4 ms·

Global upsurge in nearsightedness is perplexing

16 points by edw519 17y ago

bioweek 17y ago
Do you guys think a new cure for this will be invented in the next five or ten years? I can't afford lasik, and after reading all of the things that can go wrong, I'm not even sure if I would want it. Any chance there will be some new, inexpensive technology invented soon? Or maybe everyone will start wearing glasses for augmented reality anyway so it won't matter.
- brown9-2 17y ago
  Is Lasik a "cure" or just a way to correct around the underlying problems?
  - johngunderman 17y ago
    Lasik isn't really a cure. It simply changes the curvature of your eye so that you can focus on distance better. However, it actually makes you less able to focus on close items, so it's a trade-off.
    - gaius 17y ago
      And, at least when I looked into it, it reduces your night vision.
- NikkiA 17y ago
  Pretty sure I read an article a few weeks ago about how they'd found they could just dump some of your own stem cells on contact lenses, and your natural lenses would adjust back to near perfect vision in a few weeks. They didn't appear to even have to do anything complicated with them. So yes, I think a 'cure' will be developed in the next few years.
  - bioweek 17y ago
    Wow that would be amazing. Any chance you could track down that article? Wouldn't such a cure be 10-20 years away? I mean they're just now having the first clinical trials for stem cell therapies developed 10 years ago, right?
    - NikkiA 17y ago
      http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-to-restore-sight-for-corneal-disease-sufferers/story-e6frg6nf-1225717205094 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-... It's corneal damage it's repairing, not the lenses, I guess I misremembered - unless it was a different trial, but even so may well be transferable to the lens anyway, stem cell treatments tend to work a lot like 'magic' :). Maybe 5 years is a little optimistic, but 10 should be reasonable, if they're using your own stem cells there may even be fast track options. I think a lot of the 'just getting to trials now' treatments had been held up by various ethics and legality issues over the last few years - even when we're talking about adult stem cells, there seemed to be opposition based on ethical grounds.
      - brown9-2 17y ago
        I don't think it would be applicable. Myopia has to do with the curvature of the eye causing images to misfocus, it isn't really about cellular or tissue damage.
shaddi 17y ago
Something I heard years ago was that people who live in cities are more prone to be nearsighted because their eyes never focus on objects far away. Because of this, among other reasons, I always try to make sure that my computer is positioned in front of or next to a window, since it encourages me to change my eye focus to a far away object. Maybe it's this practice, and maybe (most likely) I'm just blessed with good vision like my mother, but despite the hours and hours I've spent in front of a computer since I was a kid my vision is still 20/20.
- rjett 17y ago
  I haven't seen the study, but I could believe it. This isn't really what the article talked about, but I caddied for 6 years as a teenager, and during that time, I developed an ability to read the distance to the pin within 5 yards before I even looked at the yardage. I was this accurate from up to 230 yards out. I'm in my mid-20s now and I play golf maybe once or twice a year. I've found that I have lost all distance perception then, even though my vision is still 20/20.
- inerte 17y ago
  How old are you? Next month I'm turning 30 years old and a couple weeks ago I was diagnosed with myopia. 0.25 of it, and 0.50 of astigmatism. The doctor said that I should only wear glasses when on the computer, and I thought "shit... the whole day then".
  - shaddi 17y ago
    This is a good point -- I'm several years your younger, so I guess I have plenty of time time ruin my vision between now and then. :) That said, in my family vision seems to either go early or stay with you forever. My brother has been wearing glasses since he was about 8. My mom wore glasses for a while back in the 80's when she was working as a secretary (I think? Something that put her in front of a computer all day...), but after she left that job her vision quickly restored back to 20/20. Now, as she's getting older, she sometimes needs reading glasses, but I think that's more a function of age than anything else.
- 17y ago
davidw 17y ago
Everyone I know in Italy has glasses. I've always wondered why that was.
jimmybot 17y ago
I'm nearsighted and every eye doctor I've had while I was growing up said it's just genetic, and there's nothing you can do about it even though none of my grandparents were nearsighted. But more to the point--there's probably nowhere near the proper amount of research money being spent on preventing myopia or preventing the seriousness of it because there's no money to be made in it. What is the eye doctor going to charge you if you don't need new glasses?
machrider 17y ago
I read the headline completely wrong (metaphorical nearsightedness) and expected an article about why everyone is taking actions that hurt them in the long term...
jsdalton 17y ago
Why the editorializing in the headline? The article itself makes no mention of the phenomenon being "perplexing." In fact it identifies a likely (and fairly obvious) cause -- increased computer usage -- right there in the subtitle: > A study finds that 17% more Americans have myopia than 30 years ago. Close-up computer work could be a reason.
- tokenadult 17y ago
  I just did a Google search on the submitted title. When did the title change occur? When a link to this article was submitted to another social linking site? Or right here on HN? I'm perplexed at how an L.A. times article that has the same title in a heading at the beginning of the article and in the HTML title element for the article can get a title change to what was submitted here, but I know the New York Times sometimes has link titles to its own articles from its own front page that don't match the article title, and for all I know this article did too in the original newspaper.
bioweek 17y ago
Here's a potential solution. Computer monitors that appear to be say 500 ft away, but take up the equivalent field of view as your current monitor. I.E., it would appear you screen were being projected onto the side of a mountain, but as a visual illusion (not really projecting a 1000 ft screen). Is that possible? How might it work, holograms?
- sp332 17y ago
  A couple of lenses should do the trick.
hxa7241 17y ago
There is a better article on this at: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generation-specs-stopping-the-shortsight-epidemic.html?full=true http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generatio... Research discussed there suggests that what appears in peripheral vision may be important. That may also explain why myopia gradually gets worse during years of wearing glasses.
davi 17y ago
better article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generation-specs-stopping-the-shortsight-epidemic.html?full=true http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generatio... discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=929524 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=929524

