14 ms·

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

164 points by brian_herman 5y ago

jaclaz 5y ago
Some context: https://www.kubotaholdings.co.jp/en/kubota-glass-technology-wearable-device-for-myopia-control-myopia-or/index.html https://www.kubotaholdings.co.jp/en/kubota-glass-technology-...
- jhallenworld 5y ago
  "Kubota Glass technology works to reduce the increase in axial length associated with myopia by projecting myopically-defocused virtual images generated using micro-LEDS on the peripheral visual field to actively stimulate the retina." I don't understand why would this work. It implies that stimulating the retina affects the shape of the eye somehow..
  - lnanek2 5y ago
    Why wouldn't it? Bright light and dark light causes your pupils to dilate differently, right? That's muscles actuated by input from the retina. Focusing is also about shaping the eye using muscles. It would actually be kind of weird if retina input wasn't used to shape the eyes.
  - toast0 5y ago
    Presumably stimulating the retina with a defocused image activates the brain to use the ciliary muscle to adjust how the lens is focused, which could help reduce the effective myopia?
  - everestid 5y ago
    Interesting. I would easily pay 5K$ for a pair of those glasses. Where can I get them, please?
deltaonefour 5y ago
What about asians living abroad? I need one of these.
- hulitu 5y ago
  They are available from some time in Germany also. And here they don't say they come from Japan (but from other asian country, korea i think) so the article reads like cheap propaganda.
  - katspaugh 5y ago
    Do you have a link to where they can be bought from in DE? Or the brand name?
    - hulitu 5y ago
      They are called something like"myo smart glassses" or myo smart. They are available in Ingolstadt at "Sichtbetont". Also the Augenklinik from the LMU München can AFAIK recommend some suppliers.
the_d3f4ult 5y ago
The title is misleading. This would work to slow the progression of myopia, but won't do anything to reverse myopic changes. This works in a similar way to low-dose atropine which is already around the corner for slowing the progression of myopia (in children). For adults with myopia your only options to be spectacle independent are LASIK/PRK/SMILE, implantable contact lenses or cataract surgery. https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/how-to-use-low-dose-atropine-to-slow-myopic-progre https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/how-to-use-low-dose-atrop...
- pjerem 5y ago
  Ho, too bad :( Fixing my myopia would be one of my life’s dream. I’m unfortunately non eligible to laser surgery due to my amblyopia. I’m stuck there forever waiting for a non invasive treatment that nobody is searching for because, well, we have the LASIK.
  - creakingstairs 5y ago
    Man fixing it would be my dream too, especially with masks these days. I'm eligible for LASIK but I'm still waiting for a non invasive treatment as well. I know it is "safe" but it can go wrong and after reading some of the horror stories in forums I would _hate_ it if it goes wrong. Even smaller side effects like having dry eyes all the time and eyes hurting when there is wind sounds annoying.
    - pjerem 5y ago
      Oh you can try hard contact lenses. Sadly I’ve not been able to tolerate them for some reason that my ophthalmologist cannot explain but while I was wearing them, the correction was extraordinary, because it also fixes all forms of astigmatisms. Maybe what didn’t work for me will work for you.
      - adzm 5y ago
        Are hard contact lenses better than soft for astigmatism? Have you tried soft ones? I've only tried the latter and could never get used to them seeming to go out of focus or drift around whenever I blinked.
anonymousiam 5y ago
I saw this article about six months ago, and I'm really interested in getting a pair (for one of my sons). Too bad it's only available in Asia.
dimitar 5y ago
Is there a breakthrough in finding the causes of myopia?
DantesKite 5y ago
