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

asia.nikkei.com

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

#61

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 mine. I needed new contacts, so went to an exam about that time. My prescription was still the same, "Well we'd like to bump you up a notch, but you can stay at this level if you want."

Further, I noticed growing up that the kids with the worst eyesight were the ones whose parents had the best insurance and could afford twice per year exams.

Anyway, I think glasses do irreparable harm to vision (particularly during adolescence). I think that will be borne out by research if anyone ever looks into it.

The myopia correction exercises do seem to help, but it's a fickle process. If it was easy it wouldn't be controversial. I would describe my experience as your baseline vision stays roughly the same, but you can learn to focus for short periods of time and improve your acuity by maybe 1 - 2 diopters.

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

#62
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's making a mountain out of a molehill. Yes, there's some evidence that very rigorous, regular eye exercises can help delay or even slightly reverse myopia. Slightly. If you give yourself a headache for like an hour a day, every day. And the effect goes away when you stop exercising. This is something that has been studied pretty extensively. If it was actually a cure, it'd have been well-proven by now, and we'd al…

> This is something that has been studied pretty extensively. If it was actually a cure, it'd have been well-proven by now, and we'd all be doing it. Untrue and faulty reasoning. It may have been studied extensively on biased populations, or the research may not have been funded adequately. Anyways, this is part of the "myopia is purely genetic" zeitgeist which is shoved down all of our throats in the west. Meanwhile…

Agreed. I surveyed the existing medical literature on the topic in about 2018 (or was it 2017?) and conclusion was that it is still a very active area of research with a lot of controversy.

Anecdotally, I have a low-grade myopia which gets observably worse after a lot of near work or sitting the whole day in front of a computer. I can pretty consistently reverse through the use of print pushing and use of anti-corrective lenses (basically forcing myself to look at a slightly out-of-focus image each day). It also consistently worsens when I stop doing it, especially when I stop spending time outside.

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

#63
post #53

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.

Studies of deliberate undercorrection show a slight acceleration in myopia progression. Myopia progression slows and stops naturally after adolescence, whether you wear the correct prescription lenses or not.

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

#64
post #55
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Warning to anyone taking the above as medical advice: perhaps it might work for you, but do discuss with your doctor and check that you are not driving vehicles with worsening sight while believing it's fine. By all means try it, but get it checked so at least you have the data to know whether it works for you.

> but do discuss with your doctor

This requires having a doctor you trust.

My experience with most doctors is that I can trust them about as far as a used car salesman.

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

#66
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

I asked the optometrist. He was a little offended that I wasn't going to use the new measurements but I pleaded with him enough that he relented.

One very interesting thing that convinced me to start doing this: if you get measurements taken at night (vs early in the day), your prescriptions will be stronger as your eyes are already tired. So your new glasses may be too strong for you but your eyes will adapt to it and become worse.

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

#67

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…

I have bad myopia (around -5) both my parents have it too and to me it has always been evident that it isn't purely genetic. I think I could willfuly downgrade my vision if I concentrated.

In my family (n=basically_none), it seems that myopia correlates strongly with habits. The most bookish, indoors-y kids ended up in glasses - and the more so, the thicker the glasses - while folks who spent their childhoods running around outside tend to have 20/20 vision.

Assuming such an effect really exists, I expect it would be very difficult to statistically distinguish from straight heredity. Kids' early childhood habits tend to reflect family culture.

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

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have bad myopia (around -5) both my parents have it too and to me it has always been evident that it isn't purely genetic. I think I could willfuly downgrade my vision if I concentrated.

In my family (n=basically_none), it seems that myopia correlates strongly with habits. The most bookish, indoors-y kids ended up in glasses - and the more so, the thicker the glasses - while folks who spent their childhoods running around outside tend to have 20/20 vision. Assuming such an effect really exists, I expect it would be very difficult to statistically distinguish from straight heredity. Kids' early childh…

I read that being in the sun when you're a child and your eyes having to adjust with the change in brightness helps with reducing myopia

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

#69
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my family (n=basically_none), it seems that myopia correlates strongly with habits. The most bookish, indoors-y kids ended up in glasses - and the more so, the thicker the glasses - while folks who spent their childhoods running around outside tend to have 20/20 vision. Assuming such an effect really exists, I expect it would be very difficult to statistically distinguish from straight heredity. Kids' early childh…

I read that being in the sun when you're a child and your eyes having to adjust with the change in brightness helps with reducing myopia

Perhaps a good reason to buy a HDR monitor then :)

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

#70
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I asked the optometrist. He was a little offended that I wasn't going to use the new measurements but I pleaded with him enough that he relented. One very interesting thing that convinced me to start doing this: if you get measurements taken at night (vs early in the day), your prescriptions will be stronger as your eyes are already tired. So your new glasses may be too strong for you but your eyes will adapt to it a…

Was this in the US? I’ve tried and everyone told me filling an expired prescription is illegal. Even places that don’t do exams. I have an old prescription and don’t want to get an exam because of the pandemic.
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