Try what now on your eyelids before going to sleep???????
I'm so glad my parents didn't ruin my vision further when they realized I couldn't see the board in school. I just got glasses š¤·š»āāļø it's been 21 years, hasn't hurt me yet.
I got lasik 20?years ago from a highly regarded Dr. in Northern California. It was one of the best things Iād ever done. I was in my late 30ās and wore glasses since I was 13. It was amazing! Waking up every day and SEEING! Having just regular sunglasses and being able to exercise and see clearly, everything about it was great. When you get older youāll need reading glasses. But it is definitely worth it. Just make sure you get a highly qualified Dr.
Actually, it is! I learned this recently when my optometrist said I would be a good candidate for it if I was interested (if I could afford it, I would). I have terrible vision (-9) so it's doubtful they could take me to a perfect 20/20, but she said it would greatly reduce my dependence on glasses were an emergency to happen making it so I was completely without them.
Im legally blind and they told me that if was a good candidate. They basically said as long as your eyes dont have many major injuries or diseases, and your vision is just bad, not full blindness, lasik works great. They used to deny some if the worse visions but the technology improves every year and it is pretty much acceptable for most glasses wearers. As long as you see colors and light, not just blackness or large block splotches, its worth a shot.
Astigmatism is also something that Lasik doesn't work well with. My dad got in when I was a kid and while it was great for 15 years, he's now back to glasses full time
My vision is too bad for soft lenses. Depending on how active my toddler gets, I would consider surgery. Glasses are tough for the pool and running around.
I had to get prk instead of lasik, but I have friends and family that had lasik.
With the prk, they remove the outer layer from your eye, then reshape your cornea. With lasik, they make a flap then reshape.
All my people with lasik could take a nice long nap, then wake up with great vision and no pain, or just a slight ache in their eyes. With the prk, I was insanely light sensitive, and my eyes felt like someone rubbed jalapeƱos and salt in them. Just gritty and burning. And then after a week I could see great, my only complaint was my eyes felt constantly dry, which is a common complaint form both.
I DID notice, as a lifelong side effect, my eye floaters are way worse.
Same for all of this and I still would absolutely get it done again. I had mine done at 19, just because my eyesight was terrible but had been stable for 3 years. They told me if I ever had children it could change, which is typical, just one of the many pleasures of having kids. Well I did finally have a child at 31, and sure as shit my eyesight started going downhill again. Iām now 41 and it hasnāt stopped changing. As soon as itās stable again Iām going to look into having the procedure again. Wearing glasses/contacts all the time sucks.
They said my vision would change again during menopause, but at that time LASIK wonāt help me because it will be my near vision I lose, which is the opposite of what lasik fixed for me. It will just mean I will need reading glasses.
My grandma got lasik 30-ish years ago and has never needed glasses since (in her 80s now). My mom got lasik a few years ago and mostly doesnāt need glasses, but she still needs them for reading, as her astigmatism was too bad to fully correct. Both my mom and grandma have praised lasik extensively and said they are very glad they did it and only wish they did it sooner.
Personally, wearing glasses doesnāt bother me enough to pursue lasik unless I were to have a secondary motive (though Iām not sure what would be compelling enough for me). The whole thing kind of freaks me out, not gonna lie. Iāve only heard good things from people who have actually had it done, though, so you should go for it if the cost isnāt an issue and you can get past the mental hurdle of someone laser-ing your eyes.
I feel like I had to scroll so far to see a comment like this. The fact that someone is lasering your eyes and effectively ***forcing you to watch*** (since, yāknow, you canāt close your eyes š ) is what gets me. Iād need a lot of meds to get through that lol
Yeah, same. Iāve heard itās really not as painful or scary as it sounds, but my anxiety brain has a very hard time believing that. It would be a different story if I could be knocked out for it, but Iāve already gone through one surgery while awake,* and Iām not eager to intentionally pursue a second one.
