Kevin writes:

quotesHi Dr #endmyopia, your website emphasizes active focus/focus pulling (preferably outside). and also working at the blur horizon with a differential prescription. But i am surprised that you did not focus specifically on print pushing with plus lenses . Do you think that active print pushing (with blinking, eye movements to try to clear the image) for few hours a day would yield, say a +0.5D/year? 

That is a great question.

Myopia rehabilitation is still a tiny speck of a subject on the Web, but still these single concept “buzzword” solutions like plus lens therapy already take shape.

Let’s consider some realities:

Plus has it’s place.  But first you have to be at a myopia degree low enough so you can actually see, at a reasonable close-up distance, to use a plus lens therapy.  It is the same premise as a reduced minus for higher myopes – if you are very low myopia, the plus gives you the blur horizon you need to push focus, and if you are higher myope, the reduced minus has the same effect. 

If you need a -4 diopter prescription to see your computer screen, you won’t be able to see anything with a plus lens.  It’s a lot like any other solution that works for a specific scenario:

For example, you may have heard of elite endurance athletes doing their training at high altitudes.  There is less oxygen in the air there, and by training at altitudes these individuals get their bodies to adopt to these low oxygen conditions.  Increasing oxygen uptake and efficiency then allows them to be even more competitive at lower altitudes where there is plenty of oxygen.

At that level of training, all that makes sense.  But if you do a leisurely two kilometer run twice a week, is high altitude training meaningful to your body?

Of course not.  With glasses, first we have to get to a point where a plus gives us the correct blur horizon distance, before that type of approach makes sense.

As always, there is more to this plus lens therapy subject, and I am simplifying just a bit.  But if you just stumbled across the “plus lens therapy” buzzword, this explanation should be helpful to you.  There are quite a few discussions on the Web, I often like i-see.org’s insights.  They have a whole collection of plus lens therapy discussions.

Vladimir writes:

quotesHi, Alex,

I am -1.5D. Is it possible to improve my eyesight without normalized glasses? I mean doing focus pulling and pushing completely without them?

I can get flashes of clear vision at all distances, but I can mainly do it when I blink hard. Then I try to keep the clear image for as long as possible and then I blink again (sometimes harder, sometimes softer). Do you think this is a good way to do it or am I just overstraining my eyes?

Incidentally and related, Vladimir’s question.

Being a low myope, it is possible to work on active focus without needing the crutches of a prescription lens.  It’s back to the ever central concept of blur horizon again, and being able to work to get a clear image.  

As long as you can get a clear image without glasses, you don’t need them (for the purposes of myopia recovery).

And on the subject of overstraining eyes, just stay aware of the common symptoms.  Pain sensation behind the eye, forehead, headache, dry eyes, burning eyes when you close them, reduced centimeter results – all of these point to eye strain.  If you don’t have any of those, you are ok!

In general though, Vladimir’s practice sounds appropriate, and is likely not to be the cause of any eye strain.  As always, keeping track of Snellen (easier especially in the low myopia  case) will help to track progress and maintain motivation.

I am always glad to answer your e-mail questions about myopia.  It may sometimes takes me a few days and if you don’t hear from me, remind me please.

And if one question is turning into ten, consider doing the free course and free forum route, to get all the answers you are looking for.

Enjoy!

alex cures myopia