Written By Despina
Contributing Optometrist
Jake’s recent blog entitled, “Shh, don’t tell them how to fix their eyes,” got me thinking. You can take a horse to water but you really can’t make him drink. There really is no point preaching about anything, reversing myopia included. Yes, limiting your enthusiasm to one sentence sounds about right.
Think of smokers. They know the health risks, potentially life-threatening ones at that, but may do nothing about it, either because they don’t believe it will actually affect them,and/or because they can’t be bothered to put in the effort it takes to kick the habit. When they hear someone going on about the health risks, most will be seen rolling their eyes as they take another long drag. But once they make the decision to quit, most will succeed.
The same can be true of myopes, addicts of a kind, as far as visits to the optometrist go and getting stronger and stronger lenses for sharper and sharper vision. Granted, not all myopes are well-informed on the risks of high myopia, and lenses don’t come with a health warning. But even those that are aware may not be prepared to put in the effort it takes to control and reverse their myopia. Going on and on about the risks of glaucoma, retinal detachment, cataracts, blah blah blah, can be very boring.
People need to decide for themselves to change their habits, whatever they may be. Forcing someone into something may work temporarily, but for them to be motivated enough to follow it through it needs to be their own decision.