16 points by edw519 17y ago

Do you guys think a new cure for this will be invented in the next five or ten years? I can't afford lasik, and after reading all of the things that can go wrong, I'm not even sure if I would want it. Any chance there will be some new, inexpensive technology invented soon? Or maybe everyone will start wearing glasses for augmented reality anyway so it won't matter.

brown9-2 17y ago
Is Lasik a "cure" or just a way to correct around the underlying problems?
- johngunderman 17y ago
  Lasik isn't really a cure. It simply changes the curvature of your eye so that you can focus on distance better. However, it actually makes you less able to focus on close items, so it's a trade-off.
  - gaius 17y ago
    And, at least when I looked into it, it reduces your night vision.
NikkiA 17y ago
Pretty sure I read an article a few weeks ago about how they'd found they could just dump some of your own stem cells on contact lenses, and your natural lenses would adjust back to near perfect vision in a few weeks. They didn't appear to even have to do anything complicated with them. So yes, I think a 'cure' will be developed in the next few years.
- bioweek 17y ago
  Wow that would be amazing. Any chance you could track down that article? Wouldn't such a cure be 10-20 years away? I mean they're just now having the first clinical trials for stem cell therapies developed 10 years ago, right?
  - NikkiA 17y ago
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-to-restore-sight-for-corneal-disease-sufferers/story-e6frg6nf-1225717205094 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-... It's corneal damage it's repairing, not the lenses, I guess I misremembered - unless it was a different trial, but even so may well be transferable to the lens anyway, stem cell treatments tend to work a lot like 'magic' :). Maybe 5 years is a little optimistic, but 10 should be reasonable, if they're using your own stem cells there may even be fast track options. I think a lot of the 'just getting to trials now' treatments had been held up by various ethics and legality issues over the last few years - even when we're talking about adult stem cells, there seemed to be opposition based on ethical grounds.
    - brown9-2 17y ago
      I don't think it would be applicable. Myopia has to do with the curvature of the eye causing images to misfocus, it isn't really about cellular or tissue damage.