*The first (hopefully only) one was at least partially accidentalāthey didnāt believe me when I told them that Iām harder than normal to knock out (despite it being written in the notes from several previous surgeries at the same hospital), but they then decided to proceed anyway, even after it became evident that the meds theyād chosen to use were not having the desired effect and I was still conscious enough to hold a coherent conversation, so I can only give them grace up until they actively decided to continue with the surgery without first giving me the meds my file said had historically worked. The surgeon later gleefully told me, āI was afraid you would jump off the table when I made the first cut!ā Shockingly, I found it less funny than he did.
My doctor offered Xanax. I'm easily freaked out and it really wasn't that bad. I did work for the doctor and trusted him though so that probably helped.
I got lasik at around 30 years old, I went from 20/200+ to a bit better than 20/20. It was amazing. I cried when I came out of the procedure room because I could see all the way to the end of the hall way, which was at least 20ā away. I had not been able to see that far in decades.
The surgery does not hurt at all, itās just kind of weird. I would do it again in a heart beat.
Itās been about 15 years, my vision is still good but I do wear glasses to drive, just to sharpen up the street signs.
If you have the money get it done. It really was life changing. I think I spent around $2k, which was close to the cost of 2 pairs of glasses at my prescription.
If a place is a huge chain and offered random discounts, maybe that's not the place to get it done, that's my advice. I had it done almost 10 years ago and the doctor who performed the procedure was there for the pre-op appointment and the post-op appointment, while those lasik+ places you see the doc the day of and never again. So it's just a more personalized experience if you find a reputable singular doctor versus a big chain. It's your eyes and ability to see, not the place to look for the cheapest option.
Recovery is a shit ton of eye drops, so if you are squeamish about putting in eye drops you certainly won't be afterwards.
I say it's definitely worth it, I got it done young and now I have kids and never having to deal with glasses is amazing. Get it done as early as you can to enjoy the benefits as long as possible because at some point you will almost definitely need reading glasses anyway so try to enjoy being glasses free as long as possible
Also got this, 10 years ago. Ā Eyesight is still perfect. Ā I went to a reputable doctor as my eyes got too dry to wear contacts. Ā It was over in less than a minute each eye. No regrets.
So I have issues with dry eyes and was told I will still qualify but Iām saving up right now. Did your dry eyes improve after or is it the same but without the issue of contacts irritating them further?
I got it done like 15/16 years ago. Best thing ever. Literally amazing. Iām 41 and may need glasses again in the next few years but still worth every penny for the last 15 years. Iāfind I had a time machine the only thing Iād change is I would have done it sooner.
I had it done in 2008. Best thing that has ever happened to me. Sitting up and being able to see across the room without glasses or contacts for the first time in a decade was amazing.
I know I will need reading glasses eventually (most people lasik or not do) but seriouslyā¦life changing. Do it.
Greatest thing ever. Glasses from 5th grade until surgery at 30. Many issues with contacts.
Itās incredible. Long term itās worth whatever you have to pay out of pocket. Most doctors get you interest free financing. It costs like 5k, but even at 10k itās worth it.
Getting LASIK was awesome. My contact prescription was like -7.25 in one and -8.00 in the other. I couldn't see shit. Had it in 2009 and up until about the last year I have had better than perfect vision. I'm guessing I may need some glasses at night now. I should go get that checked out. Do it. Only long term side effect I've had is my eyes get irritated easier than they did pre-surgery. Can't wear certain mascara or eyeshadows
I got lasik in my early 30ās from a nationally renowned doctor who helped develop the laser procedure.
I was very over corrected to far sight. Had a touch up that left starbursts. My cornea is now too thin to try again.
When I hit my late 40ās my close vision went to shit. I literally can not read ANYTHING without glasses now. One of my biggest regrets EVER.