You know, I always get a bunch of pushback for this, but glasses cause myopia in most people. It induces a hormetic effect on the eyeballs, causing them to grow longer over time, inducing blurriness. As you increase the strength of the prescription glasses, the hormetic effect will continue in a feedback loop, worsening your vision as your eyeball elongates. It's the same adaptation that causes muscles to weaken, strengthen, bones to harden, calluses to form. "Well then, if that's true, why was my vision blurry as a child when I wasn't wearing glasses?" The initial blurriness one experiences as a child isn't caused by glasses and is likely a consequence of the ciliary muscle becoming "exhausted" from prolonged staring up close. Your eye muscles are actually most relaxed when staring at objects in the far distance. It evolved that way. We didn't "evolve" for close up work. We know glasses induce myopia because we can reliably cause myopia in all sorts of animals by making them wear contact lenses. There's no controversy about this. Feel free to look up the studies yourself. What's less plausible is whether the axial elongation can be reversed in humans. And it does seem (with some effort and time) it can be, although there's considerably pushback from poorly designed scientific studies suggesting otherwise but lots of Internet communities of people who have improved their vision significantly. You can induce a reverse hormetic effect by wearing glasses that are on the "border" of blurriness and staring at objects in the distance for long periods of time. In other words, wear slightly weaker prescription glasses than what you're currently wearing; one for close-up work and one for far distance so you're always just on the "edge" of blurriness. You can usually improve your vision at a rate of 0.75 diopters per year if you do this consistently. At this point, I usually get a lot of disbelief and criticisms, links to randomized controlled studies suggesting the opposite. I get into arguments trying to explain how those studies were set up wrong, people call me crazy, etc. It's pretty annoying. So I simply offer this: If you wear glasses, try ordering a slightly weaker version from Zenni Optical (or any store of your choosing). Try it for a year. See what happens. It's cheap. And low risk. "Don't I need a prescription?" You do, in the sense that you need your prescription strength number, but the word "prescription" here is a misnomer. Anybody can order prescription glasses online legally. It's like ordering socks. It is not like ordering prescription drugs. Completely different legal classifications. But if you're still skeptical, I ask you to think about this problem from first principles for a moment. If Homo Sapiens started naturally going blind from the age of 9, our ancestors would not have survived long. Most animals that have poor vision usually compensate with some other sense. And while it may be possible humans just naturally evolved to have terrible vision, studies of other populations (like the Moken population that can see underwater and have near-perfect vision) suggest it's likely a modern problem. There is a stressor. What is the stressor? It's multi-variate, but the most influential in modernity is wearing glasses. I wear two pairs. One for close-up work (so it's slightly blurry when I'm programming). And another that's much stronger (and safer) for driving. So I can see all the stop signs clearly, but the mountains in the distance are just blurry. In this way, I'm always at the "edge" of blurriness. There's a few other techniques you can do, but that one is the easiest to maintain. (Interestingly enough, people who hike outdoors a lot seem to do the best). As you improve you'll find yourself ordering weaker and weaker prescriptions (although the closer you get to 0 diopters, the longer it seems to take).
BugsJustFindMe 5y ago
This article is from a year ago.
hellelujah 5y ago
i am -4 and lost my glasses; however, i still keep my -2 glasses. on a sunny day, outdoor, the -2 glasses works just fine. not 99% eagle eye precision, but like 90% precision, overkill to see car plates and directions. does the intensity of light from sun cut -2 from -4 requirement?
- legerdemain 5y ago
  Yes, in bright light your pupils are narrow enough to create a pinhole focus effect. (It works the same way with a camera: stop down your camera lens enough and you get infinite depth of field with every visible object in focus.)
  - walterbell 5y ago
    This is also why "dark mode" is counterproductive when wearing glasses. Better to adjust ambient room lighting to match screen brightness.
    - legerdemain 5y ago
      I don't understand the connection. Can you explain?
      - walterbell 5y ago
        In a dark room, your pupils will dilate and impact clarity of vision. If the room is well lit and screen brightness is matched to ambient light, there will be no effect on pupil dilation. More details: https://endmyopia.org/why-vision-is-worse-at-night-and-on-cloudy-days-too/ https://endmyopia.org/why-vision-is-worse-at-night-and-on-cl...
        legerdemain 5y ago
        Oh, this is more "believe your way to a lower prescription" myopia skeptic stuff, isn't it. Yeah, sure, and in a pinch you can just glance up at the sun for a second to "improve" your vision.