shaddi 17y ago

Something I heard years ago was that people who live in cities are more prone to be nearsighted because their eyes never focus on objects far away. Because of this, among other reasons, I always try to make sure that my computer is positioned in front of or next to a window, since it encourages me to change my eye focus to a far away object. Maybe it's this practice, and maybe (most likely) I'm just blessed with good vision like my mother, but despite the hours and hours I've spent in front of a computer since I was a kid my vision is still 20/20.

rjett 17y ago
I haven't seen the study, but I could believe it. This isn't really what the article talked about, but I caddied for 6 years as a teenager, and during that time, I developed an ability to read the distance to the pin within 5 yards before I even looked at the yardage. I was this accurate from up to 230 yards out. I'm in my mid-20s now and I play golf maybe once or twice a year. I've found that I have lost all distance perception then, even though my vision is still 20/20.
inerte 17y ago
How old are you? Next month I'm turning 30 years old and a couple weeks ago I was diagnosed with myopia. 0.25 of it, and 0.50 of astigmatism. The doctor said that I should only wear glasses when on the computer, and I thought "shit... the whole day then".
- shaddi 17y ago
  This is a good point -- I'm several years your younger, so I guess I have plenty of time time ruin my vision between now and then. :) That said, in my family vision seems to either go early or stay with you forever. My brother has been wearing glasses since he was about 8. My mom wore glasses for a while back in the 80's when she was working as a secretary (I think? Something that put her in front of a computer all day...), but after she left that job her vision quickly restored back to 20/20. Now, as she's getting older, she sometimes needs reading glasses, but I think that's more a function of age than anything else.
17y ago

davidw 17y ago

Everyone I know in Italy has glasses. I've always wondered why that was.

jimmybot 17y ago

I'm nearsighted and every eye doctor I've had while I was growing up said it's just genetic, and there's nothing you can do about it even though none of my grandparents were nearsighted. But more to the point--there's probably nowhere near the proper amount of research money being spent on preventing myopia or preventing the seriousness of it because there's no money to be made in it. What is the eye doctor going to charge you if you don't need new glasses?

machrider 17y ago

I read the headline completely wrong (metaphorical nearsightedness) and expected an article about why everyone is taking actions that hurt them in the long term...

jsdalton 17y ago

Why the editorializing in the headline? The article itself makes no mention of the phenomenon being "perplexing." In fact it identifies a likely (and fairly obvious) cause -- increased computer usage -- right there in the subtitle: > A study finds that 17% more Americans have myopia than 30 years ago. Close-up computer work could be a reason.

tokenadult 17y ago
I just did a Google search on the submitted title. When did the title change occur? When a link to this article was submitted to another social linking site? Or right here on HN? I'm perplexed at how an L.A. times article that has the same title in a heading at the beginning of the article and in the HTML title element for the article can get a title change to what was submitted here, but I know the New York Times sometimes has link titles to its own articles from its own front page that don't match the article title, and for all I know this article did too in the original newspaper.

bioweek 17y ago

Here's a potential solution. Computer monitors that appear to be say 500 ft away, but take up the equivalent field of view as your current monitor. I.E., it would appear you screen were being projected onto the side of a mountain, but as a visual illusion (not really projecting a 1000 ft screen). Is that possible? How might it work, holograms?

sp332 17y ago
A couple of lenses should do the trick.

hxa7241 17y ago

There is a better article on this at: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generation-specs-stopping-the-shortsight-epidemic.html?full=true http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generatio... Research discussed there suggests that what appears in peripheral vision may be important. That may also explain why myopia gradually gets worse during years of wearing glasses.

davi 17y ago

better article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generation-specs-stopping-the-shortsight-epidemic.html?full=true http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427331.100-generatio... discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=929524 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=929524