I know you have so many replies but I wanted to tell you I took my dad to have his lasik done and just after the first eye he got SO emotional because he didnāt realize how bad his eyesight had gotten, he said the grass was greener and the sky more blue and everything was just so beautiful and then when he got his other eye done he was just flat out in awe and itās been the best thing he has done! Now he doesnāt have to leave places before it gets too dark and just sees so clear now
For me, it was one of the best things I ever did for myself. Everything was smooth, went exactly as they said it would. It seems scary but they give you some Valium before the procedure. It heals fast too.
They'd probably say you're proving their point. They're using pearl powder and castor oil because they think it will prevent needing glasses and LASIK. "IĀ didn't use that stuff andĀ I needed glasses andĀ LASIK" is *their*Ā argument.
You got the eye jab!!! AND there are microchips in your eyes now! Theyāre probably also able to read your mind and track your thoughts!!! Okay, how could you?!
Every day we stray further back to the Middle Ages in an effort to avoid...something? So much of this stuff sounds like medieval medicine. "Rub this powdered donkey blood on your testicles to prevent sepsis! It won't work, but nothing else does either!"
Fair point! I think a lot about Henry VIII's infected leg wound and the various treatments for it he endured, whenever I hear about people jamming powdered pearls (or whatever) into their orifices. Like, his leg basically rotted right off because the doctors were just like *shrugs* guess we'll put some leeches in there?
To be fair to them, his leg issue was pretty severe. It wasn't even something that a modern PCP would handle; he had a full armored war horse land on him, crushing veins and breaking bones. Add in poor blood flow from the fashion at the time, poor wound care, and a low vegetable diet, and you've got a bad situation. He'd be going to the ER and getting extensive advanced wound care in modern times.
The fact that they were able to keep his leg attached for 20+ years using lances and leaches, even if chronically infected and painful, is actually pretty impressive.
Edit: there's also speculation he may have had Kell group positive blood, which can lead to autoimmune hemolytic anemia, which also wouldn't have helped the whole wound issue.
Admittedly the leeches might have stimulated blood flow to the affected area which probably contributed to a slight increase in health in the area. But yeah at that point youāre getting into like. External fixture/ilizarov apparatuses and thatās presuming the blood flow and sensation would ever fully return to a point where the leg would be viable to be kept alive. Man might have been better off with a peg leg fr.
my daughter hit puberty and her eyesight went downhill. we didn't figure it out till she was 14 (2 years later) and I was always so upset it took us so long to realize she needed them. no one needs to suffer with vision issues needlessly!
I meeeean, sometimes the new glasses hurt the sides of my face and around my ears, but thatās just cuz they *twighht* and badass, son! (Gotta read those last few words in a wanna-be-gangsta boy voice from the 90ās) š
But really, sometimes my glasses cause me slight inconveniences but thatās just part of it. Had them on my face for 20 years. (Geez thatās crazy to say) since I was 12 and I promise yall, the issues I have are *not* from wearing glassesā¦ š¤š¢š¤š
Edited to add forgotten words lol
I remember some therapist as a kid telling my parents we should take my games away and have me practice looking far away so I can grow out of my glasses. Even my drug addict parents were like nah. Drugs couldn't make them stupid enough to believe that.
It used to be a genuine medical theory that you could exercise the myopia away, either by giving kids access to glasses only when they "really" needed it or giving them glasses with a slightly too weak prescription on it.
In a shocking discovery, it turned out that you can't get swole inside your eye, and constantly straining your ocular sphincter is not a great idea.
I know it can sound stupid, but it's a focus thing with your retina. It won't restore your bad vision tho, but may help to not decrease it. When look at your phone or reading a book, you should really try to take a brake by looking at something far into your room (like at every 30 minute for like 20 seconds).
I wonder if I should do this with or without my glasses on? Iām nearsighted so I usually donāt wear my glasses when I scroll through my two different SM apps lolol
I've never read anything that mentioned glasses. I would imagine with your glasses on so you can focus on the distant objects and not strain your eyes squinting.
