> In my opinion, it’s too early, too ambiguous, and the jury is out on whether myopia can actually be reversed.
We do need studies on if/why/how myopia reduction works for some people.
However, we already know a guaranteed way to increase myopia:
1. Wear corrective lens for 20/20 vision for distant objects, e.g. driver license vision test.
2. Keep wearing distance lens for closeup, e.g. phone at 12".
3. Keep wearing distance lens for near work, e.g. book or laptop at 24".
4. Keep wearing distance lens for intermediate, e.g. monitor at 36".
5. Eye adapts (more myopia) to get 20/20 vision at daily focusing distance, e.g. work laptop.
6. Optometrist measures that distance correction with lens is now worse than 20/20.
7. Optometrist increases distance correction to get back to 20/20, for legal (e.g. driving) compliance.
8. Go to Step 1.
This loop can be broken by measuring the distance in #5 and buying dedicated lens/contacts for that distance. This reduces the burden on both eye and brain.
This is also what I came up with, with my own experience. Basically, everytime I get prescription glasses for myopia, my myopia gets worse a few months later. What baffles me is that none of the professional I've seen (I think 2 ophtalmologists, 1 orthoptist, 1 optician) told me about that Now I feel truly bitter about the eyes professionals, even though I'm sure they are good at catching defunct eyes, I feel like they don't know how what to advise you, when it gets worse and worse.
Another nuance is that vision decreases during the day, so you want to avoid an eye exam late in the day when vision is weak, resulting in a stronger prescription.
Low ambient lighting and dark mode for work will increase pupil dilation and reduce focus. Better to match monitor brightness with natural ambient light levels.
I noticed this yes. I even had a eye exam with some eye drop that makes your muscle sore, so you can't focus closely anymore, but the doctor is 100% sure that muscles are not focusing passively
How does one "buy dedicated lenses for that distance"? The distance between my eyeballs and my screen is 28 inches, but I do not know how to translate this into what to buy.
your prescription - (100 / desired distance in cm).
For your PC that sits one meter away from your eyes, you'd need to subtract 1 from your real degree of myopia, e.g. for -4 degree myopia, get glasses that are -3. Don't forget to calculate individually for each eye.
As a matter of fact I'm using glasses I bought this way right now. I actually find these even more comfortable than my full degree glasses for all-day use too, in terms of eye strain.
I feel it's ridiculous that the medical industry thinks I need to wear glasses that are powerful enough to focus an image of a mountain 100 kms away all day, when my average focus distance throughout the day is probably less than one meter.
These reduced degree glasses are called differentials. If you want to go into the rabbit hole of fixing your myopia, start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPIGDSY_xBs
Disclaimer: When driving, you have to obviously wear your full prescription glasses.
I don't currently have any known vision problem nor wear glasses, I was only looking to reduce eye strain since I regularly need to take breaks due to my eyes hurting after using the computer for too long. I have had recent eye exams and they were 20/20.
That being said I'm even less sure how to calculate it now.
The post at the top of this sub-thread is specifically about myopia. It is not applicable to eyes hurting and any calculation would not be applicable to someone without myopia, since the calculation begins with a myopia distance prescription.
Myopia or no myopia, afaict the way to reduce eye strain is the same.
My understanding is that eye strain is either caused by unbalanced lightning (e.g. bright screen in dark room), or focusing on close distance for too long without giving the muscles a break by focusing further away. The well known 20-20-20 rule tries to establish that. As a practical advice, you may try adding some small walks, getting some fresh air for a few minutes, or even looking out of the window for a few minutes throughout the day.
FYI, iPhones have a feature to tell you to use your phone further away when you use it glued to your face. If you have myopia, it should go without saying that you should never use your phone with your glasses.
> you should never use your phone with your glasses
Apple could detect that the user is wearing glasses. During FaceID registration, the phone could ask whether the glasses are for distance (myopia) or closeup/reading. If distance, the phone could offer to remind the user to remove their glasses after using the phone for more than X minutes.
I have eye glasses, but I do not use it when I am working on computer, nor when I am reading or writing a book or paper. I only wear it when I need to see things far away. (I also do not have (and do not intend to have) a driving license.)
We do need studies on if/why/how myopia reduction works for some people.
However, we already know a guaranteed way to increase myopia:
This loop can be broken by measuring the distance in #5 and buying dedicated lens/contacts for that distance. This reduces the burden on both eye and brain.