18 ms·

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-

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.
      - pjerem 5y ago
        They are well better because they are 100% effective. I have tried soft ones (torics) and never been satisfied with them (still better than glasses). With the hard ones, the astigmatism basically disappears because a drop of tear forms between your eye and the lens so the optical system is composed with your eye, the tear drop, and the lens. This way, the surface of your eye have not any impact on the optical result. (please excuse my writing, it's difficult for a non native to talk about technical topics with a lot of vocabulary I'm unfamiliar of)
- jhallenworld 5y ago
  Just wait until you're older.. my dream is for presbyopia to be fixed. Presbyopia is essentially when your eyes can no longer auto-focus, it's incredibly annoying. I think some Israeli company was supposedly working on auto-focus glasses for this... good idea, since the market is basically everyone. But it looks like they stopped. https://eye-see-mag.com/en/high-tech/autofocus-lenses-for-presbyopia/ https://eye-see-mag.com/en/high-tech/autofocus-lenses-for-pr...
  - Tade0 5y ago
    I've been following the development of eye drops which promise to reach the lens and make it flexible again: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04806503 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04806503 That would be really something.
    - jamiek88 5y ago
      Wow it really would be!
    - beebeepka 5y ago
      Should we invest in the company that makes them. What an amazing development
      - Tade0 5y ago
        Novartis acquihired them very early on and now is performing clinical trials. Results from the most recent completed study are encouraging: https://www.healio.com/news/optometry/20201012/further-study-planned-based-on-positive-results-for-presbyopia-drug https://www.healio.com/news/optometry/20201012/further-study...
    - algo646464 5y ago
      Silly Question: It it a good experiment to put the medicine in one eye and the placebo in the other eye? What could be other consequences of such a thing?
  - walterbell 5y ago
- 8fingerlouie 5y ago
  Ortho-k lenses won't fix it, but they do have some effect on it (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/).
- mdp2021 5y ago
  > too bad I suggest and encourage you to try the exercises that others in this page have mentioned; some people have written their guide or guidelines and one well known is "The No Bulls#*t Guide to Vision Improvement", by C. G. Hayes (search for > Guide to Vision Improvement.pdf < or similar). First of all, the best wager is to place bets on ways that some witness have worked, and it is not ruled out they could work for you also. If anything, you will have gained points exercising discipline.
  - doliveira 5y ago
    > The No Bulls#*t Guide to Vision Improvement All of this sounds so quacky. The name, the "secret knowledge industry doesn't want you to know about", the marketing...
    - mdp2021 5y ago
      Sounds. Have you read it? > the "secret knowledge industry doesn't want you to know about", the marketing Have you dreamt those features, or are they somewhere in the document?
google234123 5y ago
I've always been a little surprised why we haven't figured out a treatment for myopia beyond LASIK, e.g. some way to manipulate the muscles around the eye. Anyway, the first thing that came to my mind when I read this article was pinhole glasses which people have also (most likely wrongly) claimed help correct myopia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_glasses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_glasses
- vl 5y ago
  There is a procedure that stops myopia progression, although it's not offered in US. Very effective when done in young age. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleral_reinforcement_surgery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleral_reinforcement_surgery
  - afterburner 5y ago
    > Scleral reinforcement is a surgical procedure used to reduce or stop further macular damage caused by high myopia Doesn't sound like it fixes myopia, rather that it addresses one of the side effects of high myopia?
    - vl 5y ago
      When done in children, it stops progression of myopia. I had it done at 13 after loosing 1 point every year, and it stopped at 6.5. God only knows what would it be without it.
  - yalok 5y ago
    I had scleroplasty done on my eyes at the age of 13, at 8.5D, to stop progression, and it did help - I only progressed to 9.25D in 30 years since… Doesn’t seem like done in any other countries other than Russia - https://www.nature.com/articles/eye2009322 https://www.nature.com/articles/eye2009322
    - vl 5y ago
      Me too, stopped at 6.5. Wikipedia says they do it in Japan too.
graeme 5y ago
Are you sure it’s only children? Another user posted this link, their clinical trial was in adults. 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-...
seer 5y ago
