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The upshot is that dopamine regulates eye lengthening, and more light stimulates more dopamine. Based on recent studies in Australia and Asia they recommend tw
by svnt 3y ago
The upshot is that dopamine regulates eye lengthening, and more light stimulates more dopamine.
Based on recent studies in Australia and Asia they recommend two hours of daily time outdoors for children to prevent myopia.
So it isn’t caused by looking at things close up, the confound was that people who spend a lot of time looking at things close up tend to do so under artificial light.
- arrowleaf 3y agoThree years ago at age 25 I booked an eye exam due after getting some new floaters. After imaging my eye doc came in and asked if I was comfortable driving while dilated, because he would be dilating and numbing my eyes before sending me off to the retina specialist for an urgent exam. The ophthalmologist immediately diagnosed me with lattice degeneration and saw a horseshoe tear. That same afternoon he sat me in a chair and used a laser to create a barrier of scar tissue around the tear to prevent it from progressing. Three years later I have had two rounds of prophylactic treatment of those weak spots in each eye. I most likely will never experience a retinal detachment, but annual dilated eye exams are in my future. I don't even have very bad myopia (-2.75/-3.25), but I kick myself for not spending as much time outside during my childhood as some of my friends did.
- green-salt 3y agoI had the exact same situation happen, except my optometrist was visibly concerned. I usually explain it as spot welding my retina in place there. That was the weirdest sensation/discomfort ever. Last month or so I got a scan done and was able to see a really high res image of it.
- arrowleaf 3y agoGlad you got yours taken care of! They were definitely concerned about the tear, they're apparently common but when asymptomatic they're hardly noted (or even noticed if in the peripheral retinal areas). The laser is definitely uncomfortable, hard to say if it's even pain when your ocular globe is injected with so much anesthetic. Brain freeze, but extremely acute and right behind your eyeball might be accurate. During one of the prophylactic treatments he did some 'spot welds' near my optic nerve. I couldn't tell if I was even looking at his ear like he told me to, every burst of green triggered my reflexes. It was impossible to keep my other eye open. At least the discomfort is so temporary, I forget about it until someone asks if it was painful.
- toss1 3y agoDo you (/anyone?) know of any treatment that gets rid of floaters? I've seen a reference to some laser treatment, but not enough to seem trustworthy. If you don't mind me asking, did the laser-to-the-retina treatment generate any new floaters?
- arrowleaf 3y agoThe treatment itself didn't generate any new floaters, but in the past year I did start experiencing a set of new floaters which correlates with the new atrophic hole my doc found. It's taken a few months but I can finally just ignore them or not even see them if I'm inside.
- unshavedyak 3y agoDo we know why outdoor lighting helps? I’ve seen people recommend super strong indoor lighting for various health impacts, would the at affect eyes?
- logiduck 3y agoWouldn't the indoor light have to be strong enough to make you want to wear sunglasses indoors? You would probably have to put stage lighting in your house to get the same affect as being outside. My eyes behave pretty different and seem to get a "workout" when I am outside in sunny weather.
- unshavedyak 3y agoI imagine you'd be able to wear the same thing you do outdoors. Which is to say, i don't wear sunglasses outdoors. But regarding the lighting itself, yes i do think it is similar to stage lighting (brighter, i assume). Thermal and power is a significant concern with the lighting iirc, but i'm not too familiar. If i recall correctly the post that advocated these as a video and had an explanation on the difficulties. It heated up the room significantly. With that said i want to stress that this was some post i saw several years ago, and i can't seem to find the video anymore. Iirc the lights were insanely bright, though.
- arrowleaf 3y agoI briefly took up a hobby of trying to raise some tomato plants indoors. The lights that claim to emit the full spectrum of non-visible light to match sunlight are insanely expensive (thermally and otherwise). There's probably more to the sunlight's effects on dopamine production than lux.
- matwood 3y agoMany years ago I had a coral reef aquarium. The lighting required was the biggest expense and challenge to place and keep cool.
- 3y ago
- hanniabu 3y agoAs a child I spent most of my day outside playing and not using screens and I still had myopia as a kid
- kamikaz1k 3y agoInteresting…is it severe? Is it some hereditary condition?
- dmoy 3y agoCould be. I'm in the same boat (tons of outside time as a kid, very little screen time, significant myopia by age 6-7). Both my parents are past -8, maybe -9 or -10? I forget, got some realllly thick glasses.
- a_random_canuck 3y agoThis is like saying “well I’m 70 years old and perfectly healthy after smoking my whole life”. We’re talking about probabilities and statistics over large populations. Not every child who plays outside will avoid myopia, like yourself. But looking at the population, the expectation is that children who get more sunlight tend to have a lower incidence of myopia and weaker myopia.
- amelius 3y agoIsn't the main problem that myopia is genetically aggressive, and natural evolution stopped working because we correct for myopia through prescription glasses and contact lenses etc.?
- samus 3y agoAccording to TA, most cases of myopia are caused by being inside all day. There might be a genetic component, but it doesn't seem to be that relevant (yet).
- arrowleaf 3y agoThe article talks about that a bit, there have been a number of 'causes' of myopia that are 'common knowledge' but end up not holding water. Genetics and close-up work being the two major scapegoats. Modern studies are showing a lack of dopamine in the eyeball to be the most likely factor, without a strong link to genetics.
- thriftwy 3y agoI wonder how many more studies would it take them to do something about this, finally. All the science since I was born seems to be all study, no fix.
- amluto 3y agoDoes this count? https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/low-dose-atropine-kids-with-myopia https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/low-dose-atropine-kids-w...
- thriftwy 3y agoIs this a rigorous study with control group and large selection? Otherwise it looks like an option not considered seriously. I'm not going to medicate daily for the rest of my life to "decrease or slow by about a half". The promised result is wimpy - you still need to wear the same glasses till the end of your life, but hey, they have different numbers.
- mgh2 3y agoResearch paper reference: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25907356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25907356
- aaron695 3y ago[dead]
- secondcoming 3y agoI spent most of my childhood outdoors and still developed myopia. So maybe just being outside isn't enough, but it obviously has other health benefits.