actuator 5y ago
> Asian are prone to nearsightedness. Of people aged 20 and under, 96% of South Koreans, 95% of Japanese, 87% of Hong Kongers, 85% of Taiwanese and 82% of Singaporeans are affected by the condition, according to Kubota. Wow, this is so stark. Is it genetic or is it something lifestyle related? It would seem strange if it was genetic as glasses were invented quite late and vast population suffering from near sightedness without glasses seems like such a disadvantage.
- givemeethekeys 5y ago
  Perhaps living in cities with tall buildings produces a higher rate of nearsightedness since the eyes don't get to look to the horizon much.
- jaggederest 5y ago
  It seems that, like the way that environmental factors affect jaw development[1], environmental factors that are different between modern lifestyles and pre-historical ones drive the development of myopia.[2] But there have always been a percentage of people who are myopic due to other factors, as well, so it's not a single story. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15823276 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15823276 [2] https://www.aao.org/editors-choice/sunlight-exposure-reduces-myopia-in-children https://www.aao.org/editors-choice/sunlight-exposure-reduces...
- powerapple 5y ago
  the most effect you can have on your eyes can be cause by study. When you have to use your eyes and your brain at the same time. My parents told me that too much video games is bad for my eyes, from my experience, I became shortsighted in the period I had to study a lot and not playing video games.
  - beebeepka 5y ago
    Ah, but is the worst kind if non-binary thinking! Studying is good, and therefore it cannot be bad for your eyesight. Games, on the other hand, are bad and can only be associated with negatives. "You'll get this when get older"
deodorel 5y ago
I can't believe no-one mentioned keratological lenses. Not only gives you a glasses free experience during the day, they also slow or stop the progression of myopia. Aren't these avaliable in the US?
- leobg 5y ago
  I had to google this. For the lazy: “[Keratological] lenses correct your vision while you sleep. They do this by applying a controlled shape to the cornea which is the front surface of the eye, eliminating myopia (short –sightedness).”
- illwrks 5y ago
  Our daughter is using Ortho-K lenses. She's been wearing them for about 10 months now and they are very good. They are more 'myopia control' than fixing the underlying issue, but it means she can do sports etc without worrying about glasses (she's still little). For the uninitiated (as I was), they are hard plastic lenses that are worn at night. Initially the optometrist will take a variety or measurements of the eye and then a pair of lenses is manufactured. They are thicker than the standard disposable lenses and take a while to get used to and can be uncomfortable for a few weeks until you adjust to them. They work by shaping the outer part of the eye during sleep, when removed in the morning the outer part of the eyes have retained the shape from the lenses. Light entering the eye is then bent correctly and vision is almost 20/20. If she was to stop wearing them her eyes would return to her standard myopic level, but hopefully not be any worse than before.
ammmir 5y ago
Say what you will about not being able to reverse myopia, but I didn't really believe it. My brother recently wrote a book about his experience of going from -4 to 0 diopter over the course of less than a year without surgery: https://www.discoveryournaturalvision.com/ https://www.discoveryournaturalvision.com/ I tried the same technique. I went from wearing -3.5 contacts to -1.5 in about 3 months. The basic concept is forcing your eyes to read any text closeup (computer screen, books) at the edge of blur instead of it being in focus. That's basically all there is to it. People prefer laser surgery because it's less work than putting in the effort 8 hours a day for 3+ months at a time. I admit, I've given up after reaching -1.5, since it's good enough, but I'd like to rid myself of contacts entirely. The last 20% is 80% of the work, same principle applies :)
- 14 5y ago
  Downvote for linking and promoting your brothers paid book. All I can see is your brother making money not a way to fix eye problems.
  - ammmir 5y ago
    I thought it may be helpful for others, it’s a consolidation of knowledge and anecdotes, you can find the same info for free on forums and by reading research papers :)
- chinathrow 5y ago
  Can you explain how this works like I'm 5?
  - ammmir 5y ago
