I am so Scared and Disturbed?

Question

I just finished reading a book entitled "THE MYOPIA MYTH:
The Truth About Nearsightedness And How To Prevent It". It explains that Myopia or nearsightedness is over 90% acquired through close up work such as reading.

so many people have myopia now because of the school system where kids are forced to read constantly. Since the eye is fully relaxed when looking at a distance it tenses up and contracts when looking close up.

When doing this for long periods of time the eye develops a ciliary muscle spasm and eventually elongates.

Glasses are then prescribed which makes things appear even closer and your eye is forced to elongate again which makes your eyes worse... then your given a stronger perscription and the cycle continues.

I can't believe my optometrist NEVER told me about this, I am really upset, my perscription just kept getting higher and higher and she said nothing... What gives, why is the eye care industry destroying our vision :(
http://www.myopia.org/ebook/index.htm

Answer 1

Myopic eyes are myopic because a number of different factors. If an eye is 'big' for instance and the lens system is 'normal', the light rays would be bent too much and would focus in front of the retina. This person would be myopic or near sighted. They already are focused near. So they don't wear glasses to read. They wear glasses that move that focal point out to 'infinity' so they can see distances. Some microphthalmic eyes are very 'small' and that smallness makes the radius of the cornea, size of the lens inside the eye and the smaller distances 'different' than normal eyes. These people are VERY myopic. Not axial length myopic, but microphthalmicly myopic. Very spherical surfaces, very myopic.

When they read, they don't need glasses.

When an optometrist Rx's glasses for a myope, one of the last things he/she does is relax the accomodation by adding plus lenses in front of the Rx. That relaxes the muscles of accomodation. Other methods include paralyzing the muscles with drops such as cyclogel. There's NO muscle tone after that drop and the Rx is for an eye that's completely relaxed. If the person is still nearsighted, it's not because of spastic muscles, it's because they ARE myopic.

Ciliary spasm is NOT a comfortable problem. There's a deep ache associated with it and a change in vision over time. These are not comfortable people. Optometrists do NOT like people coming back because they gave them the wrong Rx. Your book is more of a myth than the myth the book is talking about.

Also, myopia itself changes because the lens inside the eye changes with time. There's no conspiracy to get people to buy glasses. There's a progressive increase in the power of the lens over time because it grows. It grows layer after layer...like an onion. so it gets more powerful over time. so every 3 years or so, need a new pair of glasses cuz these old one's don't work well anymore. People that are far sighted get less far sighted with time because their lens gets more powerful. Your lenses changing has nothing to do with those horrible teachers making you read! Maybe a little more reading would have informed you that the myopia myth is a myth.

Myopes lenses get stronger with age. All of us have the same problem IT"S Not because they MAKE you read at school. And myopes read anyway because the CAN. It's easy for them to read.

Hyperopes have problems reading. Because they have to work ALL the time to just see at a distance. Did your book say there's a conspiracy to get hyperopes to use glasses because they can't relax?

The eye doesn't elongate because of ciliary spasm anymore than your height elongates if you do back exercises, or leg exercises.

Ther reason the eye care industry never told you about trying to destroy your vision is because we spend our time trying to save it! Actually there are other myths that earn their promotors a lot of money..like doing, eye exercises to get rid of their glasses or get rid of myopia or astigmatism or take wonder vitamines to restore one's vision and stop cataracts and stop macular disease and stop cross eyes and eliminate presbyopia...

The American Academy of Ophthalmolgy has a nice site to explain some of these disorders. The American Academy of Optometry does too.

I've got a book in the other room called THE MYOPIAS.
It's 2-3 inches thick. It talks about integrity of scleral tissues, changes in lens structure and function, causes of weakening of the posterior sclera, staphylomas...and on and on. Why these eyes are more prone to retinal detachments, associated diseases such as Lattice degeneration, fuch's spots, colobomas.....Why do you think the refractive industry has done so well? Cilary spasm? Why not just give these people an injection of secret formula for only $1000 per eye and paralyze the ciliary muscle? Heck, can use a drop. If you really think you have ciliary spasm and that relaxing that will make you better...ask your doctor to place a drop of scopolamine in both your eyes. See how it goes for a few days. It'll take 3 to 5 days for the medicine to wear off and during that time you'll not be able to use that muscle. Your pupil will be widly open too, so wear dark glasses. Oh, and be sure to take along your regular glasses along. You'll need them to get home.


And yes, I'd be very happy to discuss this with you further.

Answer 2

The Myopia Myth is not based on any scientific studies and is simply the personal opinion of its author.

In both human and animal studies, if the ciliary musle action (accommodation) is disabled either by surgery (animals) or by the use of reading glasses (humans), myopia progression is not affected, so the central tenet of The Myopia Myth is not correct

Myopia is 75% to 90% genetic, it first appears about age 10-14 and progresses until age 16-25.

See the links below for more info

Answer 3

I think Paul covered everything brilliantly there. Myopia is multifactorial and no... isn't all genetics (though that does play a large part).

Extensive studies have been conducted (well outside of those mentioned in the myopia myth). For instance one studied looked at the progression of myopia in children who were given their full prescription and those who were undercorrected. Those who were undercorrected progressed faster.

Whoever wrote the myopia myth either misread alot of articles or is just trying to confuse people. YES reading glasses have been shown to help slow down myopia but ONLY IN children who are a progessing myope with a larger ESOPHORIA (tendancy for eyes to turn inwards) at near when compared to distance. I know this because I've read the articles properly.

We study this stuff at university and put it into practicec. What we don't do is read the articles...ignore facts...write a book....and then make people lose faith in a profession which is genuinely trying to help them

Answer 4

Paul B is totally and completely correct and is very very well informed.
The Ciliary muscle is your pupil which controls the amount of light that the eye needs in order to focus and has NOTHING to do with the shape of your eye.
Not only is the shape of your eyeball the factor in Myopic's but the cornea shape is too which is seperate and apart from your pupil. . .Ciliary muscle.
Reading,not having enough light for reading,spending hours in front of a computer. . . all the myths that you hear about things that will hurt your eyes are wrong.
Watch the pressure in your eyes as you get older because the same Ciliary muscle that controls the amount of light that comes into your eye for focusing is also a filtering system for the front portion of your eye.
In Myopics,especially those who are High Myopics tend to develop Glaucoma as they get older and the lack of treatment of that WILL cause you to lose your eye sight.

Answer 5

Your optician did not tell you this because it is not the truth. In some cases, wearing specs can make your vision better. My daughter's sight was corrected in that way... she wore them as a child and now her vision is quite OK.

Remember, if you drive without glasses knowing you need them and there is an accident, you could be found criminally negligent.

Answer 6

You can't believe everything you read! There are children that are myopic before they can read... It doesn't have to do with reading...it has to do with genetics!

Answer 7

Short answer: They only care about the $$$.