Ro's Recz

While I normally write about things I recommend, I want to have more variation. I will continue to do recommendations of things I come across, but I also want to post my findings of questions that I have (on any topic). These are not questions unique to myself; however, I have taken the time to research the topics and find out the answers. When I find an article that has been written about the subject, I will simply summarize the findings and direct you to the article (for further investigation).

Since I have started to wear glasses, I am curious about how they work. Everyone knows that when they put on a pair of glasses (at least ones that match your prescription) that your eyes seem to magically be able to see better. Still, I am sure I am not the only one who never knew the science behind how glasses work.

According to an article by All About Vision, how well you can see is determined by how light bends as it enters your eye. Light will first enter through your pupil and the cornea, before moving onto the retina. What your retina receives is what your brain ends up seeing, and different variations of what the retina sees can result in nearsightedness or farsightedness. You can check out the full article here for more information about the exact science behind it.

Glasses work in several ways to help correct your vision, depending on what type of prescription you need.

For those with nearsightedness, you will need concave lenses. These lenses are “thick at the perimeter and thin at the center”, and the shape helps to move “the eye’s focus back toward the retina screen”.

For those with farsightedness, you will need convex lenses. These lenses are “thickest at the center, moving the eye’s focus forward from behind the retina.”

In both cases, for whatever reason “light is not focusing correctly onto the retina, so things appear blurry”, and glasses help to correct this flaw by focusing light to the correct place and making things appear clear. This article by The Conversation does a great job of using illustrations to make it simpler to understand how glasses make our eyesight better. Be sure to check it out for a deeper understanding!