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…
Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
21–30 of 104 posts
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#22I went in to get an endoscopy done one day. They put me under for it for about 15 minutes or so. Not sure which sedative they used. Did the usual “count to three” trick where you’re out in less than a second.
After I woke up, some hours later I noticed that my weak eye had cleared up and the other one was now the weak one.
This effect went away some hours thereafter. Since then, I’ve often wondered what in the world could have caused that reversal.
When I use something like “active focus” (consciously and voluntarily shifting the focal plane) I can get the weak eye to clear up a bit. Sunlight helps immensely as well.
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#23Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
Yes, hyperopia is a very ungrateful condition... The usual situation is patients which had a perfect vision all their life, and, around 40, lose their near vision, and their far vision a few years later. This is always a little bit depressing. My only advice for hyperopia would be (I'm sorry for that) to not wait too long to wear a correction for near vision. Sadly you won't heal hyperopia by training your eyes to lo…
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#25I 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)
#26I have been working on doing this since the start of 2020. I purchased glasses for almost all the diopters from .5 to -4.25 (where I started) cheaply on Zenni, by going with minimal add-ons, it makes the total cost per glasses pair between $10 and $30 each. I have customized text on each of the frames that says their correction, since some of my frames are duplicates with different lenses. I am down to about -2.75 so…
I would be very impressed if I had the opportunity to observe a myopic regression in a patient after cycloplegia (for both exams, of course).
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#27Ophthalmologist 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…
Interestingly enough, it does seem like eyeballs can shorten in many species, including chicks, shrews, and some primates. It only took a few seconds to Google.[1]
I’d be curious whether humans share a similar mechanism. I would be surprised if they didn’t, considering how this mechanism is common amongst such a diverse range of species.
Cheers.
[1] https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2189093
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#28I have been working on doing this since the start of 2020. I purchased glasses for almost all the diopters from .5 to -4.25 (where I started) cheaply on Zenni, by going with minimal add-ons, it makes the total cost per glasses pair between $10 and $30 each. I have customized text on each of the frames that says their correction, since some of my frames are duplicates with different lenses. I am down to about -2.75 so…
Anecdotally people have reported you can improve at about 0.75 diopters per year and that resonates with my experiences.
Also anecdotally, people who spend a lot of times outdoors seem to recover faster.
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#29There'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.
Their big breakthrough in understanding myopia occurred in 2008 when they studied a particular group of people who had a genetic form of myopia that’s very severe. They discovered a gene mutation that was causing the myopia.
“It turns out it was a mutation in the cone photoreceptors,” said Jay Neitz. “We then realized that it’s really just the way that the images are being encoded on the retina.”
What’s supposed to happen as your eye grows, is that things should begin to go out of focus in the periphery of your vision. That’s a signal for the eyes to stop growing.
But as long as things are still clear in the periphery, the eyes think this person must still be farsighted, because in the natural world things in the periphery are far away.
Neitz said his team was able to design a lens to make central vision clear and in focus, and give the peripheal vision much lower contrast.
“It recreates what is supposed to be going on with our eyes before we started putting all of these things in front of our face like computer screens and tablets,” he said.
Re: Reversing Lens-Induced Myopia (2018)
#30I 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!