Jump to: Eyesight Conditions | Is Myopia Genetic | Bad Eyesight Is Not Genetic | Bad Eyesight Is Genetic | How To Fix Your Eyes

You want to know what’s up with your eyesight.  You went to some optic shops and all you got was “it’s genetic” and “too much screen time”.   Nothing super helpful, mostly just selling you one treatment or another.

No actual answers on causes.  Which btw, smart-you for asking this very question.

So you went poking around online, trying to figure out what’s up with your eyeballs.  And all you got there is a bunch more of the usual low quality search results fluff that tells you nothing useful.  

Well strap in, because you found the foremost expert on vision in the world (by god, so humble) to explain to you.

Bad Eyesight: What Eye Conditions Are Genetic?

The answer isn’t completely simple, actually.

First, there is the matter of what we identify as “bad”.  I promise we won’t go all depressing on this, just a quick glance to weed out what’s not going to be in the rest of this answer.

Categories of ‘bad’ eyesight, here we go.  

• • Myopia (Nearsightedness): Difficulty seeing distant objects clearly.
  • Hyperopia (Farsightedness): Difficulty seeing close objects clearly.
  • Astigmatism: Blurred vision due to an irregularly shaped cornea or lens.
  • Presbyopia: Age-related difficulty focusing on close objects, typically noticeable after age 40.

• • Cataracts: Clouding of the lens, leading to blurred or dimmed vision.
  • Glaucoma: Damage to the optic nerve, often from high eye pressure, which can lead to vision loss if untreated.
  • Macular Degeneration: Damage to the macula, the central portion of the retina, resulting in loss of central vision.
  • Diabetic Retinopathy: Damage to blood vessels in the retina due to diabetes, potentially leading to vision impairment or blindness.
  • Retinitis Pigmentosa: A group of genetic disorders causing progressive vision loss.

• • Keratoconus: Thinning of the cornea, leading to changes in its shape and vision distortion.
  • Amblyopia (Lazy Eye): Reduced vision in one eye due to abnormal visual development early in life.
  • Strabismus: Misalignment of the eyes, which can lead to poor vision if not corrected.
  • Uveitis: Inflammation inside the eye, which can impair vision if it affects the retina or lens.
  • Retinal Detachment: When the retina detaches from its normal position, leading to sudden vision loss if not treated promptly.

And the list goes on from there.  Above though, covers the basics.

We’re not going to talk about eye diseases here.  Everything from cataracts to glaucoma, mostly doesn’t show up till quite late in life, when a combination of decades of poor maintenance (nutrition, sleep stress, lifestyle) and possibly genetics can cause all sorts of issues.

Instead, we’re going for that first category, refractive errors.  

That’s the one where you distance vision is blurry and you go to the optometrist and you say, so what’s up doc, and they say, here you need there here glasses.  

There’s some topics we’re not going to cover much here also, mainly presbyopia.  That again is age related, I’ve written a fair bit about presbyopia, the cause of that is basically a hardening focusing lens in the eye.  Is that genetic?  Sort of unknown though I have doubts.   Doesn’t affect you if you’re not over 40 and get all squinty-eyed trying to read a restaurant menu.

That leaves hyperopia, which means you can’t see clearly up-close (not age related).  Uncommon, not going to worry about that one here.  

That leaves myopia and astigmatism.  These are the things most likely affecting your eyes.

Is Bad Eyesight (Myopia) Genetic

This is the real million dollar question.

In fact it’s a 100 billion dollar (a year) question.  That’s how much retail optometry makes in selling glasses every year.

And here is my 2 minute video explain why your eyesight is actually bad, factually:

If you want to dig into peer reviewed clinical science on this, scroll to the bottom for more links.

Spoiler and sneak peak, people have fixed / reversed their “genetically bad eyesight”.  More on that in a moment.

In fact I spent a whole hour on a great podcast a while back, discussing why bad eyesight is not genetic at all.   I’ve been on well over a hundred different shows discussing this very topic.  Most everybody else is way too focused on selling you subscription treatments for your genetically bad eyesight, or some random supplements (none of which work).

I’ve said it many times, retail optometry is profiting by keeping you in the dark.  They are in the business of selling you glasses.

Bad Eyesight Is Not Primarily Genetic

There is your answer.  Bad eyesight is not genetic.  It’s environmental.  It’s first a muscle spasm, and later gets worse from wearing glasses.

The #1 cause of worsening eyesight (myopia) is the use of minus lenses.  The glasses you’re wearing are making your eyes worse.  This while maybe not intentional, is driving the massive 100 billion dollar a year glasses selling industry.

But wait ….

Bad Eyesight Factors Can Be Genetic

There are many studies, like one published in Nature Magazine in 2010, “a genome-wide association study for myopia and refractive error identifies a susceptibility locus at 15q25 “.  Indeed the study finds a connection.

Or take a study published in 2005 in the Journal of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, titled “Identification of a Novel Locus on 2q for Autosomal Dominant High-Grade Myopia”.  It too identifies a genetic connection to myopia.

Oops. 

And this is why I said in the beginning, it’s not exactly the easiest question in the world to answer.

I go deep dive into the science of bad eyesight and genetics.   We have a whole science section in fact.

The short answer here, yes there are genetic markers.  Markers that are more prevalent in some Asian populations.  Markers that determine, if given the right (wrong) stimulus, eyeballs will elongate further, causing more myopia.  So it’s not that genetics cause myopia, but that genetics, combined with the wrong treatment, cause more myopia in some people than others.

You might get worse eyesight than others with the same poor habits and wrong treatment, because of genetics.

That’s the real, real answer.  You might be worse off.  Just like some people seem to be able to eat a ton of junk food and not get fat, or go to the gym casually and look ripped.  Genetics play a role in outcomes in many cases.  

I think though that answer you’re looking for is actually this:

Can You Fix Bad Eyesight?

If you made it this far, into the convoluted path of the genetics question, it’s time for some actionable answers.

You can fix your eyes.

The key to stopping worsening eyesight is these glasses.

That’s just a teaser, you can dive way further into the concept of differential glasses and myopia control here if you like.  We go as deep into the science of eyesight as science currently goes.

If you want the easily consumed version, here’s for example a video that explains how glasses make your eyesight worse:

Yup, it’s not pretty when you pull back the curtain on retail optometry.

Infographic:  Understanding Bad Eyesight

Sources:  Genetics & Eyesight Science

There are lots of articles here discussing eyesight and genetics.

Hopefully this was a nice little intro into the topic.  If you want to fix your eyes, you’re in the right place.  We have literally thousands of success stories going back a decade, we have the Youtubes, we have a pretty big Facebook group.  All sorts of stuff to get your eyeballs back on track.

Cheers,

-Jake