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I am disappointed: I hoped the article was about a kind of glasses that would slowly improve your eyesight by keeping your eyes under constant exercise.

by gioele 12y ago

Already__Taken 12y ago
Can you even fix eyes like that?
- stdbrouw 12y ago
  Actually, yes. Most doctors would call it fringe science, but I've been able to improve my eyesight with what's called Plus Lens Therapy. It has you wear glasses that are the opposite of those you've been subscribed, or that are significantly less strong, and using them while actively trying to focus at the edge of blur, e.g. by reading a book and keeping it far enough away so it's ever so slightly blurry but not too blurry either, forcing your eyes to clear the image. It's not clear why it works – do your eyes actually start changing their shape, or is it simply the eye muscles that get stronger? – but if you're willing to put in the months and months of effort it requires, for many it does help. See http://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-throw-away-your-glasses/ http://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-thro...
  - Houshalter 12y ago
    You may want to see this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233 It could be a neurological thing. Their visual system gets more practice but the eyes themselves don't change (just speculation.) But there are now better methods of doing that which are (supposedly) very effective.
- tokenadult 12y ago
  It's highly debatable that you can fix eyes like that. Optometry developed historically as a practice of prescribing eye exercises for "vision therapy," but most optometrists these days measure refractions to fit corrective eyeglasses to their patients, just like ophthalmologists. I know several people, a few of them quite closely, who have convinced themselves that they are improving their vision by eye exercises or by refraining from using prescribed corrective eyeglasses, but what they are mostly doing is kidding themselves as they go through life with needlessly blurred vision. The way to be sure whether or not eyes can be fixed like that is to set up an experiment with random assignment to treatment and control groups, and to have investigators who are "blind" (an unfortunately coincidental word in this context) to each subject's assignment to this or that group test their vision carefully. I confidently predict that any treatment effects found in such a study with the methods you read about on Reddit will be of small effect, of brief duration, and obtained at more trouble than the improvement in vision that comes from wearing prescribed corrective lenses.
- Houshalter 12y ago
  It's been shown possible to neurologically improve eyesight by training your neurons. This wouldn't fix any underlying problem with your eyes themselves though. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233

I am disappointed: I hoped the article was about a kind of glasses that would slowly improve your eyesight by keeping your eyes under constant exercise.

by gioele 12y ago

I am disappointed: I hoped the article was about a kind of glasses that would slowly improve your eyesight by keeping your eyes under constant exercise.

Already__Taken 12y ago

Can you even fix eyes like that?

stdbrouw 12y ago
Actually, yes. Most doctors would call it fringe science, but I've been able to improve my eyesight with what's called Plus Lens Therapy. It has you wear glasses that are the opposite of those you've been subscribed, or that are significantly less strong, and using them while actively trying to focus at the edge of blur, e.g. by reading a book and keeping it far enough away so it's ever so slightly blurry but not too blurry either, forcing your eyes to clear the image. It's not clear why it works – do your eyes actually start changing their shape, or is it simply the eye muscles that get stronger? – but if you're willing to put in the months and months of effort it requires, for many it does help. See http://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-throw-away-your-glasses/ http://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-thro...
- Houshalter 12y ago
  You may want to see this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233 It could be a neurological thing. Their visual system gets more practice but the eyes themselves don't change (just speculation.) But there are now better methods of doing that which are (supposedly) very effective.
tokenadult 12y ago
It's highly debatable that you can fix eyes like that. Optometry developed historically as a practice of prescribing eye exercises for "vision therapy," but most optometrists these days measure refractions to fit corrective eyeglasses to their patients, just like ophthalmologists. I know several people, a few of them quite closely, who have convinced themselves that they are improving their vision by eye exercises or by refraining from using prescribed corrective eyeglasses, but what they are mostly doing is kidding themselves as they go through life with needlessly blurred vision. The way to be sure whether or not eyes can be fixed like that is to set up an experiment with random assignment to treatment and control groups, and to have investigators who are "blind" (an unfortunately coincidental word in this context) to each subject's assignment to this or that group test their vision carefully. I confidently predict that any treatment effects found in such a study with the methods you read about on Reddit will be of small effect, of brief duration, and obtained at more trouble than the improvement in vision that comes from wearing prescribed corrective lenses.
Houshalter 12y ago
It's been shown possible to neurologically improve eyesight by training your neurons. This wouldn't fix any underlying problem with your eyes themselves though. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7266233