Here is a testament of how much persistence pays off: Since we last looked at Sara’s progress, she has cut her earlier close-up prescription strength in half (!), and is now again ready to reduce it further. From a -3.00 for close-up, she is looking at -1.25 / -1.00 now. Amazing progress, which we are going to look at here in a bit of detail.
It’s important to look at experience like Sara’s, to put in perspective this particular method of treating eyesight …
Back in the days when I worked with clients at my office directly, most stories were more or less the same. Anybody who could come to me, was serious about reducing myopia (considering the high cost of the service at the time). Almost everybody who started, continued on, and experienced significant improvement.
Basically, if you’d come to my office, it was a safe bet that you’d have good eyesight before long.
Fast forward to today, where a retired Alex very tenuously runs this experiment of myopia rehabilitation over the Internet. Surprisingly enough we made it through the past several years and the many hiccups, going strong, and lots of positive experiences from online participants. I never thought it was possible, but here we are. Still, there now is a very wide range, from some (fortunately small minority) who report no improvements, to those who improve at unusually fast rates. Sara falls into the range that should be considered normal, where consistency and diligence pay off. Here is what she writes in the forum:
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my progress, largely because I haven’t had much over the summer. But I think I’m finally starting to see improvement again.
Distance Vision
Since August 12, I’ve been wearing a -3.25 (OS) / -3.50 (OD) normalized prescription. When I first put them on, I had a blur at 20/50 but could clear to 20/25 with active focus. Since early Sept, I’ve been able to clear to 20/20 in the morning with mediocre lighting (took away the extra lamp) on my Snellen, though it is not a strong/dark 20/20.
Differential
In August, I was noticing that my -2.00 differential prescription was letting me see 75-81 cm clearly in the mornings, so I felt that it was time for a new differential. As my -1.50 pair were too weak at the time (40s from what I recall), I opted to purchase a -1.75 pair.
On August 25, I switched to the -1.75 differential prescription. I saw good improvement there through Sept, going from 64-68 cm in early Sept to 73 cm in the past week. So I decided to try the -1.50 again, and this past week I’ve been seeing 62-70 cm clearly with it, or averaging 64.6 with both eyes.
With both differential prescriptions, the right eye continues to lag behind the left. This past week while wearing the -1.50, the left was averaging 59 cm while the right was averaging only 52.2.
Morning Centimeter Values
These have been a point of frustration, but I think they are finally improving. In late June into early August, I was still getting occasional values of 34 cm (binocular), but mostly 35. Then starting in late August, my smallest readings started becoming 35, and I saw more values of 36, and even a 37 and a 38 the last couple days. The right eye isn’t improving as reliably as the left, though.
Next Steps
Here’s where I could use your feedback.
You said a while back that equalizing my distance glasses will help my right eye catch up, even if it challenges it for a while. I have a -3.00 pair waiting in my closet, and I tried them on this morning with these results:
Each eye separate – Can clear somewhere between 20/50 and 20/40
Eyes together – Can clear somewhere between 20/30 and 20/25
With my current prescription (-3.25/-3.50), I still do have focus pulling opportunities, like reading restaurant menus on walls, and text on karaoke screens, so I am concerned that moving down to -3.00 might be too challenging, but on the other hand, I am willing to give it a try since I have been able to get 20/20 in the mornings and it might help my right eye catch up.
So I am thinking I will change to the -3.00, even if I feel a bit more blind for a while. If it only makes things more strained, I may have to rethink the move, though.
I’ve also been thinking that it is better not to let the differential prescription get so strong in the future. 80 cm is a bit excessive for my near needs, and is
perhaps impeding my progress in terms of uncorrected cm values.
I’m going to order some new differential glasses (-1.25 and -1.00), so that I will be ready when the -1.50 gets me too much distance. (Some mornings, it already gives me 70 cm.)
What do you think of my plan?
***
See the full thread in the forum, here.
Note how sometimes you may not have apparent improvements for a while. I talk about this in the blog, improvements are not a linear process. You will have periods of creating a lot of stimulus, and eventually your body responds to that persistent challenge.
Sara posted previously on several occasions, and we even looked at some of her progress here in the blog. This is what you want to emulate. The logs, the consistent effort to keep prescriptions at a good blur horizon, and persistent good habits. You will improve if you approach rehab like Sara. And while there are no guarantees with biology, this is as close to certain as we will get.
It also helps greatly when you post your experience. I get a lot of e-mails from people who choose to investigate rehab based on stories like Sara’s. There are more of them here, if you need some encouragement.
There are even good stories on child myopia improvement, well worth a read.
Hopefully this article finds you well, do take care of your eyes, and if you have been improving, do share your experience!