    I can’t. I think the eye is oblong shaped for myopes, and correction worsens this oblongity. By training your eye like a muscle, you’re decreasing it, hence the focus improves. I’m sure someone can explain it better. Don’t trust me, try it! And eat carrots and look at long distances in the daytime when taking breaks from work. Some old wives’ tapes have some truth to them.
- 5y ago
leobg 5y ago
This seems to be an implementation of “plus lens therapy”. If so, you could get the same results by purchasing cheap, $5 reading glasses (+2.5 or something like that), and use those when reading on your phone. Doing this, you effectively simulate that the screen you’re looking at is as far away as the horizon (and the characters you read as large as mountains). You’d need to hold your phone far away enough that you touch the “blur boundary”. This gives your eye the stimulus to further relax its lens and, over time, for the eyeball to get shorter. It’s like you’re slowly pushing the blur boundary of your eyes further and further towards optical infinity. The exact value of the plus lens to use depends on a few factors. The distance between your eyes and the screen (or book), and the current diopter of your eyes (based in a vision test). There’s a formula for that you can google (I don’t remember it).
TriNetra 5y ago
there's a yogic practice – known as Trataka (Still Gazing) – which can fix short-sightedness or myopia. Giving it from the book A Million Thoughts (on meditation) [0]: > How to Do It Right 1. Assume the standard yogic posture for meditation, preferably cross-legged. 2. Light a candle, at a distance of about three feet, in front of you. You can also keep any other object than a candle if you prefer. 3. Ensure the candle or any other object of focus is at your eyelevel. 4. Watch it unblinking for a minimum of seven minutes. You can gradually increase the duration. 5. During the actual practice, try to be aware of your wandering thoughts and gently bring your mind back to the object. > Please see the chart below: > You will notice that still body and still gaze are red impact items, which means if you move your body or shift your gaze while practising trataka; that is instant failure. Reset the clock and start again. If you are unable to control your eye movement and end up blinking, it’s not a problem, simply be mindful and carry on. You may experience your thoughts flow. Ideally it should be restricted but it is natural and a green impact item, which means you don’t have to stop your practice. Let us say you decide to do trataka for a period of seven minutes. For those seven minutes, you must be still like a rock restricting your eye movements as well. It is important to not blink at all. Tears will start to roll down, but you should stay unmoved. If it gets really uncomfortable, you can blink. The ability to not blink improves over time and with practice. Each time your mind goes off the tangent, bring your focus back to the object. You can do trataka on any object, but doing it on a candle flame has a purifying effect on the mind. It is best to do the practice at least twice a day: in the morning and before going to bed at night. > Steadily and gradually increase your ability to stay unblinking as part of this practice. It requires patience and resolve. 0: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan-Mystic/dp/8184959451 https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan...
- in3d 5y ago
  The evidence looks mixed. Worked here http://www.libraryofyoga.com:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/1824 http://www.libraryofyoga.com:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/182... but wasn't effective in this study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC5769202/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC5769202/.
  - 5y ago
ekianjo 5y ago
One year ago article. Needs a 2021.
alfor 5y ago
To stop myopia, you have to go outside without things in front of your eyes. Putting plastic lenses in front of your eyes block natural UV light and you eyes don’t develop normally. Who would have thought that we need a bit of natural environment to develop properly. https://www.pnas.org/content/118/22/e2018840118 https://www.pnas.org/content/118/22/e2018840118 https://www.myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-myopia-development/#:~:text=It%20would%20appear%20that%20brightness,times%20brighter%20than%20indoor%20light https://www.myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-my....
- bluGill 5y ago
  I've seen that claim before, but then I remember my dad grew up on a farm and TV wasn't much available and he is very nearsighted. So the claim is either completely false, or only a small part of the picture.