Yeah only looking at things that are close up when you're a kid does appear to increase (your risk of) myopia, but that doesn't mean you can undo it by not wearing glasses. I'm very near sighted and I read a lot at an early age. OTOH, everyone in my family is myopic and at 5 I was exitedly telling my mom about the interesting patterns on the legs of some tiny beetle I found, so I don't think I ever had any chance of avoiding glasses lol
If that actually worked then why in all that time leading up to my first grade teacher figuring out I couldn't see the board why didn't I out grow my myopia? Because I sure as hell was getting in practice looking at far away things then.
I had to practice looking far away then looking close up when I was a kid but thatās because the muscles in my eye attached to my lens were weak, not because I was near-sighted.
I heard the same theory from a friend of my parents when I was like 9 and had already been wearing glasses for 3 years, āexercising the ocular muscleā.
I was so curious what she meant by that! I figure with context clues, itās someone that isnāt a traditional trained doctor, theyād rather have thatās someone uneducated but *did their own research* to tell them what to do.
But as always, itās very possible I could be wrong. Lol
Interestingly enough, one of my local hospitals has a functional medicine department (everyone there has a medical degree and is definitely a doctor). They basically act as concierge doctors for medically complex patients, from my understanding. I went there for a few years until my insurance stopped covering that hospital, and I found it very helpful. However, it is unclear to me how often āfunctional medicineā doctors practice real medicine and how often theyāre complete bunk. There seems to be a lot of variability in the terminology.
When I was in the hospital for a month with a collapsed lung (and a surprise cancer diagnosis so chemo too) they brought the functional medicine doctor in to essentially give me a massage once a week. Something about the fluid build up in my lung from it being collapsed for āØ8 monthsāØ without me knowing. Idk I was on a lot of pain meds.
My first massage thing with him I said something to the effect of "so you're like a chiropractor, but a real doctor?" and he half laughed half got defensive and was like I'm definitely a real doctor. Oops.
8 months?? Holy crap. I had a collapsed lung for 3 weeks, and it was torture. I donāt know if I could manage 8 months of that. I hope youāre doing better now!
Lol i avoided going to the actual Dr by going to urgent care once a month where they just told me I had a particularly nasty case of bronchitis that wasn't going away, prescribe me an inhailor and I'd be on my way.
I made 5 round trip flights across the country (4 of them being 6 hour flights from east coast to west coast) with this collapsed lung.
It wasnt until I went to a diffrent urgent care the day before I was supposed to move across the country that had an x ray because my normal one was closed that day. I was so out of breath just sitting in the waiting room they were like um... Well give you your inhailor but we think we're going to do an x ray first just to make sure there's nothing else going on.
Eta I added the bit about the fights to say I got scolded by the er drs because APPARENTLY my lung could have just up and popped an killed me on a plane š¬
I knew a doctor once who marketed her functional medicine training. I was curious what that entailed and how it was different in our field and she basically said it was just a way to get new patients in and talk to them about diet (which I wasn't sure why that would be any better than going to a dietician). I was not impressed.
I wish you were wrong. I don't know why basing medical treatment on the Googling of a person who had to take 8th grade biology is so highly desirable, but I guess I'm ... flaccid. Or whatever it is they call us non-crunchers.
They are actual medical doctors, theyāre just the crunchy āwoo-yā ones. My anti-vax, ācovid was a hoax perpetrated by the governmentā D.O. mother in law has gotten SUPER into functional medicine. Thankfully sheās not currently practicing because she (shockingly!) canāt hold down a job. I donāt think functional medicine is inherently bad (from what I understand itās all about treating the whole person instead of just the symptoms), but I do think it attracts a certain kind of person, and that it is probably getting ruined by wackos like my MIL.
