Terrible eyesight

[System12]

These are simple questions I guess, but I'm currently 19, and I have very bad eyesight.

It's gotten to the point where the doctor has to ask how many fingers they're holding up in conjunction with regular eye test. I'm not sure if that's normal or not, but I heard it is only done once you go past a certain point of bad vision.

My questions are, seeing as I'm only 19, is how bad should I be worrying about this? I wear contacts all day long and only wear my glasses at night before I go to bed. My grandfather has always had real bad vision, so it may run in the family, but I can almost guarantee my vision is a result of being on the computer for long periods at a time nearly every day.

Also, if my vision does get worse, will I eventually go blind? My doctor says I have a VERY heavy prescription for being so young, ones she would normally prescribe to people in there late 40s. Being as I'm not even 20 yet, will it get so bad as to where I can't even get a prescription strong enough for me anywhere and I'm basically walking around blind all day at age 50? I don't want that happening.

Really all I'm asking is,what are some general tips to keep my eyesight from getting worse? I'm cutting down on the time I spend on the computer, but I still will need to use it sometimes being a student etc.

Thanks in advance.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

1. Computers don't damage eye.
2. It's not your vision without glasses that's important its the vision with glasses.
3. Most people that wear glasses have healthy eyes its just they're out of focus.
4. You should be under the care of an Eye MD ophthalmologist and you need to see them yearly at least. There's no reason to believe that you will go blind if you do that.

JCH MD

[bad eyes]

In order to better help you, you need to give your eyeglass prescription.  By the way, asking you to count fingers during eye exam is a screening test for evaluating visual field defects such as from glaucoma.  If your vision is corrected to 20/20 with glasses and/or contacts, your eyesight is not "bad."