Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
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Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
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Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#2I do think vision habits matter for near sightedness. The human eye, like all mammal eyes, seems adapted for far vision. To bring the focal point in, the ciliary muscle must contract to change the shape of the eye. When it relaxes, the focal point goes back out far away.
In the environment for which we are adapted, most time was spent focusing far away. In the modern world, a person may spend all day, every day, for years on end, focusing on things close up like books and screens. If the ciliary muscle is always contracted, it can get stuck; over time, even change the shape of the eyeball from constant pressure such that the cornea focuses too far in front of the retina, making the image blurry.
Perhaps I was too quick to get glasses when things first started looking blurry. If I had known, I would have tried to get the ciliary muscle to relax by focusing on things far away for at least a time every day. Instead, I went right to the minus lenses but kept my lifestyle of close up work all the time. This led to hyperopic defocus, meaning my ciliary muscle had to continue to contract to focus on near objects through the minus lens.
About 7 years ago I had the thought of improving my vision habits. I will spare HN the details, but my vision (optometrist confirmed) has improved from about -3.5 diopters to -2.25 diopters. I can now do things without glasses including working on the computer, cooking, and reading, for which I am grateful.
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#3I don't have a lot of myopia (max -1.5 on both eyes) but I also have astigmatism (around 1.75 for both). I find I can work fine on my computer distance-focus wise but the astigmatism means text are slightly blurry. Do any of you have this problem too? Do you have another set of glasses that are just correcting the astigmatism?
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#4I do think vision habits matter for near sightedness. The human eye, like all mammal eyes, seems adapted for far vision. To bring the focal point in, the ciliary muscle must contract to change the shape of the eye. When it relaxes, the focal point goes back out far away. In the environment for which we are adapted, most time was spent focusing far away. In the modern world, a person may spend all day, every day, for…
I wonder would the regular use of reading glasses for children help prevent myopia?
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#5Ophthalmologist here. The myopia epidemic is real thing. The advice given in this post is not a dangerous thing to try. However, I doubt that the theory is true, and I doubt that following this method will really help myopic patients. Let's try to justify this point :
"The long-term use of over-correcting glasses induces myopia" This is quite true. But it induces a myopia which is reversible. Overcorrection (which we try to avoid) leads to ciliary spasm. When the patient gets older, the lens gets less flexible (for everyone, this is what leads to presbyopia) and the myopia, if it was overcorrected, diminishes. It is common to reduce the correction for patients around 40.
We have a good, natural model in nature for over-corrected myopic eyes: hyperopic patients. They don't become myopic with time. Around 40-45 years, their hyperopia becomes clinically significant (they didn't need glasses before and they progressively need to have their hyperopia corrected at 45, or a little bit later if the hyperopia is slight).
"Repair is fast at first as you clear the ciliary spasm, and then slows down as you work on shortening the eyeball itself." No. Clearing the ciliary spasm (which is not present in every myopic patient, only the overcorrected ones) will indeed reduce the amount of myopia (the eye will return to its normal state: less myopia). However, we happen to have a very precise way to mesure the axial length of the eyeball (interferometry). While we commonly observe a lengthening of the eyeball in high, pathological myopia, I've never heard of an eyeball which shortened, nor read any paper which related this phenomenon. We don't know why the eyeball elongates in high myopia. But, as far as I know, eyeball never shorten.
"If you are considering laser eye surgery, please skim Lasik Complications." Yes, please do. You must be informed and your surgeon must inform you. However, you could also look at the number of refractive surgeons who underwent themselves this surgery, or operated their family. It is a common thing to operate our residents at the end of their internship because they saw the outcomes and want the procedure. Please note that any serious refractive surgeon will perform a refraction after cycloplegia, to remove any ciliary spasm and correct only the "real" myopia.
https://theophthalmologist.com/business-profession/do-ophtha...
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#6I do think vision habits matter for near sightedness. The human eye, like all mammal eyes, seems adapted for far vision. To bring the focal point in, the ciliary muscle must contract to change the shape of the eye. When it relaxes, the focal point goes back out far away. In the environment for which we are adapted, most time was spent focusing far away. In the modern world, a person may spend all day, every day, for…
I wonder would the regular use of reading glasses for children help prevent myopia?
~possible but I've read a research that the most impact for children is simply more outdoor time. There's a pdf of a Piano Tuner Association recommending the use of reading glasses when working in close distance.
I believe there should be wider recommendation to strongly discourage using myopia glasses for computer/reading. I've been wearing it since I was 7 (> 15 years) with a lot of reading, phone and computer usage, no ~big changes in my myopia but not better too. (Disclaimer, my glasses have always been pretty weak (I've also mistakenly overcorrected my latest pair, so I'll experiment with a astigmatism-only pair to see how much I need correction.
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#7There's also interesting theories about bright light exposure preventing myopia in children. Send your kids outside at recess every day :)
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#8I do think vision habits matter for near sightedness. The human eye, like all mammal eyes, seems adapted for far vision. To bring the focal point in, the ciliary muscle must contract to change the shape of the eye. When it relaxes, the focal point goes back out far away. In the environment for which we are adapted, most time was spent focusing far away. In the modern world, a person may spend all day, every day, for…
I wonder would the regular use of reading glasses for children help prevent myopia?
probably not a good idea because it would introduce more problems related to convergence and accommodation, better to just let the eyes work naturally and keep better habits.
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#9I don't have a lot of myopia (max -1.5 on both eyes) but I also have astigmatism (around 1.75 for both). I find I can work fine on my computer distance-focus wise but the astigmatism means text are slightly blurry. Do any of you have this problem too? Do you have another set of glasses that are just correcting the astigmatism?
you can substitute spherical correction for astigmatism correction. the spherical equivalent is the normal spherical value plus 50% of the cylinder. so for -3.00 sphere -1.00 cylinder 100 axis, the spherical equivalent would be -3.50 sphere (blank cylinder, blank axis).
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#10Ophthalmologist here. The myopia epidemic is real thing. The advice given in this post is not a dangerous thing to try. However, I doubt that the theory is true, and I doubt that following this method will really help myopic patients. Let's try to justify this point : "The long-term use of over-correcting glasses induces myopia" This is quite true. But it induces a myopia which is reversible. Overcorrection (which we…
> But, as far as I know, eyeball never shorten.
There are many anecdotal reports about people seeing shorter eyeballs as measured by an autorefractor while doing the reduced lens method, one example that I recall is this one from cliffgnu[1].
For LASIK the real thing that isn't communicated is that it doesn't address the root of the problem which is that the eyeball gets longer, it only works as if someone carved glasses on your cornea.