Thread: Vision quality in dreams changes

So, first post. Hello, everyone. I can't find what I'm looking for on google, so I have to do this myself. How tedious!

For the TL;DRers: I had lasik eye surgery in December 2011. Everything went great and I have 20/20 vision now (up from 20/400). Since the surgery, I've had recurring dreams about having bad vision. Prior to the surgery I never dreamt in bad vision. In dream or wake, the idea of having bad vision again doesn't stress me out. Other's I know who had the surgery haven't experienced these dreams. So, what's the deal?

Now for more info. I'm 25 and got my first pair of glasses when I was 7. At 16, I got the contacts that you can wear for 30 days straight as well as sleep with them in. They were never out for more than a few minutes. So in essence, age 16-now, I've had perfect vision between the contacts always being in and the surgery last year. I don't understand why I'm having recurring dreams in blurry vision post-surgery, yet didn't have them prior to it.

When it happens in the dream it doesn't bother me or stress me out. Even in waking life the idea doesn't bother me. The feeling is more like, "Well then. Back to contacts. Who cares?" I worry more about the meaning behind the recurring dream than I do about the possible reality of my vision going bad again.

Considering this isn't a stressor for me, I'm wondering if in a way my brain is dealing with the loss of the blurry vision by deleting it in some way. If I think of my brain as a computer harddrive, then the information on "blurry vision" is no longer needed, so it can be deleted. There's no need for my brain to remember how to deal with it. Could it be that my dreams of blurry vision are a way of my brain getting rid of, or some how reorganizing, this uneeded information? But then why is it recurring? Have you heard of anyone else having these dreams post-lasik? Or anyone having bad-vision dreams at all, with or without perfect vision? I can't find anyone who has.

I should also point out that once this happens in a dream, it becomes the entire focus of the dream until I wake up. I can't function anymore, so if I was walking, driving, or whatever required my sight, I'll stop it and try to figure what happened and how I can fix it. I'd say I've had this dream at least 3 times a month since the surgery in December. I usually wake up soon after the blurry vision happens. But last night was the first time that it ever happened and I "fixed" it. Fo some reason in the dream I had glasses on me. Though rather than put them on, I was more so experimenting with them, moving them up and down in front of my eyes, trying to figure out if I really needed them or not, as if just peeking through them for a second would fix the vision. Of course it didn't and I didn't put the glasses on either. I just stayed where I was and woke up shortly thereafter.

If you're really interested in how I saw the world pre-surgery, this is spot on:
http : // i imgur com / nSrJt jpg
(Really? There's a 7 day waiting period for links? Guess we gotta keep the terrorists out some way or another.)

Life at 5: Stupid walls and doors of the same color, who needs brain cells? WHO CLOSED THE SLIDING SCREEN DOOR, GOD DAMN IT?! Why is that building honking? WHY IS EVERYONE SO UGLY?! *hug* Hi, Mo...OMG, WHO THE FAK ARE YOU?! Why the hell do my feet look so damn good? I think I hear wate...*gurggle gurggle gurggle drown*

How the heck did anyone survive with bad vision thousands of years ago? All of the poor-sighted ancestors should've walked off cliffs or have mistakenly thought a good spot to relieve themselves was on a sleeping bears face. So why does it still exist? I guess we were useful for close-in jobs like farming. Sorry, not so dream related anymore.

Thanks for whatever info you can give!