THE TRUTH ABOUT MYOPIA (NEARSIGHTEDNESS)

If you are myopic (poor distance vision), or have children or planning to have children, you need to know a few facts that you may not learn from your eye doctor.  Keep reading.

Roughly one third of our children become visual cripples during their school years and need the crutch of eyeglasses to see clearly in the distance. If that many children needed hearing aids or crutches at such an early age, wouldn’t that be alarming? Wouldn’t parents be looking for answers? But we have come to accept glasses as normal. Wearing glasses for a lifetime is the least of it. Because of he abnormal stretching of the eye, which occurs, ANY amount of myopia sets the stage for eye disease in later years.

Your eye doctor will probably tell you that myopia is inherited and glasses re the only answer, even though there may be no trace of myopia in your family. Yet, over one hundred years ago it was observed that those who became myopic usually used their eyes for prolonged close work. Those who used their eyes mostly for distance rarely became myopic. And here is some recent evidence from Washington State University Research center that confirms that myopia is caused by the way we use our eyes.

1. Since the eyes of certain monkeys are nearly identical to humans, a hood was used to restrict the vision of monkeys so that they could see no farther away than 15 inches.  It was found that most of them developed high myopia just as humans do. This proves that prolonged focusing on close objects such as books and computer screens can cause myopia. Monkeys living in the wild do not develop myopia.
2. Vision of Eskimos living on the northern shore of Alaska was examined. It was found that the parents and grandparents who were illiterate were not myopic. Of the children who had the benefit of education, fully 60% were myopic. This proves that myopia is not inherited.

 For over one hundred years, the eye care industry has ignored this evidence. The standard treatment for myopia is to prescribe concave or minus power lenses. These are the opposite of the power plus lenses used in reading glasses you find in a drug store. Minus lenses bring the world closer and cause MORE focusing effort. This starts a vicious circle of deteriorating vision and stronger lenses again and again.

A myopic child actually needs plus lenses for all close work in order to completely relax the focusing mechanism in the eye. This method has been shown to reverse beginning myopia and return the child to normal vision. Wearing such glasses to protect our eyes from an unnatural amount of close work for which they wee not designed is no different than wearing shoes to protect our fee.

Within the eye care business, myopia prevention is not considered profitable, and so it is ignored. Hundreds of millions of children around the world are having their vision destroyed at this moment because they are receiving treatment that is just the opposite of what they need.

The nonprofit International Myopia Preventions Assn. is the only organization in the world that is trying to inform the public of these facts. See their web site, MYOPIA.ORG. Ask your eye doctor to read this information since it is not part of the doctor’s education.

Some questions for your eye doctor:

 Are you aware of the evidence that increased computer use is contributing to more children            becoming nearsighted?  What proof do you have that distance glasses that are prescribed won’t make my child’s vision worse?   Doesn’t reading in poor light make the eyes focus more and cause myopia to increase?  Shouldn’t my child hold the book as far away as possible to relax the focusing muscles?  Isn’t it true that allowing myopia to develop increases the risk of serious problems like retinal detachment? . Have you ever prescribed plus power reading glasses for a child to prevent myopia?