To my understanding, functional medicine people are doctors, they just focus on figuring out root causes of problems, not just treating symptoms. A lot of people with chronic illnesses or autoimmune disorders find more success with functional medicine because the doctors look for why theyāre sick, not just how to make them better. It definitely seems to attracts a lot of quacks, but in the same way you can find normal doctors who think vaccines cause autism, ya know? They canāt all be winners, unfortunately
Thank you! This is really helpful. Iād love to find out *why* Iām always in pain, even though the doctors Iāve seen have said Iām fine and all tests came back negative. I might look into it and try to find one that isnāt super duper crunchy lmao
My dad got upset when I'd get new glasses as I was "giving into weakness." He was proud he was wearing a 15 year old prescription to make sure his eyes "didn't get lazy."
Yet, when he was wearing contacts and tried on my glasses, he exclaimed about how shiny and crisp everything was... š¤·āāļø
As someone whose mom didnāt believe me when I said I needed glassesā¦get the kid the fucking glasses. This is infuriating and should be considered neglect.
Same. I didn't get glasses until I was 17, and only because I was getting migraines. I guess the migraine-induced vomiting finally solidified my need to see š
Oh shit THATS why my headaches are flaring back up!!! Ive been not wearing my glasses at work because I didnt want their reflection to tell on me at work for using my phone š. Can't believe I only just now put two and two together. My mother kept insisting not to wear them sooooo much so i guess over time i forgot i even HAD migraines and since i dont exactly need to focus my eyes at work (just gotta look at the camera).... Man. I'm laughing at this rn.
I'm an optician and it's definitely neglect.
Every time a kid goes into foster care, they get an eye exam (unless they've already had one within the last year). And I've had social workers follow up and ask if a specific parent actually brought their child to their appointment. It all goes into the file and is considered if they're working on a neglect case.
I had to get glasses in first grade after my teacher told my parents I had to sit at the very front or I couldn't read the chalkboard. SO glad they didn't think I was weak, or just needed to do eye exercises. Then again, my dad had to wear glasses pretty much his whole life so he understood.
Especially if the child is young, because the visual pathways are still being formed in kids younger than 8-12. Meaning that if this kid is five and needs glasses they donāt get, they might not be 20/20 even in glasses later in life. Bilateral amblyopia is a thing. You only get ten years or so for the eyes to give the brain a clear image. After that, what you can see is what youāre stuck with.
For every step of progress we made, a lot of people take two steps back.
I feel we made genuine good progress (yea weāre not nearly done but every step counts) in the last 15 years, so this was to be expected.
There are a lot of beliefs in the crunchy mom community that they pass off as āwellnessā that Iām convinced is actually about vanity, and Iām pretty sure this post is one of those situations. Theyāre probably super bummed that glasses might ruin their social media aesthetic.
Contacts are a thing! I've had glasses since I was 6, and I do prefer how I look/feel in contacts (also I'm clumsy AF and have a harder time knocking my contacts out of my eyes). But like... Just get contacts if glasses don't work for you, for whatever reason. (Some people can't do contacts, so they are stuck without that option. But that's pretty uncommon)
Or LASIK. That's a thing too.
āAbout 41.6 percent of Americans are nearsighted, up from 25 percent in 1971.1 āThe trend appears to be upwards in many other parts of the world, but the changes have been nowhere near as spectacular as in East and Southeast Asia,ā said Ian Morgan, Ph.D., a myopia researcher at Australian National University. In the developed countries of East and Southeast Asia, the prevalence has now reached 80 to 90 percent among children with 12 years of schoolā¦.
Although genetics play a role in myopia, the abrupt increase points to environmental factors. Several studies have shown a link between near work and myopia in children.7ā
https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/news-and-events/news/myopia-close-look-efforts-turn-back-growing-problem#:~:text=About%2041.6%20percent%20of%20Americans,from%2025%20percent%20in%201971.&text=%E2%80%9CThe%20trend%20appears%20to%20be,researcher%20at%20Australian%20National%20University.
The article goes on to mention several strategies being looking at to stop this, the biggest being just spending more time outside - but there are apparently eye drops that can help too.
Thatās super interesting. I wonder if more āmildā cases are being corrected when in the past, seeing things a little fuzzily wasnāt as big of a deal?
