Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

losetheglasses.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 104 posts

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#11

Post by kshacker »

Very interesting reading. I have also been reading about insulin resistance and how one philosophy was to give more insulin, and another philosophy is to reduce insulin + add fasting so that your body corrects towards the new life [ maybe I am paraphrasing too much ]. From the little I have heard on this, reducing insulin and making body adapt sounds more reasonable.

This seems to be going in a similar direction. Get your body to adjust than help it with strong prescription glasses.

Not sure if it will work for people who are in a transition phase with their eyes worsening every year, but it may help people with relatively stable eyes.

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#13

Post by causality0 »

gdebel wrote: post #5

Ophthalmologist 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…

Do they ever perform lasik under general anesthesia? My eyes react so strongly to overstimulation like bright light or being touched that I couldn't even get the pre-tests done.

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#14

Post by gdebel »

jerheinze wrote: post #10
gdebel wrote: post #5

Ophthalmologist 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 gla…

The problem is that you can't measure axial length with an autorefractometer. You need a biometer. The autoref will tell you the objective refraction of the patient (which is quite imprecise).

The eyeball gets longer with time in high (pathological) myopia. Serious surgeons will check that the myopia is stable (1-2 years) before doing a surgery. The eye doesn't, usually, gets longer in patients with moderated myopia. All the work, in refractive surgery, is in good patients selection. It is very unusual to observe a significant myopic regression in patients with a stabilized myopia after 21 years. Of course the eye is an organ, there is no absolute rule in the human body. However, patients which were correctly selected for surgery don't, usually, see their myopia coming back with time.

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#15

Post by gdebel »

causality0 wrote: post #13
gdebel wrote: post #5

Ophthalmologist 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…

Do they ever perform lasik under general anesthesia? My eyes react so strongly to overstimulation like bright light or being touched that I couldn't even get the pre-tests done.

No you can't do that, because the patient must look at a target. There is an eye tracker in the laser but you have to look in the right direction. The surgery is much less impressive that you can imagine. Take an advice with a reputable, trained surgeon which will carefully look for any contraindication !

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#16

Post by gdebel »

jaggederest wrote: post #7

There's also interesting theories about bright light exposure preventing myopia in children. Send your kids outside at recess every day :)

There is indeed much more evidence for this advice. This is my I do with my kids. Using your far vision a lot I childhood, with enough light exposure, could be a real preventive habit.

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#17

Post by afarviral »

gdebel wrote: post #5

Ophthalmologist 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…

My understanding was dopamine has the effect of stopping the eyeball from growing longer, which is released during exercise in the presence of bright sunlight. Hence a sedentary and indoor setting make you more prone to Myopia.

I don't have time to find a reference, but I have read research which shows that our eyes tend to grow longer when we are having any sort of trouble focusing, which is often the case with a weakened prescription or in dim light. As a result I stopped ordering slightly weaker glasses for myself and moved my office to a brighter room in the house.

Despite all that, my Myopia seems to be getting worse, wearing the appropriate glasses that ensure sharp focus for distance vision and ones that are less straining with a negative SPH value for computer work (hobby/weak reading glasses etc). I also have some astigmatism which my glasses are completely correcting now.

I would love for medical science to discover the means to reverse myopia, it seems like a solvable problem involving signalling/conditions which causes the eye morphology to change.

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#18

Post by ntoskrnl »

gdebel wrote: post #5

Ophthalmologist 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…

> hyperopic patients. They don't become myopic with time

As a farsighted person who didn't get glasses until I was 30... I only wish it was as easy as sitting and waiting a few years.

Most of the advice in tech circles is about myopia, so whenever I see something like this I like to imagine the opposite advice to see if it would cure me in the opposite direction. Should I stare at something less than 20cm away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes? I don't think either near or far-sighted people are going to heal themselves with internet advice

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#19

Post by voisin »

bovermyer wrote: post #12

I got LASIK last year, after a lifetime of being basically legally blind without glasses. It was absolutely worth it and I regret nothing.

I concur. I got mine done 5 years ago and still marvel nearly every day at how clear my vision is. The hedonic treadmill has yet to detract from the pure joy of not wearing glasses and having crystal clear vision. I am a huge proponent!

Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)

#20

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

Scott_Sanderson wrote: post #2

I 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 wore glasses for 20+ years before adopting contacts at age 30. I had to learn how to change focus because the depth of field is less compressed than it is with glasses. It was a notable effort for the first few weeks until my eyes adapted.

Now I have early stage presbyopia which is only an issue for reading small text. I'm grateful I can just pop out the lenses and get spectacular near vision when I need it. It's great for watching video on a 5" cell phone because you can hold it close enough to fill your field of view and don't have to support the mass of a larger phone when lying down.

Post reply on HN