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Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

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Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#21

Post by thawkins »

lefrenchy wrote: post #2

Does anyone have actual experience reversing myopia? During the pandemic my eye sight worsened pretty quickly and I have glasses for the first time ever (presumably the worsening was already there but accelerated by being on my computer more during lockdown, working longer hours, getting out of the house less). My prescription is really slight (I think like -.5 or -.75) and I was really curious if this was reversible…

I would advise getting your blood sugar levels checked, high blood sugar has a negative effect on eyesight, and given that during pandemic many people have cut exercise and may have started snacking more. There is a strong correlation between type 2 diabetes and vision problems.

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#22

Post by htk »

-An 1883 study of military recruits found myopia was much higher in students and merchants than farmers

-A 1969 study of Eskimos found that myopia had increased dramatically since Western schooling was introduced

-A 2012 study of German students found more than 50% of university graduates had myopia vs. 25% for dropouts

-In countries like Singapore and Taiwan, myopia is common among even young school children

They all fit in the "correlation does not imply causation".

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#23

Post by argonaut »

This experiment found that undercorrection (giving a prescription slightly weaker than correct) of myopia in children accelerated progression of myopia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12445849/.

The results appear to have been replicated in another experiment: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16907670/

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#24

Post by nealabq »

Me and my children have found that nearsightedness gets worse pretty quickly if we read a lot of paper-printed material. But reading from a computer screen seems much less harmful.

We also have reading glasses that are about 2 diopters weaker than our distance (driving) glasses.

Anecdotal of course. I don't know anyone else who's claimed that reading a backlit computer screen is better than reading a printed book.

I don't know how (non-backlit) e-paper compares.

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#25

Post by 09bjb »

hmsshagatsea wrote: post #10

That guy’s a weirdo. Look up Cliff Gnu’s no BS guide to sight improvement and it’s all you need. I have dropped 1.75 in one year. And this is without being super intense

Do you have a link to share? I looked up "Cliff Gnu’s no BS guide to sight improvement" and "Cliff no BS guide to sight improvement" on DDG and Google and the top result is this comment, with unrelated stuff below.

Edit: eventually found this: https://losetheglasses.org/cliffgnu-vision.pdf

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#27

Post by ASalazarMX »

thawkins wrote: post #21
lefrenchy wrote: post #2

Does anyone have actual experience reversing myopia? During the pandemic my eye sight worsened pretty quickly and I have glasses for the first time ever (presumably the worsening was already there but accelerated by being on my computer more during lockdown, working longer hours, getting out of the house less). My prescription is really slight (I think like -.5 or -.75) and I was really curious if this was reversible…

I would advise getting your blood sugar levels checked, high blood sugar has a negative effect on eyesight, and given that during pandemic many people have cut exercise and may have started snacking more. There is a strong correlation between type 2 diabetes and vision problems.

This is sound advice, our ophthalmologist said the same: glucose level can change the thickness of your cornea (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17964654/), and that can even improve your vision. A sudden change in vision, for the worse or better, merits checking your glucose level.

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#28

Post by fy20 »

nealabq wrote: post #24

Me and my children have found that nearsightedness gets worse pretty quickly if we read a lot of paper-printed material. But reading from a computer screen seems much less harmful. We also have reading glasses that are about 2 diopters weaker than our distance (driving) glasses. Anecdotal of course. I don't know anyone else who's claimed that reading a backlit computer screen is better than reading a printed book. I…

> We also have reading glasses that are about 2 diopters weaker than our distance (driving) glasses.

I've been wearing glasses for 18 years. My prescription peaked around -3.75. Last year I got the usual eye strain suggesting my prescription needed changing, so I went to an optician and they suggested a stronger prescription: -0.5 more in each eye, and quite a strong change in astigmatism. I was a bit skeptical as usually when my prescription changed before it was -0.25 in one eye or the other, and I could still read mostly ok, just after a long day my eyes were tired. They insisted it was correct, so I ordered the glasses but when I got them I couldn't read a computer screen for more than 15 minutes without lots of eye strain. I went back to them, they tested my eyes again and said everything was fine and I just need to get used to it... Right.

After that I went to an eye hospital where they do laser surgery as they do much more extensive testing. They said my eyes were perfectly healthy, but the issue was the that the prescription opticians gave me was for distance use, not for computer use. I was a bit flabbergasted at first - you are telling me for the last 18 years opticians have been giving me the wrong prescription?!?! They suggested -3.25 for computer use, and to keep my old -3.75 glasses for driving. Sure enough, I can see computer screens perfectly fine with these glasses and no eye strain.

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#29

Post by AnonHP »

nealabq wrote: post #24

Me and my children have found that nearsightedness gets worse pretty quickly if we read a lot of paper-printed material. But reading from a computer screen seems much less harmful. We also have reading glasses that are about 2 diopters weaker than our distance (driving) glasses. Anecdotal of course. I don't know anyone else who's claimed that reading a backlit computer screen is better than reading a printed book. I…

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional in this area.

I recall reading that one of the causes for myopia, from an environmental and habit perspective, is reading in low light. Having sufficient lighting available reduces the strain on the eyes and could prevent or reduce the development of myopia. You could perhaps look at increasing the lighting when you read printed papers or reading them in a natural sunlit environment with hardly any shadows.

Re: Myopia: A Modern yet Reversible Disease

#30

Post by wahern »

hmsshagatsea wrote: post #20
jsnell wrote: post #17

This looks like total quackery to me, especially given the bogus claims about glasses making myopia worse. Is there any kind of credible scientific evidence for this working?

Bogus claims? Ok anecdotal evidence but I went to the eye doctor with my sibling when I was 8 and she was 10. We BOTH were proscribed the same glasses. I ended up wearing them all the time, and grew up to having a -4.0 by the time I was 30 My sibling? She never wore her glasses growing up and oddly enoug has perfect vision in her mid 30’s Now granted I spent most of my time growing up playing on the computer and read…

> Now granted I spent most of my time growing up playing on the computer and reading - but I was wearing my glasses the whole time so year by year it got worse.

AFAIU it's relatively well established that regular sunlight exposure is critical to proper eye development. But judging by the numbers you mentioned this revelation (at least the scientific evidence for it) would have post-dated your childhood years.

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