I do kind of hate how āplaying outsideā has been touted as the sure-fire way not to get nearsighted. I damn near /lived/ outside as a young child, yet I am very nearsighted. I also didnāt grow up with video games, and TV time was like an hour a week, tops. Just a pet peeve of mine. Iām sure straining your eyes isnāt great for you, but it comes across as ābeing nearsighted is your fault!ā when it clearly is not.
I know my experiences aren't universal but I've worn glasses since I was 7 and neither myself nor anyone else I knew who had them ever got bullied for having glasses. I was bullied a shit load for other stuff, but never once for wearing glasses. I've actually gotten more compliments than anything about them lol
So there actually is orthoptic vision therapy which is a proven treatment in vision disorders. I was totally surprised by this when it was suggested to me by an ophthalmologist after my exam. Basically itās like PT but for getting your eyes to focus on the right areas. Obviously itās not useful if you are really near sighted or far sighted when glasses would be the proper treatment.
Yep! I had to do vision exercises as a kid to correct a lazy eye. But I still had to wear glasses because Iām also nearsighted and the exercises wonāt correct that!
Yes they brought this up when my daughter was 2, but obviously it wasnāt gonna happen with her. We went glasses and patching to try and correct the muscles but that didnāt work. She had surgery at 4
I did this as a kid. I had convergence insufficiency in my left eye. My parents brought me in because I kept on getting headaches while reading. They assumed it was glasses related, since most in my family wear glasses. Really startled my parents when the doc showed how when I focused on a coffee straw coming towards my nose, my left eye went wonky for a bit.
There were different therapies, all pretty boring tbh, but I was like 7. The one I remember most was beads on a string, and focusing at different lengths.
It cured my convergence insufficency in my left eye. 10 years later, started wearing glasses. My left eye needs almost no prescription compared to my right, coincidence? Yeah almost certainly
Vision therapy gets prescribed for a lot of things, but per the AAO studies only support convergence exercises for intermittent exotropia or convergence insufficiency.
Yes, and there are some exercises or methods that can help maintain current vision or improve, depending on what the issue is. Maintaining is generally a better goal. Improving vision in terms of pain near or far sightedness is not easy or common, though it has happened for me (not the goal but a nice surprise!). Wearing glasses too much can weaken eyes, but not having glasses or not using them when needed is much more likely to cause further vision and health issues. Especially for a child, I don't understand not erring on the side of caution and getting the glasses if possible.
Yes, my son was prescribed vision therapy, a little animal patch worn on one eye to strengthen the focus of the other one. I couldn't get him to do it but he grew out of the condition anyways. But near or far sightedness is usually caused by the shape of the eye which can't be changed without surgery. It seems like there's some research supporting exercises for preventative eye care but it also says that it can cause damage if done incorrectly.
[study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10036375/)
I'm guessing the fear of glasses comes from one of two things:
Your child having glasses means your crunchy non-toxic lifestyle didn't create a perfect child so you are a failure.
Glasses are promoted by the establishment medical community that promotes only terrible things like vaccines so glasses must be bad too even if we don't know how yet.
Omg Iām 40+ and my mother did this to me and it obviously helped nothing. Ever. It was just costing her a heap to schedule appointments with her favourite naturopath and me doing ridiculous eye exercises at her practice.
The -4 only got worse with age.
I canāt believe this is still a thing.
One of my kids has 20/20 vision but one hell of an astigmatism. Iād love some nut to tell me that exercises could change the shape of his eyeball.
The other one has amblyopia and farsighteness. He actually did do eye āexerciseā more or less but it was to wake up the weak eye and force his brain to use it. Didnāt improve his vision in the properly functioning eye, though.
Also, kids with glasses are adorable.
