Eyesight problems...?

Myopic vision *is* a result of an elongation of the eyeball. This is *not* controlled solely by your genes though¹. It is thought to occur in response to the sustained ciliary muscle stress inherent in your eyes when they accommodate for near-focusing. The elongation of the eyeball relieves this stress as it reduces the need for accommodation (your eye's lens being made more convex), or at least it would do if we didn't have the bad habit of keeping our distance glasses on even when near-focusing. [For a more in-depth explanation see: http://www.myopia.org/ebook/ ]

To minimize any further progression of your myopia, what you need to do is avoid accommodation as much as possible by ensuring your eyes rarely have to focus any closer than the furthest extent of their focal range (the distance beyond which things begin to get blurry). If you want to be rigorous about this, it would mean using different powered lenses in different situations.

When viewing a computer screen you would ideally want your focal limit to be at the same distance as the screen. What lenses you would need to achieve this (or whether you need any at all) depends on how myopic you are. Your focal limit is approx. 1 metre divided by the number of uncorrected negative diopters. So for a screen half a metre away you would want to effectively give yourself 2 diopters of myopia. Those who have 2 diopters of myopia to begin with are best off not wearing any glasses at all while using a computer.

Those with stronger prescriptions, like yourself, might want to consider using a pair of glasses specifically for near-work with a prescription that is about 2 diopters weaker than their full prescription. If you have an old pair lying around, you can use those. Otherwise, there are some very low-cost online opticians you can buy from. I recently bought such a pair myself for computer use for just $23 delivered from zennioptical.com.

Switching between glasses while at school would likely be too awkward (when you need to see a board and what you are writing) but if you spend a lot of time on a computer or reading at home this would be something to consider then. Vari/bi-focals could be beneficial at school but I wouldn't blame a teenager for balking at that idea!

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¹ There is a myriad of evidence out there that suggests that myopia is environment/behaviour-related...

-The highest rates of myopia in the world are found in major Far-East cities like Singapore. This is thought to be because children there tend to be more studious and spend a lot of time indoors so they are rarely focusing into the distance and their eyes lack exposure to sunlight. -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17942181

-The lowest incidence of myopia in the western world is found in Australia where the kids play outside a lot.

-A study in Israel showed that children in strict religious schools where a lot of reading must be done have higher rates of myopia than those in the regular state schools.

-And myopia incidence amongst eskimo children hit 80% once they started going to school despite their parents/grandparents having very low rates of myopia.

-Myopia has been shown to progress further amongst law students at a time in their life when it generally levels off for the rest of us, again due to all the reading they have to do: http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(02)01...

-Also, scientists are able to induce myopia in young monkeys by forcing them to view the world through negative lenses: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7585177

-whilst plus lenses have been shown to limit the progression of such induced myopia: http://www.iovs.org/content/53/3/1593.full

As the others have said this is nothing to do with your computer use - its bad luck and genetics.

Because lasik works by changing the shape of your eye it only fixes eyesight as it is at the moment. If your eyesight gets worse later then you are back to glasses. Therefore no reputable place will do lasik until you are at an age when typically your eyesight has stopped changing. Normally that is your early twenties. By the time you are that age its likely that everything about the surgery will have changed and there may be other options so its really not worth looking into at this stage. When I was your age contacts were extremely new, soft lenses unheard of and lasik wasn't about for example.

I know this is a bit depressing but you can get contacts for your eyesight and modern ones are wonderful. New developements there all the time. Also there is no guarantee that your eyesight will get worse at the same rate - this is entirely unpredicatable and nooone can work out what your perscription will end up as. It will alwyas be correctable with glasses /contacts so dont' worry about that. Do NOT blame yourself, its bad enough havign poor eyesight without thinking its your fault.

Hi Nasal Neil, Your questions followed by my answers: Q. Would you belittle someone if you found out they had allergies, or nasal problems, or had poor eyesight? A. No! Some causes of poor eyesight are easily correctable! Q. Rowe was a West Indian batsman who scored a double and a single century on debut. He also had problems with his eyesight, and rather unfortunate allergy to grass. Do you feel that someone like Rowe should be belittled for his health problems, or applauded for doing his best despite them? A. His resolve should be applauded! However, there are others who have overcome even greater odds. For example Wilma Rudolph who won 3 olympic golds but was born prematurely at 4.5 lbs., and actually had "infantile paralysis" (caused by the polio virus) as a very young child! Q And how would you react if it was happening to someone you knew? A. I will not react! But instead comment positively on occassions. It is undignified to focus or discuss the weaker points of ones friends (unless the person is a hypochondriac). Q.Is having nasal problems, or poor eyesight, a cause for ridicule? A. Is it a cause for ridicule? Yes of course! It happens all the time, especially among school children and even in college! Most well meaning people do not condone it. Again some causes of poor eyesight can be easily corrected, though, correction of figurative myopia requires more effort! Rehman of Multan

Frank has it exactly right, but I'll elaborate a little. A normal eyeball is 24 mm long. If your eyes are longer than that, you're nearsighted. As your eyes continue to grow, you become more nearsighted and you need stronger, thicker lenses to see. Why can't you stop the process? Suppose your DNA is programmed to make your eyes grow to 33 mm instead of 24. That's -18.00 (-2.00 for every mm over 24), but the DNA doesn't know that. It's just doing its job. So what can you do? Visit the optometrist as often as needed, let him or her find out how much more nearsighted you have become, and prescribe thicker glasses. Usually, the progression slows down around 19 or 20, and stops by mid-20s. Lots of people see perfectly well wearing -15 to -20 glasses.

I agree with Scowie. There is research being undertaken as to whether the progression of myopia is related to "nature or nurture". The latest research indicates that although there is a strong genetic component to the development of myopia, environmental factors also have an impact on the progression of myopia.

A degree of myopia greater than -6.00 is generally considered to be "pathological myopia". Several techniques have been found to slow the progression of myopia including multifocal contact lenses, the Zeiss MyoLens, ortheokeratology and atropinisation. Wearing separate reading glasses or multifocals has been found to have only a minimal effect on the progression of myopia. The best results have been found with contact lenses and atropine.

You are getting more nearsighted because your eyeballs are growing. The shape of the natural lens of your eye gives is a certain focal distance. As the eyeball grows bigger than that, you become more and more nearsighted.

This is all controlled by genetics. Nothing you can do will stop it. Nothing you did caused it, either.

It will start to slow down in another two years, and by the age of 20, it will stop altogether.

You are not going blind.

Hi there,

It may sound impossible but it's really easy to improve your vision without surgery with some specific eye exercises. I'm following this method http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=413 and it's working incredibly well.

Very useful program!

Cheers.

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