It's anecdotal I know, but my mother _did_ get -4 down to -1 just with exercises every morning and evening for several months, so I'm sure it _is_ possible at least with some individuals. It just requires work and dedication. On the other hand for myself I did go for LASIK since I was -7 and didn't fancy the years of work it might entail. And it was like ... 2 day affair from going to the doctor to being fully functional without any side effects ... It was risky though as some people I know did do the same, and ended up with complications that took months to iron out.
- forgingahead 5y ago
  Can you share what exercises your mother did? Sounds like some very nice progression for her. Glad Lasik worked out for you. What side effects did your friends experience? I've thought briefly about Lasik, but I have this (potentially irrational) fear of persistent headaches as a side effect, which would be a nightmare for me. So I stick with spectacles - it has no detrimental effect on my life, but I do wonder if it would be possible to get back good eyesight again.
  - option_greek 5y ago
    Checkout endmyopia for similar alternative therapy to glasses.
    - neither_color 5y ago
      It sounds like quackery but I tried it for a couple months and comfortably went down .5(or is it "up" -.5?) and stopped going up every year. I stopped because the constantly switching strengths, self testing and having to remind myself to take breaks and look far away was more than I had the mental bandwidth for at the time. The "marketing" website reads like snake oil sleazery but what worked for me was the community wiki. Id spend hours correlating what was in the wiki with what he was hinting it at in his "hear my pitch for 10 minutes before I get to the point" videos until I got the hang of the routine, which was basically: Have two pairs of glasses, one of them about half strength(self test for the exact number) for computer and close up work or in-home. Use your full strength glasses for important tasks like driving. Every 20-30 minutes take a break and look into the distance(works well with Pomodoro technique, if you do that), practice your blurring exercises. Edit: at .5 adjustment I'm right at the edge of variance. It's possible to do nothing and have a slight improvement on your yearly optometrist visit because of secondary factors like change in environment or nutrition. I'm not a health expert so I can't say, but if anything that site helped me to do fewer things that strain my vision and a few things that made me more comfortable. Would I have fully cured if I kept going? Science says probably not, but I don't regret my effort.
thematrixturtle 5y ago
Atropine drops for myopia management are already commonly prescribed in Singapore (which pioneered the treatment), and seem to work quite well.
8fingerlouie 5y ago
There is also some evidence that Ortho-k lenses slow the progression of myopia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/ https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03465748 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03465748
Seanambers 5y ago
Will strongly recommend people not to consider laser treatments. Got SMILE done and its awful 4 years later - at least my eyes don't hurt anymore. The entire business model exists only by not informing you of everything that can go wrong. Ironically I now know more about these procedures than I ever did before, and all I've learned is how the entire industry is aligned to not tell patients about what things effects the outcome and how little they actually can do if the results are not good. Edit : If you google lasik/Smile complications and so on you'll just find a rabbit hole of despair from people who had their eyes ruined. I'm kinda amazed that medical professionals actually has the conscience to perform these procedures. Theres also this tendency to blame dry eyes - which is just the industry's way of camouflaging the real issues.
- LightG 5y ago
  I don't dismiss your concerns. I remember reading about them at the time. And to be honest, the older I get, the more surprised I was to risk one of the most important things I have. However, I did Lasik, maybe 10-15 years ago, no problems now and never had a problem. The industry did feel a bit sketchy though. Not sure if it's improved. I'm sure most of the professionals involved are excellent - but at the time, it felt very private, and not in a good way. /anecdote
- itzprime 5y ago
  My eye-doctor an old guy just before retirement said after being asked about laser treatments: He had a patient that spent 5k on a laster surgery. Nothing went wrong, but it didn't improve his eyes. It would have been better to go on a good vacation. There is sadly no guarantee that they help, and they can damage your eyes in the worst case.
- Clampower 5y ago
  I have very dry eyes. Does that mean I can never get lasik?
  - FPGAhacker 5y ago
    It’s a mark against you being a good candidate. Doesn’t mean you can’t get it. I had dry eyes post surgery. First 6 months I was miserable. Had to put goop on my eyes at night the viscosity of Vaseline. Felt like years before I got to a normal state. It’s been about 16 years. I wear glasses again, but I can get by without. Still occasionally have dry eyes.