164 points by brian_herman 5y ago

Some context: https://www.kubotaholdings.co.jp/en/kubota-glass-technology-wearable-device-for-myopia-control-myopia-or/index.html https://www.kubotaholdings.co.jp/en/kubota-glass-technology-...

jhallenworld 5y ago
"Kubota Glass technology works to reduce the increase in axial length associated with myopia by projecting myopically-defocused virtual images generated using micro-LEDS on the peripheral visual field to actively stimulate the retina." I don't understand why would this work. It implies that stimulating the retina affects the shape of the eye somehow..
- lnanek2 5y ago
  Why wouldn't it? Bright light and dark light causes your pupils to dilate differently, right? That's muscles actuated by input from the retina. Focusing is also about shaping the eye using muscles. It would actually be kind of weird if retina input wasn't used to shape the eyes.
- toast0 5y ago
  Presumably stimulating the retina with a defocused image activates the brain to use the ciliary muscle to adjust how the lens is focused, which could help reduce the effective myopia?
- everestid 5y ago
  Interesting. I would easily pay 5K$ for a pair of those glasses. Where can I get them, please?

deltaonefour 5y ago

What about asians living abroad? I need one of these.

hulitu 5y ago
They are available from some time in Germany also. And here they don't say they come from Japan (but from other asian country, korea i think) so the article reads like cheap propaganda.
- katspaugh 5y ago
  Do you have a link to where they can be bought from in DE? Or the brand name?
  - hulitu 5y ago
    They are called something like"myo smart glassses" or myo smart. They are available in Ingolstadt at "Sichtbetont". Also the Augenklinik from the LMU München can AFAIK recommend some suppliers.

the_d3f4ult 5y ago

The title is misleading. This would work to slow the progression of myopia, but won't do anything to reverse myopic changes. This works in a similar way to low-dose atropine which is already around the corner for slowing the progression of myopia (in children). For adults with myopia your only options to be spectacle independent are LASIK/PRK/SMILE, implantable contact lenses or cataract surgery. https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/how-to-use-low-dose-atropine-to-slow-myopic-progre https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/how-to-use-low-dose-atrop...

pjerem 5y ago
Ho, too bad :( Fixing my myopia would be one of my life’s dream. I’m unfortunately non eligible to laser surgery due to my amblyopia. I’m stuck there forever waiting for a non invasive treatment that nobody is searching for because, well, we have the LASIK.
- creakingstairs 5y ago
  Man fixing it would be my dream too, especially with masks these days. I'm eligible for LASIK but I'm still waiting for a non invasive treatment as well. I know it is "safe" but it can go wrong and after reading some of the horror stories in forums I would _hate_ it if it goes wrong. Even smaller side effects like having dry eyes all the time and eyes hurting when there is wind sounds annoying.
  - pjerem 5y ago
    Oh you can try hard contact lenses. Sadly I’ve not been able to tolerate them for some reason that my ophthalmologist cannot explain but while I was wearing them, the correction was extraordinary, because it also fixes all forms of astigmatisms. Maybe what didn’t work for me will work for you.
    - adzm 5y ago
      Are hard contact lenses better than soft for astigmatism? Have you tried soft ones? I've only tried the latter and could never get used to them seeming to go out of focus or drift around whenever I blinked.

anonymousiam 5y ago

I saw this article about six months ago, and I'm really interested in getting a pair (for one of my sons). Too bad it's only available in Asia.

dimitar 5y ago

Is there a breakthrough in finding the causes of myopia?

