Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia • Hacker News Board

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#131

Post by soylentcola » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 9:58 PM UTC

sct202 wrote: post #88

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get stores to use your old prescription? I’ve had no luck with that.

Some of the online stores especially the ones based in China don't actually check your prescription.

For a while I could order from the UK, but I think (at least for the shop I used) they changed this to be more restrictive like the US.

It really is annoying due to the difficulty finding a good optometrist who does more than the basics. The entire process is still a matter of closest estimate when you consider that our eyes don't work in exact "steps" along a range. On top of that, the center point of the lens varies a lot based on exactly how a set of frames sits on your particular face. I've had plenty of glasses that were headache city because the IPD was right, but the lens center didn't line up properly with my pupil (vertically, when worn).

Then don't even get me started on the whole Luxottica thing where it can be another pain in the ass to find nice looking frames at many optometrist-attached stores. There are a few others with both optometrists and glasses sales (Warby Parker, if you have one of the brick and mortars nearby, for example).

For someone like me, even the "cheap" stores usually involve an extra $150-200 per set of glasses due to my cruddy eyesight and the need for the highest index lens material. I usually end up bouncing back and forth between somewhere like Warby when I really am due for another exam and will stomach the $200 cost for $20 worth of plastic. If I break or lose my specs too soon after, I tend to just suck it up and roll the dice with one of the cheapie online vendors.

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#132

Post by jimmyswimmy » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

ludwigvan wrote: post #32

Has anyone here given this a try: https://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-thr... https://gettingstronger.org/2014/08/myopia-a-modern-yet-reve... It claims that myopia can be cured, just like muscles can be made stronger in a gym.

I was forced to try the referenced Bates method for several years as a child, spending about a half hour a day on it. The experience was not good and the effort would have been much better spent on academics or even sports. After several years my parents changed eye docs, and I got one who would give me real glasses. I remember how awful my mother felt as I tried on the new glasses and exclaimed how amazing it was to be able to see anything at all. Trees have individual leaves, cars have license plates and brands, stores have sales prices posted. It may be possible these exercises work for others, but not for me.

The idea is a lovely one. There is some anecdotal evidence that more time spent outside as a youth reduces the rate of myopia. I don't recall whether the funding was published in science letters or elsewhere but it was an unexpected result of a survey. I see no downside in trying this for my own children, as opposed to my experiment of underpowered glasses and eye exercises. The kids like being out there.

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#133

Post by pessimizer » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:01 PM UTC

ysw0 wrote: post #53

ludwigvan wrote: post #32

Has anyone here given this a try: https://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-thr... https://gettingstronger.org/2014/08/myopia-a-modern-yet-reve... It claims that myopia can be cured, just like muscles can be made stronger in a gym.

Anecdote: I used to get new glasses/prescriptions every year. Every year my prescriptions would get stronger. Last couple of years I stopped renewing my glasses and whenever I absolutely need to get new glasses, I have the store use my old prescription. For whatever reason, my eye sight stopped getting worse. I think by wearing stronger prescriptions, your eyes adapt to it and you get more and more myopic.

You're probably just getting old. Normal people get farsighted as they age. Myopic people stop getting worse, or even improve a little, and start developing astigmatism.

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#134

Post by xwdv » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:02 PM UTC

Franciscouzo wrote: post #114

xwdv wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God no, UV radiation is a thing.

And sunscreen is also a thing.

I don’t trust most people to apply sunscreen effectively. You really need a lot of it for adequate protection, and by the time you apply that much, you become an oily slippery mess leaving sunscreen on every surface you touch. It’s easier to just stay the hell away from the sunlight and any surface that reflect light.

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#135

Post by soylentcola » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:03 PM UTC

frankohn wrote: post #72

jdtang13 wrote: post #46

The "myopia is purely genetic" zeitgeist has been continually shoved down all of our throats in the west. Meanwhile, studies from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea show that myopia truly has an environmental component to it, e.g. childhood eyestrain and video games. It's also undeniable that myopia manifests more in middle class workers than working class, which indicates some sort of systematic environmental component. Since…

The predisposition to myopia is genetic but one becomes myopic due to an environmental factor: the lack of exposure to sunlight. It is because of the lack to regular exposure to sunlight that people who study and spend a lot of time in homes can develop myopia if they are genetically predisposed. Focusing on nearby objects does not lead to myopia. Doing gymnastics with the eyes has no effect. Likewise, using under-si…

I accept that this isn't anything more than anecdote, but my mother was very myopic. I grew up in the boonies, spent loads of time outdoors, had no video games until I was in high school, and was allowed very little TV time.

