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Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

economist.com

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Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#381

Post by inopinatus »

jaqalopes wrote: post #238
robinduckett wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feeds into my pet peeve that Americans assume the world revolves around them and that all use of non American English is invalid despite the stereotype being that British English speaking people are worse for this.

It's not so much invalid as confusing. For Americans to call someone "shortsighted" has a well-known usage and negative connotation about their intellectual integrity. As someone who had never encountered the British usage prior to this headline, I don't think it's out of line to remark on this as a weird curiosity of our shared (but also frequently as in this case not shared) language.

I suspect folks are more irked by the parochial condescension with which the initial complaint was voiced, rather than the fact of the observation. This is not a forum that generally smiles upon weaponised imbecility.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#382

Post by Sunspark »

kortilla wrote: post #78
jart wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe you're serious. I wear glasses and there's nothing wrong with me. Last thing I want is to live in a world where I'm pressured to be genetically engineered for having the wrong kind of eyes.

If there’s nothing wrong with you, why are you wearing glasses? I wear hearing aids because my hearing is flawed. I would be ecstatic if there was a genetic solution.

There is an advantage to being able to take them off. Crying babies, dogs barking, lawnmowers, etc. go bye-bye. Your body still feels the vibrations which of course is biologically stressful (e.g. constant vehicular traffic), but psychologically it is a calmer state.

That said, there may be a drug to help restore some of it in a few years for some people, but I won't be first in line for it, because I'd like to know more about negative outcomes in a large population.. tinnitus risk, etc.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#383

Post by alephnan »

Aulig wrote: post #325

Honestly, myopia is not complicated (Kepler pretty much had it right in 1604 already). There's countless studies showing that axial length (eyeball length) changes in both directions, where elongation increases myopia. How do you change it? You get defocus (blur) which makes the eye adjust in the direction to reduce the blur. Practically: use weaker (around 1.5 diopters) or no glasses during close-up work (reading, c…

> Practically: use weaker (around 1.5 diopters)

This is what optometrists in Asia do, except in the West there is always a cultural tendency to "overprescribe"

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#384

Post by Hannan »

trashface wrote: post #356
underwater wrote: post #334

My child is following in my footsteps and has been prescribed glasses for nearsightedness. Her optometrist told us she should be watching TV rather than reading books. This was both surprising and upsetting, especially since she loves reading. This lead me on an interesting deep dive into existing research. What surprised me were the massive gaps in understanding. Scientist have at best established correlation betwee…

After being diagnosed with glaucoma I did a fair amount reading about that condition. My conclusion is that aside from some specific cases (head/eye injury) nobody really knows what causes it, there are probably multiple reasons, it could be a downstream effect from other health problems, and there just isn't a lot of research to sort it out. Cynically, I feel like there is a lot of money being made just by treating…

I don't know if this can help you or not, but Mark Cuban's Cost plus Drug Company has 3 different glaucoma drop generics available that may be cheaper than how you're getting it today?

https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/categories/glaucoma/

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#385

Post by pxc »

jart wrote: post #41
harshreality wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Myopia is a risk factor for floaters, retinal detachment, and glaucoma. It's objectively not neutral, despite that glasses exist. Glasses are also inconvenient, cost money, can be lost or broken, and don't cover the entire field of vision, and contacts have their own problems.

I can't believe you're serious. I wear glasses and there's nothing wrong with me. Last thing I want is to live in a world where I'm pressured to be genetically engineered for having the wrong kind of eyes.

If you wear glasses for nearsightedness and your doctor hasn't talked to you about your high risk of things like floaters, retinal detachment, or glaucoma, your nearsightedness isn't very severe.