DantesKite 5y ago

You know, I always get a bunch of pushback for this, but glasses cause myopia in most people. It induces a hormetic effect on the eyeballs, causing them to grow longer over time, inducing blurriness. As you increase the strength of the prescription glasses, the hormetic effect will continue in a feedback loop, worsening your vision as your eyeball elongates. It's the same adaptation that causes muscles to weaken, strengthen, bones to harden, calluses to form. "Well then, if that's true, why was my vision blurry as a child when I wasn't wearing glasses?" The initial blurriness one experiences as a child isn't caused by glasses and is likely a consequence of the ciliary muscle becoming "exhausted" from prolonged staring up close. Your eye muscles are actually most relaxed when staring at objects in the far distance. It evolved that way. We didn't "evolve" for close up work. We know glasses induce myopia because we can reliably cause myopia in all sorts of animals by making them wear contact lenses. There's no controversy about this. Feel free to look up the studies yourself. What's less plausible is whether the axial elongation can be reversed in humans. And it does seem (with some effort and time) it can be, although there's considerably pushback from poorly designed scientific studies suggesting otherwise but lots of Internet communities of people who have improved their vision significantly. You can induce a reverse hormetic effect by wearing glasses that are on the "border" of blurriness and staring at objects in the distance for long periods of time. In other words, wear slightly weaker prescription glasses than what you're currently wearing; one for close-up work and one for far distance so you're always just on the "edge" of blurriness. You can usually improve your vision at a rate of 0.75 diopters per year if you do this consistently. At this point, I usually get a lot of disbelief and criticisms, links to randomized controlled studies suggesting the opposite. I get into arguments trying to explain how those studies were set up wrong, people call me crazy, etc. It's pretty annoying. So I simply offer this: If you wear glasses, try ordering a slightly weaker version from Zenni Optical (or any store of your choosing). Try it for a year. See what happens. It's cheap. And low risk. "Don't I need a prescription?" You do, in the sense that you need your prescription strength number, but the word "prescription" here is a misnomer. Anybody can order prescription glasses online legally. It's like ordering socks. It is not like ordering prescription drugs. Completely different legal classifications. But if you're still skeptical, I ask you to think about this problem from first principles for a moment. If Homo Sapiens started naturally going blind from the age of 9, our ancestors would not have survived long. Most animals that have poor vision usually compensate with some other sense. And while it may be possible humans just naturally evolved to have terrible vision, studies of other populations (like the Moken population that can see underwater and have near-perfect vision) suggest it's likely a modern problem. There is a stressor. What is the stressor? It's multi-variate, but the most influential in modernity is wearing glasses. I wear two pairs. One for close-up work (so it's slightly blurry when I'm programming). And another that's much stronger (and safer) for driving. So I can see all the stop signs clearly, but the mountains in the distance are just blurry. In this way, I'm always at the "edge" of blurriness. There's a few other techniques you can do, but that one is the easiest to maintain. (Interestingly enough, people who hike outdoors a lot seem to do the best). As you improve you'll find yourself ordering weaker and weaker prescriptions (although the closer you get to 0 diopters, the longer it seems to take).

BugsJustFindMe 5y ago

This article is from a year ago.

hellelujah 5y ago

i am -4 and lost my glasses; however, i still keep my -2 glasses. on a sunny day, outdoor, the -2 glasses works just fine. not 99% eagle eye precision, but like 90% precision, overkill to see car plates and directions. does the intensity of light from sun cut -2 from -4 requirement?

legerdemain 5y ago
Yes, in bright light your pupils are narrow enough to create a pinhole focus effect. (It works the same way with a camera: stop down your camera lens enough and you get infinite depth of field with every visible object in focus.)
- walterbell 5y ago
  This is also why "dark mode" is counterproductive when wearing glasses. Better to adjust ambient room lighting to match screen brightness.
  - legerdemain 5y ago
    I don't understand the connection. Can you explain?
    - walterbell 5y ago
      In a dark room, your pupils will dilate and impact clarity of vision. If the room is well lit and screen brightness is matched to ambient light, there will be no effect on pupil dilation. More details: https://endmyopia.org/why-vision-is-worse-at-night-and-on-cloudy-days-too/ https://endmyopia.org/why-vision-is-worse-at-night-and-on-cl...
      - legerdemain 5y ago
        Oh, this is more "believe your way to a lower prescription" myopia skeptic stuff, isn't it. Yeah, sure, and in a pinch you can just glance up at the sun for a second to "improve" your vision.

