Is there a website that can show you what nearsighted people see?

I always say that the impressionist painters must have been nearsighted, because that’s the closest thing I’ve encountered to what I see uncorrected. Especially the morning sunlight shining through the trees.

Just tell your spouse the obvious; you can see close up but the farther away you get, the blurier it is. But if you want a picture, you can probably take a picture with your camera set on macro.

I wish I could show the people around me this too. I’m really really nearsighted and it’s hard to get others to understand it.

Tell your spouse it’s like when you wake berly wake up and it’s all blurry. I’m also nearsighted so I know how it feels and I also have astigmatism

This page has images of eye charts as they would be seen by people with different levels of nearsightedness, as well as good explanations of how lenses correct various vision problems.

I also have this problem, and what I try to do is to describe how I didn’t know that you were supposed to be able to see the individual leaves on trees until I got my first pair of glasses. I don’t know about a website, but this picture kind of works.

if your husband has perfect vision and he puts on your glasses, how he sees with those glasses on is how you see without them. so when he puts them on and says oh my god the world is so blurry, tell him that’s exactly what you see.

i would also advise for a general idea of nearsightedness, get a roll of wax paper from the grocery store, and have him look at the world through that.

i am extremely nearsighted and i think someone with perfect vision would have trouble comprehending that without glasses or contacts, someone like me really can’t even function.

Until about 2 years ago, I was nearsighted in my left eye and had an astigmatism in my right eye. I opted to have Lasik and it was the best decision I have ever made. My g/f was also nearsighted to the tune of about 20/400. She had Lasik about a year ago and even though she wore contacts to correct to 20/20, she didn’t realize how poor her vision was until after Lasik. I know Lasik is not for eveyone, but if you haven’t talked to your eye doctor about it lately, give it a try. They have made huge advances in the last few years.

Here is a photo I found to show people.

Great Question.

I thought this picture was telling:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3634/3297950205_fe7b42f5a7.jpg

@missingbite: is it true that you lose a significant part of your night vision with Lasik?

I think maybe a suitable way to demonstrate that would be to use binoculars or a camera in different levels of out of focus, which is what nearsighted eyes are. Or just give them your prescription glasses.

Yes. But looking through your prescription glasses will not show him. That is the opposite direction. You’re glasses will move normal vision to farsightedness. Here’s how to calculate it:
How close do you have to be to read a paper without glasses? Let’s say for example 1 foot or 0.3 meters. He should wear a pair of reading glasses with a diopter of 1/.3 = + 3.3
If you can read at 10 inches or 0.25 meters, then he should look through 1/.25 = +4.0 diopter glasses. ( Diopter = 1/ f f=focal length in meter)
I’m sorry this sounds like an Optics 101 class. I’m a just geek who loves Physics.

This shows one photo of each: nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), and astigmatism.
Here, it shows a video on how light rays are bent in the retina.

@wildpotato Not at all. There is a possibility of having some night vision problems like star bursting but you will see much better even at night. I am an airline pilot so I was very nervous about my Lasik. I did notice some star bursting when I looked directly at a light (like traffic light) but it was no worse than my glasses where. Today, two years later, I have no affects like star bursting at all and my depth perception is amazing. I might add that the recovery time is about two weeks. Just follow the doctors instructions by using the eye drops a lot to keep your eyes lubricated and you can be driving and working the next day. My g/f still reaches for her glasses when she gets up in the middle of the night to use the restroom then realizes she is seeing what she is looking for but they are not there.

@jca That’s what I thought too, until I put on my glasses while wearing my contacts.

this is really neat! I’ve always wanted to show my husband how the world looks to me, because he has asked me several times. Thanks for the great links!

@YARNLADY that’s about how bad my eyes are. My eye doctor also asked me if I had been seeing any flashes or sparkles. I told her no. She said that people who are extremely nearsighted can have their optic nerve become detached, the flashes and sparkle are symptoms of that and that it is a very dangerous situation. I thought, “Great, one more thing to worry about!”

Well, if anyone ever finds/writes a perfect website for this, please let me know! I’m 13.25 diopters in one eye and 15 in the other, and have been wishing for a way to “explain” for years. Myopics unite!! ;)

The best way is to put on a pair of reading glasses (plus lenses) that are the opposite of your negative Rx. So, if you wear -4.00 contacts, have the person put on +4.00 reading glasses to get a good approximation of how you see (or, don’t see) without corrective lenses. You may have to stack a few pairs on top of one another if you have a strong Rx.