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.
    - pjerem 5y ago
      They are well better because they are 100% effective. I have tried soft ones (torics) and never been satisfied with them (still better than glasses). With the hard ones, the astigmatism basically disappears because a drop of tear forms between your eye and the lens so the optical system is composed with your eye, the tear drop, and the lens. This way, the surface of your eye have not any impact on the optical result. (please excuse my writing, it's difficult for a non native to talk about technical topics with a lot of vocabulary I'm unfamiliar of)
jhallenworld 5y ago
Just wait until you're older.. my dream is for presbyopia to be fixed. Presbyopia is essentially when your eyes can no longer auto-focus, it's incredibly annoying. I think some Israeli company was supposedly working on auto-focus glasses for this... good idea, since the market is basically everyone. But it looks like they stopped. https://eye-see-mag.com/en/high-tech/autofocus-lenses-for-presbyopia/ https://eye-see-mag.com/en/high-tech/autofocus-lenses-for-pr...
- Tade0 5y ago
  I've been following the development of eye drops which promise to reach the lens and make it flexible again: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04806503 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04806503 That would be really something.
  - jamiek88 5y ago
    Wow it really would be!
  - beebeepka 5y ago
    Should we invest in the company that makes them. What an amazing development
    - Tade0 5y ago
      Novartis acquihired them very early on and now is performing clinical trials. Results from the most recent completed study are encouraging: https://www.healio.com/news/optometry/20201012/further-study-planned-based-on-positive-results-for-presbyopia-drug https://www.healio.com/news/optometry/20201012/further-study...
  - algo646464 5y ago
    Silly Question: It it a good experiment to put the medicine in one eye and the placebo in the other eye? What could be other consequences of such a thing?
- walterbell 5y ago
8fingerlouie 5y ago
Ortho-k lenses won't fix it, but they do have some effect on it (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/).
mdp2021 5y ago
> too bad I suggest and encourage you to try the exercises that others in this page have mentioned; some people have written their guide or guidelines and one well known is "The No Bulls#*t Guide to Vision Improvement", by C. G. Hayes (search for > Guide to Vision Improvement.pdf < or similar). First of all, the best wager is to place bets on ways that some witness have worked, and it is not ruled out they could work for you also. If anything, you will have gained points exercising discipline.
- doliveira 5y ago
  > The No Bulls#*t Guide to Vision Improvement All of this sounds so quacky. The name, the "secret knowledge industry doesn't want you to know about", the marketing...
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    Sounds. Have you read it? > the "secret knowledge industry doesn't want you to know about", the marketing Have you dreamt those features, or are they somewhere in the document?

google234123 5y ago

I've always been a little surprised why we haven't figured out a treatment for myopia beyond LASIK, e.g. some way to manipulate the muscles around the eye. Anyway, the first thing that came to my mind when I read this article was pinhole glasses which people have also (most likely wrongly) claimed help correct myopia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_glasses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_glasses

vl 5y ago
There is a procedure that stops myopia progression, although it's not offered in US. Very effective when done in young age. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleral_reinforcement_surgery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scleral_reinforcement_surgery
- afterburner 5y ago
  > Scleral reinforcement is a surgical procedure used to reduce or stop further macular damage caused by high myopia Doesn't sound like it fixes myopia, rather that it addresses one of the side effects of high myopia?
  - vl 5y ago
    When done in children, it stops progression of myopia. I had it done at 13 after loosing 1 point every year, and it stopped at 6.5. God only knows what would it be without it.
- yalok 5y ago
  I had scleroplasty done on my eyes at the age of 13, at 8.5D, to stop progression, and it did help - I only progressed to 9.25D in 30 years since… Doesn’t seem like done in any other countries other than Russia - https://www.nature.com/articles/eye2009322 https://www.nature.com/articles/eye2009322
  - vl 5y ago
    Me too, stopped at 6.5. Wikipedia says they do it in Japan too.

graeme 5y ago

Are you sure it’s only children? Another user posted this link, their clinical trial was in adults. 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-...

