4 ms·

All it does is make the pupil smaller? Sure that will improve sharpness, but less light will reach the retina.

FabHK 1y ago
Indeed. You could make it brighter, which would shrink your pupils and make things easier to read. With this revolutionary medicine, you shrink your pupils, and then you need to make it brighter so you can still read. Is that it?
Terr_ 1y ago
I can see the marketing now: "Bottled Squintz®", when normal squinting is too much strain or annoyance.
quitit 1y ago
When in a pinch, one can make a tiny pinhole with their fingers for a similar effect. It comes with the same downside: reading in low light is difficult. For pinhole intraocular lenses these are implanted in just one eye for the same reason. I imagine this product would be used in just one eye at a time.
- rectalogic 1y ago
  > I imagine this product would be used in just one eye at a time The dosage instructions say to use it in both eyes https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2025/218585s000lbl.pdf https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2025/21...
  - quitit 1y ago
    Ah that's interesting then. My guess would be that it doesn't close the iris as much then. However the linked does show 16% reporting dim vision, so there's some further work needed there (pupil size varies across the population, and there's the usual variation in dose efficacy.)
- yencabulator 1y ago
  The other downside is that generally people read by recognizing word shapes, and at least for me the necessary pinhole is too small to see bigger chunks of text at once.
yencabulator 1y ago
That combined with: my presbyopia bothers me most when it's already dark. Bright light makes small text easier to read.
- modeless 1y ago
  That's because bright light makes your pupil smaller, just like this medication. It's plausible that making things sharper at the expense of making them appear dimmer would be a good trade for some people sometimes. And you don't have voluntary control over your pupil so this medication could help. But it seems like it would have very limited applicability.

Indeed. You could make it brighter, which would shrink your pupils and make things easier to read. With this revolutionary medicine, you shrink your pupils, and then you need to make it brighter so you can still read. Is that it?

Terr_ 1y ago

I can see the marketing now: "Bottled Squintz®", when normal squinting is too much strain or annoyance.

quitit 1y ago

When in a pinch, one can make a tiny pinhole with their fingers for a similar effect. It comes with the same downside: reading in low light is difficult. For pinhole intraocular lenses these are implanted in just one eye for the same reason. I imagine this product would be used in just one eye at a time.

rectalogic 1y ago
> I imagine this product would be used in just one eye at a time The dosage instructions say to use it in both eyes https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2025/218585s000lbl.pdf https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2025/21...
- quitit 1y ago
  Ah that's interesting then. My guess would be that it doesn't close the iris as much then. However the linked does show 16% reporting dim vision, so there's some further work needed there (pupil size varies across the population, and there's the usual variation in dose efficacy.)
yencabulator 1y ago
The other downside is that generally people read by recognizing word shapes, and at least for me the necessary pinhole is too small to see bigger chunks of text at once.

yencabulator 1y ago

That combined with: my presbyopia bothers me most when it's already dark. Bright light makes small text easier to read.

modeless 1y ago
That's because bright light makes your pupil smaller, just like this medication. It's plausible that making things sharper at the expense of making them appear dimmer would be a good trade for some people sometimes. And you don't have voluntary control over your pupil so this medication could help. But it seems like it would have very limited applicability.