Clicker VanClickbaitigan writes the post headlines.  Not your darling eye guru Jake, obviously.  

It’s real simple, the right vs the wrong (“bad”) optometrist.  You want one who is conservative with handing out prescription increases.  You don’t want the guy (or gal) who throws diopter increases around like it’s candy, in the process accelerating your slide into bad times progressive myopia.

Making that point eloquently, with a good backstory, Sarah in the forum:

Hi! I’m Sarah and I wanted to make my first post in the forum to briefly introduce myself. So, here goes: I got glasses at age 7 (trouble seeing the board at school). By the time I reached college I’d switched to contact lens full time (I hated glasses but loved contacts) and my eyes were -5.50 with astigmatism. For a while I had a really good ophthalmologist who was very conservative with prescription changes. She said my eyes were not quite 20/20 with -5.50 but she didn’t want to change it because I didn’t really need the extra correction and it would only make my eyes weaker in the end. 

But eventually I moved (several times actually!) and had to see different random optometrists. I went to one about 4 years ago who unnecessarily increased my prescription to -6.00 and changed my contact brand because “Everything would be extremely sharp and I’d be a very happy customer”. Nope. I couldn’t see anything, distance OR close up. One day I realized I was always looking at the ground all the time because the distance wasn’t too clear and that kind of scared me. I decided to make a conscious effort to always look out and not down. It helped and after a short time I could see clearly in the distance. I deemed my newest supply of contacts unwearable so I used some I already had of my preferred brand (the prescription is SPH -5.00 with CYL .75). These lenses cost over $100 per box so I wasn’t about to order more if I still had some that were good and usable (I would like to note, my last eye exam determined I can see 20/20 with this prescription, so its what I’m currently wearing). I started researching eyesight improvement in my spare time. Unfortunately though I found Bates and I wasted some time on that. My vision did not improve and going without correction with my high myopia just isn’t an option (I know because I tried). I was sad that it didn’t work. I really wanted to find a way to improve my sight but I decided to wait until I graduated (I’m currently pursuing a PhD) and found a full-time job.

Two years ago I found this site (I think just before it became endmyopia.org). I read through the blog and could tell that this was the answer. The science is there and best of all, it works for high myopia like mine. I really wanted to join then but decided to wait until after graduation. But a few months ago I started to notice some serious changes in my well-being. I felt anxious and could not keep focused on my studies. I wondered if it was my eyes again (my diet is healthy and I get plenty of sleep and exercise). I took a day and just relaxed and the next day I wore a pair of reading glasses over my contacts while I did close work. I felt focused and positive and more productive than I’d been in weeks. The anxiety was gone. I knew though what I’d done was only a temporary fix and I needed much more help. I realized that I could not wait any longer to start working on my eyesight. I put endmyopia at the top of my priority list and signed up for the email course and then BackTo20/20. Best decision ever. I’m at session #20 now and I’m already feeling so much better than before. I have my differential glasses for close-up work now (-4.00 with no CYL) and I just can’t tell you how much better things are already. I really can’t wait to keep going and especially to get the first normalized. So happy to be here! I will keep you updated as I progress!

Jake, you say.  Is it coincidental that you pick a forum post that also happens to be a glowing endorsement of BackTo20/20?  Did all that Rolex shopping in Hong Kong leave your bank account a little low?

Shut up.  Of course it’s totally a coincidence.

While we’re on the forum today, let’s also quickly look at a post from Emanuele, for some points worth remembering (a bit of a pro topic):

emanuele-forum-350

Emanuele is absolutely right.  

Find text to challenge your eyesight productively.  Get meaningful distance vision time.  Always look at the insights and opinions of those who are successful, in Emanuele’s case you are looking at a 50% improvement (reduction in diopters).  Here you have somebody who knows what works, and first hand experience accounts are often the most valuable.  If you have forum access, do follow the various student questions and progress reports.  

20/20 gains!  Get ’em!  ;)

Cheers,

-Jake