seer 5y ago

It's anecdotal I know, but my mother _did_ get -4 down to -1 just with exercises every morning and evening for several months, so I'm sure it _is_ possible at least with some individuals. It just requires work and dedication. On the other hand for myself I did go for LASIK since I was -7 and didn't fancy the years of work it might entail. And it was like ... 2 day affair from going to the doctor to being fully functional without any side effects ... It was risky though as some people I know did do the same, and ended up with complications that took months to iron out.

forgingahead 5y ago
Can you share what exercises your mother did? Sounds like some very nice progression for her. Glad Lasik worked out for you. What side effects did your friends experience? I've thought briefly about Lasik, but I have this (potentially irrational) fear of persistent headaches as a side effect, which would be a nightmare for me. So I stick with spectacles - it has no detrimental effect on my life, but I do wonder if it would be possible to get back good eyesight again.
- option_greek 5y ago
  Checkout endmyopia for similar alternative therapy to glasses.
  - neither_color 5y ago
    It sounds like quackery but I tried it for a couple months and comfortably went down .5(or is it "up" -.5?) and stopped going up every year. I stopped because the constantly switching strengths, self testing and having to remind myself to take breaks and look far away was more than I had the mental bandwidth for at the time. The "marketing" website reads like snake oil sleazery but what worked for me was the community wiki. Id spend hours correlating what was in the wiki with what he was hinting it at in his "hear my pitch for 10 minutes before I get to the point" videos until I got the hang of the routine, which was basically: Have two pairs of glasses, one of them about half strength(self test for the exact number) for computer and close up work or in-home. Use your full strength glasses for important tasks like driving. Every 20-30 minutes take a break and look into the distance(works well with Pomodoro technique, if you do that), practice your blurring exercises. Edit: at .5 adjustment I'm right at the edge of variance. It's possible to do nothing and have a slight improvement on your yearly optometrist visit because of secondary factors like change in environment or nutrition. I'm not a health expert so I can't say, but if anything that site helped me to do fewer things that strain my vision and a few things that made me more comfortable. Would I have fully cured if I kept going? Science says probably not, but I don't regret my effort.

thematrixturtle 5y ago

Atropine drops for myopia management are already commonly prescribed in Singapore (which pioneered the treatment), and seem to work quite well.

8fingerlouie 5y ago

There is also some evidence that Ortho-k lenses slow the progression of myopia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037497/ https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03465748 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03465748

Seanambers 5y ago

Will strongly recommend people not to consider laser treatments. Got SMILE done and its awful 4 years later - at least my eyes don't hurt anymore. The entire business model exists only by not informing you of everything that can go wrong. Ironically I now know more about these procedures than I ever did before, and all I've learned is how the entire industry is aligned to not tell patients about what things effects the outcome and how little they actually can do if the results are not good. Edit : If you google lasik/Smile complications and so on you'll just find a rabbit hole of despair from people who had their eyes ruined. I'm kinda amazed that medical professionals actually has the conscience to perform these procedures. Theres also this tendency to blame dry eyes - which is just the industry's way of camouflaging the real issues.

LightG 5y ago
I don't dismiss your concerns. I remember reading about them at the time. And to be honest, the older I get, the more surprised I was to risk one of the most important things I have. However, I did Lasik, maybe 10-15 years ago, no problems now and never had a problem. The industry did feel a bit sketchy though. Not sure if it's improved. I'm sure most of the professionals involved are excellent - but at the time, it felt very private, and not in a good way. /anecdote
itzprime 5y ago
My eye-doctor an old guy just before retirement said after being asked about laser treatments: He had a patient that spent 5k on a laster surgery. Nothing went wrong, but it didn't improve his eyes. It would have been better to go on a good vacation. There is sadly no guarantee that they help, and they can damage your eyes in the worst case.
Clampower 5y ago
I have very dry eyes. Does that mean I can never get lasik?
- FPGAhacker 5y ago
  It’s a mark against you being a good candidate. Doesn’t mean you can’t get it. I had dry eyes post surgery. First 6 months I was miserable. Had to put goop on my eyes at night the viscosity of Vaseline. Felt like years before I got to a normal state. It’s been about 16 years. I wear glasses again, but I can get by without. Still occasionally have dry eyes.