHTED! EAT MY GOAL!"

Quote from evilpimp :

Anyways, it's your choice but I think you should check your eyes. I've never thought of opticians that way though lol. Come to think of it, it's possible that they'll sell you glasses for the heck of making money. :P

Maybe I'm being cynical but I can't imagine an optician saying "Yeah your eyesight isn't perfect, but it's good enough, come back in a couple of years".

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I bet there are tonnes of drivers who ought to wear glasses who don't though.

*raises hand*

However mine's not dangerous, and for my licence, we needed to do an eye-test, and I did pass, and my eyesight is pretty bad. I can't read a whiteboard or chalkboard which is about 6-8 metres away. Although I do have glasses which work, I just can't stand the look of them... NEED CONTACTS!

/rant-moan-bitch-admittingToBeingAShitDriverByNotWearingGlassesWhenIProbablyShould

Quote from arco :

Free online eyesight test

Excellent!

Quote from arco :

Free online eyesight test

I wish my eyesight was better

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

*raises hand*

However mine's not dangerous, and for my licence, we needed to do an eye-test, and I did pass, and my eyesight is pretty bad. I can't read a whiteboard or chalkboard which is about 6-8 metres away. Although I do have glasses which work, I just can't stand the look of them... NEED CONTACTS!

/rant-moan-bitch-admittingToBeingAShitDriverByNotWearingGlassesWhenIProbablyShould

If you can't read something 8 metres away you'd fail your driving test over here as you need to be able to read a registration plate from 20 metres away.

I am borderline depending on how cold it is, when my eyes are warm I can easily see a reg plate FROM THE MOON! But once they get cold my eyes glaze over and I'd be lucky to see a reg plate from 2 inches away

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

If you can't read something 8 metres away you'd fail your driving test over here as you need to be able to read a registration plate from 20 metres away.

I wish I knew how far 20 metres was. At a guess, I think maybe the ones we were spotting were further away than that.

Maybe I'll go mark out 20 metres in the street tomorrow and find out.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I wish I knew how far 20 metres was. At a guess, I think maybe the ones we were spotting were further away than that.

Maybe I'll go mark out 20 metres in the street tomorrow and find out.

If I remember correctly, the distance between two lamp posts in a built up area is ~20 meters. So that should give you a rough idea if you're road legal or not.

Quote from arco :

Maybe you have normal eyesight, and your friend is far-sighted?

Long-sightedness is the inability to focus on close up objects, books etc.
It doesn't improve your distance vision.

I would go for an eye test Kev, even if you do need glasses you are free to walk out with your prescription for the lenses and buy them from wherever you like.

You don't really notice how bad you sight is until it is corrected.
Last time I went for new glasses, the difference between using the old ones and new ones was massive. This is why they recommend you get a test every 2 years.

I don't think I've had my eyes tested for 20 years at least. Heh.

This is what's putting me off - if I've got by fine until now, do I really need some dude in a white coat telling me I should be wearing glasses?

Bleh. I might look into it this week. I just know if I turn up in the pub with glasses on I am going to get the piss ripped out of me forever...

I can't read number plates, hell, I can't even read road signs outside of 10m. I dread the day I buy a car because I know I'll need glasses. It's better to have them than not, you can always take them off when you feel like it

Kev, you should just experiment with trying out glasses of friends and other people you know and when/if you actually come across a pair that makes you see better, then you should head on down to the optician.

My eyes tend to get worse if I spend a lot of time on my pc. Try to live without it for a few days, and your eyesight might recover. It worked for me.

I can't live without the PC for a few days because I write code for a living.

I don't feel like my eyes are tired though, even after doing 8+ hours at a pop. I think I have noticed my eyes getting closer together though - maybe that's why my focus at long distance is a little off, I just need to get my eyes further apart again.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

But I suppose you never know whether you need glasses until you see what the corrected version of your vision looks like, but you can't find out unless you go and have some dude try to sell you glasses. Grrr!

Go to an optometrist.

You: I'd like to have my eyes measured, to see if my glasses need to be replaced.
Optometrist: Certainly. Can I measure your current lenses?
You: Sorry, I left them at home. I don't wear them constantly. Can't remember their strength.

Optometrists provide these services for free, because they make a huge profit when you actually buy something. (And sooner or later you will. That's the certainty of growing old. )

I've had reading glasses for a while now and the optician reckons I should wear them all the time. For the most part my sight is alright, it's just that the edges of stuff gets a bit fuzzy. I can't read number plates without squinting a lot

Most places will do eye tests for free now, so you've nothing to lose by going in. There's plenty of shops and supermarkets that sell glasses too - although my prescription is too mild even for them.

I got my test done at a local place and then bought my glasses from glassesdirect.co.uk - they have a pretty good selection. There's a law now where the optician can't deny you your prescription if you don't buy from them

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I can't live without the PC for a few days because I write code for a living.

I don't feel like my eyes are tired though, even after doing 8+ hours at a pop. I think I have noticed my eyes getting closer together though - maybe that's why my focus at long distance is a little off, I just need to get my eyes further apart again.

Try and get 2 naked ladies sitting just at the corner of you so that you can just see them out of the corner of you're eye while you code.....that should off-balance the focusing in on the PC. (although might affect work performance :shrug

It's possible that if you're looking into the computer all day, you might need to exercise your long distance vision a bit more. Stare out the window for an extended time, and focus on something like the details of a building in the distance. Should exercise those parts of the eye responsible for long distance vision, which might help clear things up a bit.

If pain persists see your optician