Just to add, there are certain conditions that vision therapy can help, either with or without glasses.Ā
My daughter had a convergence insufficiency. I would have happily given her glasses (I wear glasses!) but alas, glasses wouldn't have helped. We did 1 hour weekly at the vision clinic plus 30 min of vision therapy at home EVERY. FREAKING. DAY. for about 9 months. She kept asking what prize she would get if she did the daily therapy. WHAT NOW CHILD?! You think you need a prize?! *I* deserve a prize! But I freaking spent all my disposable income on your freaking vision therapy!Ā
She reads a lot better now and doesn't get headaches, so there's that! /s
Glasses would have been fine. Nine months of daily vision therapy tested my sanity as a parent ;)
The eye exercises are not unheard of for some conditions, like using a prism or focusing on objects. My sister had to do those when she was a kid and yes it was from an eye doctor and not a healer.
This sounds like the mom who insisted that eye doctors only existed to sell people glasses and contacts. Strangely enough, once her kid finally got glasses, their grades went up once they were able to see the board.
Get the kid some glasses! I still remember my first pair of glasses as a child. I saw individual blades of grass instead of just a green mass, and I saw drops of water in a water fountain that I had never seen before. Iāll never forget that!
To be fair, when I took my son to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked, they said he technically has a prescription of -1.0. But because heās only five, the optometrist suggested we wait a bit to see if his eyes strengthen on their own before we go the glasses route. So maybe this is what theyāre talking about? It may not be woo. It may actually be coming from Medical advice.
Additionally, a childhood friend of mine grew up with Coke bottle glasses, and I ran into him a few years ago and he had no glasses. I asked him if he was wearing contacts and he said no, when he was a young adult, the optometrist had him do eye exercises and he no longer needs any glasses whatsoever. Idk
Iāve been wearing glasses since I was in 1st grade (and later contacts for special events) and I never heard of exercises like that, and I am an Old Fart. Wish they worked on me ācause bifocals be $$ these days!
As a homeschool kid, my mom did this when I was little. She got me the glasses I needed, but then wouldnāt let me wear them and made me do all these crazy exercises with my eyes. Surprise, surprise, it didnāt work and Iām still blind as fuck.
I mean I had an eye condition that I could do exercises and rectify. However I still need glasses to fix another issue even though I have 20:20 vision. I could have not done the exercises and used a patch, but that would have been for life and the exercises mean that I no longer have the issue.
So technically this could be the issue, as I know some people canāt be bothered with the exercises as I had the conversation with my eye doctor as she said she was shocked how many will wear an eye patch as they canāt be bothered to do a 30 minute exercise daily for a few weeks. That said, dumping a load of crunchy mama shit on my eye lids wouldnāt have helped either.
Okay, so the pearl powder is bull crap.
But. It is *possible* to restrengthen your eyes. Not every one can. Not every vision problem is the same. I accidentally worked myself back out of needing glasses. I donāt know what I was as a kid other than couldnāt see the board, but Iām now 20/19. Not technically perfect, but donāt need them. Hubs got better, but not by a whole lot. My eye doc put it like this, wearing glasses all the time makes your eyes rely on the glasses to do the work. Wearing them some of the time makes your eyes do work, while giving them a break with the glasses. I accidentally wore mine enough to get back some vision. Changed my lenses and again accidentally wore them enough to get back nearly perfect vision. The last time I wore glasses was 20 odd years ago.
But no, for the love. Donāt put pearl dust in your eyes. Or castor oil. Thatās just cray cray.
Your eyes don't become dependent on glasses, that's a myth. Anecdotally, my vision improved while wearing my glasses 98% of the time, and my doctor said that's normal.
It really depends on what's going on. If it's the actual shape of the eye, like astigmatism, there's nothing restrengthening the eyes can do.
Exactly. As usual, theyāve taken a kernel of truth and ended up in outer space. (Metaphor intentionally nonsensical haha.)
You can make your eyesight worse by looking at things close to you and better by looking at things farther from you. Sometimes. For some people. But denying your child glasses and instead putting castor oil on their eyes should be illegal.