Good for you that your vision is barely a real problem. For people who have a real, genetically heritable risk of going blind well before they even reach old age, that kind of research is very much of interest.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#386

Post by trashface »

Hannan wrote: post #384
trashface wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After being diagnosed with glaucoma I did a fair amount reading about that condition. My conclusion is that aside from some specific cases (head/eye injury) nobody really knows what causes it, there are probably multiple reasons, it could be a downstream effect from other health problems, and there just isn't a lot of research to sort it out. Cynically, I feel like there is a lot of money being made just by treating…

I don't know if this can help you or not, but Mark Cuban's Cost plus Drug Company has 3 different glaucoma drop generics available that may be cheaper than how you're getting it today? https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/categories/glaucoma/

It could help, thanks for that. It looks like the drops I use aren't on there. Problem is, its kind of a confidence game. My eye doc says to me, use brand X drops, they are the best. But they also aren't covered by insurance, and are distributed by an online pharmacy my doc _may_ have a financial stake in (I can't confirm this but I have a suspicion.) So do I ignore her advice and take different drops, which might be cheaper, but potentially have more issues with eyes down the road? I don't know.

For now I've decided to take the expensive brand-name drops, and we're monitoring to see if my condition progresses or not. After a couple years of this I might switch.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#387

Post by pxc »

smeej wrote: post #170
OskarS wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I hadn’t heard about this ”daylight” thing either. I’ve been nearsighted since I was a kid, and back then people said I got it because I read to much, focusing on things too close to my face. I thought that was a pretty fair trade-off, since I liked reading, and didn’t particularly mind wearing glasses. This sunlight thing makes a lot of sense though. I kept hearing proposals during the pandemic about holding c…

I was told reading was my problem too...except I was only nearsighted in one eye. My right eye couldn't focus clearly past the length of my arm, but my left one had no trouble at all. For years, I wore a plain lens for the left eye, and when I was old enough, switched to wearing only one contact lens. They confirmed it wasn't that I was reading only with my right eye, and it's obviously not like my eyes got different…

> I was told reading was my problem too...except I was only nearsighted in one eye.

I got glasses before kindergarten, and I needed them for longer than that.

Later on, I did end up spending a lot of time in childhood reading, but I was myopic before I could read.

‘Explanations’ like ‘you read too much’ have always struck me as obvious nonsense in my case.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#388

Post by Hannan »

trashface wrote: post #386
Hannan wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if this can help you or not, but Mark Cuban's Cost plus Drug Company has 3 different glaucoma drop generics available that may be cheaper than how you're getting it today? https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/categories/glaucoma/

It could help, thanks for that. It looks like the drops I use aren't on there. Problem is, its kind of a confidence game. My eye doc says to me, use brand X drops, they are the best. But they also aren't covered by insurance, and are distributed by an online pharmacy my doc _may_ have a financial stake in (I can't confirm this but I have a suspicion.) So do I ignore her advice and take different drops, which might be…

I see; that sucks. I hope you get some answers and some financial/medical relief in the future.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#389

Post by hackererror404 »

Hendrikto wrote: post #35
hackererror404 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an amazing youtuber/creator I've been following for a while and he does exactly this. Goes into the science of what it takes, and the results are really stunning. I'd love to give something like this a try, just need time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bqBsHSwPgw Also there was a breakthrough a while ago with LED ceiling lights that mimic natural sun. I haven't heard much since their release, so I'm sure c…

The length people go to in order not to leave the house…

If you are a photographer, this would be epic.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#390

Post by underwater »

nealabq wrote: post #340
underwater wrote: post #334

My child is following in my footsteps and has been prescribed glasses for nearsightedness. Her optometrist told us she should be watching TV rather than reading books. This was both surprising and upsetting, especially since she loves reading. This lead me on an interesting deep dive into existing research. What surprised me were the massive gaps in understanding. Scientist have at best established correlation betwee…

In my nearsighted family (parents, 2 kids) we've concluded that reading printed-pages makes you get nearsighted faster than reading words on a computer screen. This seems to work for us. Don't know about anyone else. I'm very nearsighted (-14 diopters), but I grew up reading books on paper.

This comment is exactly what I'm talking about. Studies involving hundreds of individuals is struggling to get that kind of clarity around correlations. The observations you've made with a handful of people are anecdotes, not controlled data.
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