I don't have time to find a reference, but I have read research which shows that our eyes tend to grow longer when we are having any sort of trouble focusing, which is often the case with a weakened prescription or in dim light. As a result I stopped ordering slightly weaker glasses for myself and moved my office to a brighter room in the house.
Despite all that, my Myopia seems to be getting worse, wearing the appropriate glasses that ensure sharp focus for distance vision and ones that are less straining with a negative SPH value for computer work (hobby/weak reading glasses etc). I also have some astigmatism which my glasses are completely correcting now.
I would love for medical science to discover the means to reverse myopia, it seems like a solvable problem involving signalling/conditions which causes the eye morphology to change.
I have this image of my eyeball in my head, being basically a skin sack full of water enclosed in the skull in all dimensions but one. My theory is my eyeballs lengthened because of the high IOP. My ophthalmologist says this is impossible. Unfortunately I am not scientifically literate enough to check that and I am not sure who to talk to.
What I am trying to say is, if your myopia is constantly worsening get your IOP tested - just in case.
also: > Differences in pressure between the two eyes are often clinically significant, and potentially associated with certain types of glaucoma, as well as iritis or retinal detachment.
Any sources about that?
Regarding LASIK, I got my surgery in 2009, at 21 years of age. At the time I only did enough research to know to find a reputable surgeon in my area, and no more. Nowadays I would probably Google for more side effects and dangers. I'd likely hesitate at the risk of getting it so early and wonder if it'll be a waste as my eyes change, but at the time I just trusted what the doctor told me.
I still consider it to be one of the best things I've ever spent money on. I think the surgeon mentioned he over-corrected somehow, accounting for eyesight changes over the years. There's been some degradation. If I close one eye I can see that my right one is slightly less sharp and slower to focus than the left. But overall my eyesight is still excellent over ten years later, with none of the scary persistent complications I'd read about since the surgery.
Nowadays, I hear of newer methods of laser eye surgery that involve putting in lenses that you can replace with new ones when needed as opposed to resurfacing the eye itself. It makes me think about how much advancement there must be in the techniques since I'd gotten it done. If I'm still happy with my decade-old result, I imagine people getting it done today might find their procedures to be even better.
Interestingly enough, it does seem like eyeballs can shorten in many species, including chicks, shrews, and some primates. It only took a few seconds to Google.[1]
I’d be curious whether humans share a similar mechanism. I would be surprised if they didn’t, considering how this mechanism is common amongst such a diverse range of species.
Cheers.
[1] https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2189093
As a farsighted person who didn't get glasses until I was 30... I only wish it was as easy as sitting and waiting a few years.
Most of the advice in tech circles is about myopia, so whenever I see something like this I like to imagine the opposite advice to see if it would cure me in the opposite direction. Should I stare at something less than 20cm away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes? I don't think either near or far-sighted people are going to heal themselves with internet advice
There are many anecdotal reports about people seeing shorter eyeballs as measured by an autorefractor while doing the reduced lens method, one example that I recall is this one from cliffgnu[1].
For LASIK the real thing that isn't communicated is that it doesn't address the root of the problem which is that the eyeball gets longer, it only works as if someone carved glasses on your cornea.
The eyeball gets longer with time in high (pathological) myopia. Serious surgeons will check that the myopia is stable (1-2 years) before doing a surgery. The eye doesn't, usually, gets longer in patients with moderated myopia. All the work, in refractive surgery, is in good patients selection. It is very unusual to observe a significant myopic regression in patients with a stabilized myopia after 21 years. Of course the eye is an organ, there is no absolute rule in the human body. However, patients which were correctly selected for surgery don't, usually, see their myopia coming back with time.
I'll edit if I find the reference.
What I do is regularly go for a walk in the sun for up to half an hour without wearing glasses or contacts. If it doesn't work, I'll be getting a good dose of vitamin D in any case.
edit :
here's the study : https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2018840118
here's DS's retweet : https://twitter.com/davidasinclair/status/145775319654643712...
I misrepresented DS's retweet comment and it is not as spectacular as I made it seem. In any case, intresting.
When they spend more time on getting prescriptions and multiple opinions, they get better prescriptions.
Worsened dryness as an outcome from LASIK is the only thing holding me back from it. Would love some feedback!
Does this measure the length at the center only? Even if the eye cannot shrink there, it could possibly grow outside of the center or by inreasing its diameter causing a change of the shape.
"The long-term use of over-correcting glasses induces myopia" This is quite true. But it induces a myopia which is reversible. Overcorrection (which we try to avoid) leads to ciliary spasm. When the patient gets older, the lens gets less flexible (for everyone, this is what leads to presbyopia) and the myopia, if it was overcorrected, diminishes. It is common to reduce the correction for patients around 40.
We have a good, natural model in nature for over-corrected myopic eyes: hyperopic patients. They don't become myopic with time. Around 40-45 years, their hyperopia becomes clinically significant (they didn't need glasses before and they progressively need to have their hyperopia corrected at 45, or a little bit later if the hyperopia is slight).
"Repair is fast at first as you clear the ciliary spasm, and then slows down as you work on shortening the eyeball itself." No. Clearing the ciliary spasm (which is not present in every myopic patient, only the overcorrected ones) will indeed reduce the amount of myopia (the eye will return to its normal state: less myopia). However, we happen to have a very precise way to mesure the axial length of the eyeball (interferometry). While we commonly observe a lengthening of the eyeball in high, pathological myopia, I've never heard of an eyeball which shortened, nor read any paper which related this phenomenon. We don't know why the eyeball elongates in high myopia. But, as far as I know, eyeball never shorten.
"If you are considering laser eye surgery, please skim Lasik Complications." Yes, please do. You must be informed and your surgeon must inform you. However, you could also look at the number of refractive surgeons who underwent themselves this surgery, or operated their family. It is a common thing to operate our residents at the end of their internship because they saw the outcomes and want the procedure. Please note that any serious refractive surgeon will perform a refraction after cycloplegia, to remove any ciliary spasm and correct only the "real" myopia.
https://theophthalmologist.com/business-profession/do-ophtha...