Preventing Myopia
Can glasses worsen nearsightedness and Myopia?
There's a growing idea that Myopia, or nearsightedness, might not be solely heridatory or inherited. Some are saying that by wearing glasses or other corrections, one can worsen the eyes, leading to a constant increase of prescriptions over and over again.
The concept goes that your eyes become nearsighted in order to "relax" from seeing things too close up. Your eyes are strained when focusing on close objects, whereas seeing far relieves them. In other words, your vision becomes blurred because the eyes grow tired and want to avoid focusing for a while.
By wearing glasses, you are basically ruining the point, making everything close up and sharp again. Then your eyes get even worse in order to pursue a state of relaxation. People then think they need a new pair of glasses, which again ruins the point and repeats the cycle.
An important point to realize is that you can make your eyes better. Much of the nearsightedness or myopia may just be temporary strain and can be reversed by simply allowing your eyes rest, focusing on distant objects. However, if you do not allow this temporary myopia to clear up before straining your eyes further, it possibly will be permanent and irreversable, which is what many people end up doing.
Here are some further readings if you want to learn more:
Myopia Explosion - Simple series of FAQs with direct answers as to whether glasses help or go against your vision.
Myopia Prevention Home Page - This is based on a personal account of the site owner's experience. Very detailed and pretty indepth on how the he or she reduced myopia by about 2.00-3.00 degrees.
The Myopia Myth: How to Prevent Nearsightedness - A more biased view of the issue. The site owner is author of the book The Myopia Myth and provides great detail on the problem. He's also invented the Myopter, which combats several of the causes. Some say he's just trying to sell, but the item does work so...
Added on Jul 16, 2007 | Last Updated Jul 29, 2012