I still needed glasses by 2nd grade and finally leveled out somewhere around the -8.50 range in my mid-late 30s. Hasn't really gotten too much worse as I got older, but as a lovely side note, I'm in my early 40s now and am getting the slightest bit of trouble on the other end of the spectrum where I can't always focus on small, close-up things if I have my glasses on. Guess it'll be time for bifocals soon.

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#136

Post by mattjaynes » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:04 PM UTC

Ask yourself, how much brighter is it outside than inside (assuming a sunny day vs a brightly lit office)?

Before looking into this, I would have guessed 2X or 3X, but would you believe it's actually over 100X!

I bet most people's guess would also be off by 1 or 2 orders of magnitude.

Even outdoors in the shade, it is over 50X brighter than indoors.

(For specific numbers and comparisons, see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6656201/ )

Apparently, our eyes adjust so quickly to the difference that we have a very poor sense of the magnitude of light change between indoors and outdoors.

I bring this up because one of the largest factors in myopia development appears to be outdoor light exposure in childhood.

Genetics are likely a factor too, but light exposure seems to have a huge effect: "The prevalence of myopia in 6- and 7-year-old children of Chinese ethnicity was significantly lower in Sydney (3.3%) than in Singapore (29.1%), while patterns of daily outdoor light exposure showed that children living in Singapore were exposed to significantly less daily outdoor light than Australian children." (from the same study linked above)

The obvious takeaway for parents, schools, and governments: ensure your children have plenty of outdoor playtime. It will greatly reduce instances of myopia (not to mention the benefits from higher Vitamin D levels, exercise, etc).

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#137

Post by outworlder » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:04 PM UTC

war1025 wrote: post #61

ludwigvan wrote: post #32

Has anyone here given this a try: https://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-thr... https://gettingstronger.org/2014/08/myopia-a-modern-yet-reve... It claims that myopia can be cured, just like muscles can be made stronger in a gym.

I went pretty deep down this rabbit hole for a while. I've always been suspicious of eye doctors since every visit they find an excuse to bump you up a notch or two. Anecdotally, me and my brother had the same prescription in high school. I started refusing to go to the eye doctor. He kept going. I happened to see his contacts prescription maybe six years later. His prescription was now over a diopter stronger than m…

You know what else does irreparable harm? Failing classes because you can't see!

Most people don't just decide that "hey, today is a good day for me to start wearing glasses, wouldn't it be cool!?"

For young kids, it's usually when they start doing badly in classes or people notice they are squinting. For adults, it's having trouble with things like the DMV exam, caught by routine checkups, or when they notice their peers can see much better than they can.

I could also give you endless anecdotes "proving" the opposite point, that wearing glasses can slow down or stop the progress, but why bother. That's all they are, they are not facts.

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#138

Post by soylentcola » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:05 PM UTC

meowface wrote: post #100

itwy wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it works like that.

It does seem like a convenient "just-so" anecdote, and I've never experienced or heard of myopia just going away like that, but I also don't think it sounds completely implausible.

I'd imagine it's also less noticeable in scenarios when you don't need to read smaller letters from a distance as much (ie: when you are playing outside rather than sitting in class).

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#139

Post by magicpin » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

xwdv wrote: post #111

digikata wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of archetypal idyllic images of ancient Greek education where a philosopher is teaching a group of students in an outdoor amphitheater. Maybe we need to redesign our schools to be outdoor, or at least with indoor structures with generous amounts of natural lighting.

God no, UV radiation is a thing.

Glass also blocks most UV radiation, so lots of windows would be ideal.

Re: Myopia treatment 'smart glasses' from Japan to be sold in Asia

#140

Post by phonebucket » Mon, Jan 25, 2021, 10:07 PM UTC

timonoko wrote: post #78

BTW: -2 shortsightness is the optimal. You can see your own hands and what you are doing and eating until the day you die. I happen to be those lucky few. On sunny days the iris is so small I can manage without glasses.

I'm short-sighted. I'm more worried about blurry traffic than blurry food.