actuator 5y ago

> Asian are prone to nearsightedness. Of people aged 20 and under, 96% of South Koreans, 95% of Japanese, 87% of Hong Kongers, 85% of Taiwanese and 82% of Singaporeans are affected by the condition, according to Kubota. Wow, this is so stark. Is it genetic or is it something lifestyle related? It would seem strange if it was genetic as glasses were invented quite late and vast population suffering from near sightedness without glasses seems like such a disadvantage.

givemeethekeys 5y ago
Perhaps living in cities with tall buildings produces a higher rate of nearsightedness since the eyes don't get to look to the horizon much.
jaggederest 5y ago
It seems that, like the way that environmental factors affect jaw development[1], environmental factors that are different between modern lifestyles and pre-historical ones drive the development of myopia.[2] But there have always been a percentage of people who are myopic due to other factors, as well, so it's not a single story. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15823276 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15823276 [2] https://www.aao.org/editors-choice/sunlight-exposure-reduces-myopia-in-children https://www.aao.org/editors-choice/sunlight-exposure-reduces...
powerapple 5y ago
the most effect you can have on your eyes can be cause by study. When you have to use your eyes and your brain at the same time. My parents told me that too much video games is bad for my eyes, from my experience, I became shortsighted in the period I had to study a lot and not playing video games.
- beebeepka 5y ago
  Ah, but is the worst kind if non-binary thinking! Studying is good, and therefore it cannot be bad for your eyesight. Games, on the other hand, are bad and can only be associated with negatives. "You'll get this when get older"

deodorel 5y ago

I can't believe no-one mentioned keratological lenses. Not only gives you a glasses free experience during the day, they also slow or stop the progression of myopia. Aren't these avaliable in the US?

leobg 5y ago
I had to google this. For the lazy: “[Keratological] lenses correct your vision while you sleep. They do this by applying a controlled shape to the cornea which is the front surface of the eye, eliminating myopia (short –sightedness).”
illwrks 5y ago
Our daughter is using Ortho-K lenses. She's been wearing them for about 10 months now and they are very good. They are more 'myopia control' than fixing the underlying issue, but it means she can do sports etc without worrying about glasses (she's still little). For the uninitiated (as I was), they are hard plastic lenses that are worn at night. Initially the optometrist will take a variety or measurements of the eye and then a pair of lenses is manufactured. They are thicker than the standard disposable lenses and take a while to get used to and can be uncomfortable for a few weeks until you adjust to them. They work by shaping the outer part of the eye during sleep, when removed in the morning the outer part of the eyes have retained the shape from the lenses. Light entering the eye is then bent correctly and vision is almost 20/20. If she was to stop wearing them her eyes would return to her standard myopic level, but hopefully not be any worse than before.

ammmir 5y ago

Say what you will about not being able to reverse myopia, but I didn't really believe it. My brother recently wrote a book about his experience of going from -4 to 0 diopter over the course of less than a year without surgery: https://www.discoveryournaturalvision.com/ https://www.discoveryournaturalvision.com/ I tried the same technique. I went from wearing -3.5 contacts to -1.5 in about 3 months. The basic concept is forcing your eyes to read any text closeup (computer screen, books) at the edge of blur instead of it being in focus. That's basically all there is to it. People prefer laser surgery because it's less work than putting in the effort 8 hours a day for 3+ months at a time. I admit, I've given up after reaching -1.5, since it's good enough, but I'd like to rid myself of contacts entirely. The last 20% is 80% of the work, same principle applies :)

