My eyes don't focus like they used to, any advice?

[Pandora251]

The past year has been really hard for me. My eyes don't feel the same like they used to and it's driving me crazy. When I try to watch a show or read a book, my eyes will feel really weird. I feel like I'm just staring at a bunch of colors and its hard to process it. I have to think about focusing my eyes and blink a lot for it to be better. But even with that, my eyes will still not feel completely focused like they used to. Also, when I try to focus my eyes, I feel a big soreness/pressure to my eyes and head and I get headaches. The more I think about it, the worst my symptoms get. When I told my parents about it, they didn't really understand what I was feeling. Even when I search it up on the Internet, I see that very few people understand what I'm feeling. When I went to the eye doctor, he just gave me reading glasses. The reading glasses do magnify things but it doesn't help my eyes focus and I get the same soreness and headaches. The soreness and headaches are occurring almost everyday now. It's starting to make me feel really sad because I can't do the things that I used to enjoy normally like watching TV and reading and go on the computer. Can someone assure me that I'm not alone? But most importantly, can someone tell me what is wrong with me???

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

The short answer, and the correct answer, is no one can tell you what the problem is from your description and without examining your eyes. I would first suggest you tell your parents that you continue to have symptoms and the reading glasses don't help.  If you live in a developed country and have access to a large city or a university medical school I would suggest you see a pediatric ophthalmologist (I read you are 15).  You would need several things ruled out (especially if your first exam was not by an Eye MD but by a non-MD optometrist.  You would need your eye muscles checked to see if you have convergence insufficiency, you would need them also checked to see if you have an eye muscle imbalance like exophoria.  Then you would need a pre and post eye drop (cycloplegic refraction) to determine if you have later hyperopia.    Again discuss it with your parents. Show them your post and this one also.   JCHagan MD