Originally Posted by Wholeheart Mom
Now mind you...
I am 47 years old and have always had 20/20 vision. I have never needed glasses and have never had difficulties with anything - even cutting and piecing quilts for extensive periods of time caused no problems.
However, since I started machine applique, I am having troublesome issues. I get headaches and for some strange reason, my eyes have difficulty accommodating from near to far vision, and I have blurriness for quite a while after I am done on the machine. It seems as if my eyes are too tired and too strained to adjust and focus, so my far vision is compromised for about an hour - then everything clears up and my vision is normal again.
This is all new to me, and I don't want to give up machine applique! Would glasses help? Would one of those magnifying lenses in front of the needle help? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are getting older :lol: :lol: :lol: I know...47 isn't old!!!
Truthfully though, as we get older the lenses in our eyes harden and are not as flexible. If you do close-up work for an extended period of time, you will have trouble focusing on distant objects. It is this diminished flexibility that causes this experience. When looking at distant objects, our lenses flatten out, and just the opposite when we look at things up close. Then, the lenses change to a shape that looks like this >
When we are young, our eyes can make these changes easily, but as the lenses harden, our recovery period lengthens.
When is the last time you visited an Opthamologist for a thorough eye exam? If you have never seen one, I am encouraging you to go. I have had lifelong vision issues (long story for another day) so I am somewhat compulsive when it comes to eye health. I also encourage you to see an Opthamologist as opposed to an optometrist or optition.