14 5y ago
Downvote for linking and promoting your brothers paid book. All I can see is your brother making money not a way to fix eye problems.
- ammmir 5y ago
  I thought it may be helpful for others, it’s a consolidation of knowledge and anecdotes, you can find the same info for free on forums and by reading research papers :)
chinathrow 5y ago
Can you explain how this works like I'm 5?
- ammmir 5y ago
  I can’t. I think the eye is oblong shaped for myopes, and correction worsens this oblongity. By training your eye like a muscle, you’re decreasing it, hence the focus improves. I’m sure someone can explain it better. Don’t trust me, try it! And eat carrots and look at long distances in the daytime when taking breaks from work. Some old wives’ tapes have some truth to them.
5y ago

leobg 5y ago

This seems to be an implementation of “plus lens therapy”. If so, you could get the same results by purchasing cheap, $5 reading glasses (+2.5 or something like that), and use those when reading on your phone. Doing this, you effectively simulate that the screen you’re looking at is as far away as the horizon (and the characters you read as large as mountains). You’d need to hold your phone far away enough that you touch the “blur boundary”. This gives your eye the stimulus to further relax its lens and, over time, for the eyeball to get shorter. It’s like you’re slowly pushing the blur boundary of your eyes further and further towards optical infinity. The exact value of the plus lens to use depends on a few factors. The distance between your eyes and the screen (or book), and the current diopter of your eyes (based in a vision test). There’s a formula for that you can google (I don’t remember it).

TriNetra 5y ago

there's a yogic practice – known as Trataka (Still Gazing) – which can fix short-sightedness or myopia. Giving it from the book A Million Thoughts (on meditation) [0]: > How to Do It Right 1. Assume the standard yogic posture for meditation, preferably cross-legged. 2. Light a candle, at a distance of about three feet, in front of you. You can also keep any other object than a candle if you prefer. 3. Ensure the candle or any other object of focus is at your eyelevel. 4. Watch it unblinking for a minimum of seven minutes. You can gradually increase the duration. 5. During the actual practice, try to be aware of your wandering thoughts and gently bring your mind back to the object. > Please see the chart below: > You will notice that still body and still gaze are red impact items, which means if you move your body or shift your gaze while practising trataka; that is instant failure. Reset the clock and start again. If you are unable to control your eye movement and end up blinking, it’s not a problem, simply be mindful and carry on. You may experience your thoughts flow. Ideally it should be restricted but it is natural and a green impact item, which means you don’t have to stop your practice. Let us say you decide to do trataka for a period of seven minutes. For those seven minutes, you must be still like a rock restricting your eye movements as well. It is important to not blink at all. Tears will start to roll down, but you should stay unmoved. If it gets really uncomfortable, you can blink. The ability to not blink improves over time and with practice. Each time your mind goes off the tangent, bring your focus back to the object. You can do trataka on any object, but doing it on a candle flame has a purifying effect on the mind. It is best to do the practice at least twice a day: in the morning and before going to bed at night. > Steadily and gradually increase your ability to stay unblinking as part of this practice. It requires patience and resolve. 0: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan-Mystic/dp/8184959451 https://www.amazon.com/Million-Thoughts-Meditation-Himalayan...

in3d 5y ago
The evidence looks mixed. Worked here http://www.libraryofyoga.com:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/1824 http://www.libraryofyoga.com:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/182... but wasn't effective in this study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC5769202/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC5769202/.
- 5y ago

ekianjo 5y ago

One year ago article. Needs a 2021.

alfor 5y ago

To stop myopia, you have to go outside without things in front of your eyes. Putting plastic lenses in front of your eyes block natural UV light and you eyes don’t develop normally. Who would have thought that we need a bit of natural environment to develop properly. https://www.pnas.org/content/118/22/e2018840118 https://www.pnas.org/content/118/22/e2018840118 https://www.myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-myopia-development/#:~:text=It%20would%20appear%20that%20brightness,times%20brighter%20than%20indoor%20light https://www.myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-my....

bluGill 5y ago
I've seen that claim before, but then I remember my dad grew up on a farm and TV wasn't much available and he is very nearsighted. So the claim is either completely false, or only a small part of the picture.