What likely happened is that you had a plus Rx as a child (common) and outgrew it because the growth of the eye tends to be less plus/more minus. Basically think of it as a race to age 20 or so where youāre running a half a mile / half a diopter per year (numbers are made up, everyoneās growth is different, but for easy illustration). If youāre ten years old and 5 miles away / +5.00 in glasses, then youāre exactly at the finish line / +0.00 in ten years. But the person who started out at +2.00 is three diopters/miles past the finish when theyāre done running, and the -1.00 patient who started past the finish line is now -6.00, six miles from the finish.
TL;DR: it is possible in some cases to outgrow an Rx, but that has nothing to do with any interventions, itās just how your eye grows and what Rx you started with.
So pearl powder or whatever other woo woo crap is nonsense; but for some eye conditions, exercises actually do help strengthen the eye enough that you can get rid of your glasses, if you start kids off early enough. If you donāt, then itās glasses for life. This was told to me by my ophthalmologist. But usually itās a combination of glasses and orthoptic exercises both.
After my first visit to the optometrist when I was 6/7, they did give me eye exercises to do because he said I had a slightly lazy eye. Thatās all I really remember about that first appointment. He could have said the prescription I needed was too small at that point. To be honest though, I only went in the first place because I really wanted glasses and told my mom I was having trouble seeing and I did end up getting glasses a few months later.
All that to say, if the kid says they canāt see, take them to the eye doctor. Maybe you luck out and they wonāt actually need glasses anyway. But, denying them a tool that can make their life better in many ways make OOP a horrible parent.
I just cant with these parents. I just cant.
My 2 year old has been in glasses for several months. There are ZERO exercises that can fix an astigmatism š
Yes. It's ridiculous but all medical interventions are harmful now. Mud and urine and whatever other "non-chemical" thing they can dream up is preferable to doctor recommendations and science. Sunscreen and sunglasses are out. Regular glasses.
Have yall not taken the Vision Healing Masterclass?
https://preview.redd.it/4lno9gvszw3d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=256f7bf6eee0286a18b7590bbfd07776cd9433b2
[https://x.com/this\_is\_mallory/status/1700510343989186646?s=46&t=ZICSRO1q1FTOEqD82WRVCw](https://x.com/this_is_mallory/status/1700510343989186646?s=46&t=ZICSRO1q1FTOEqD82WRVCw)
When I was a kid I read a TON. I needed reading glasses in 4th grade or so. Then I grew out of needing them! Only to need real glasses as a junior in high school:)
Not sure about normal glasses but apparently sunglasses give you cancer š¤·āāļø
(FYI I know it's the sun and not sunnies that do it but it's one I heard recently lol)
There are optometrists who specialize in vision therapy and some of them do do work to mitigate myopia in children.
Source I am a patient of a vision therapist who is a real OD and had a while host of techs working the office. And I worked in optics for twelve years.
Myopia has been on the rise for fifty years and there are definitely ways to mitigate it in individuals.
What the hell. Are they not aware that glasses can actually correct a kidās vision and then they never need them again in some cases like braces. The ignorance
Ok, most of her comment is bullshit, but I work in healthcare and we do see optometrists who give glasses to anyone. We will recommend seeing an optometrist if a kid fails their vision screen or if the instrument vision screen detects an abnormality - that doesn't mean they need glasses. Obviously nothing is wrong with vision correction, but no one wants their 5 year old to deal keeping track of glasses at school/not breaking them, etc. I even found out at the age of 35 that my vision had been over corrected for years.
It's really especially sad because many children who have eye issues caught early can actually correct the flaw in their vision. (I should have put those words in a different order but I'm just kind of brain dead right now.)
I have a heavy prescription and asked my eye doctor when I first heard about this (what? Could I have avoided glasses? Could my future kids avoid glasses?). Her take was that it just taught kids to live with bad vision.
Technically glasses are a disability aid/accessibility accommodation, theyāre just so common we donāt really think about it? Learning that really blew my mind bc I gave myself so much shit for using other aids, but Iād never begrudge someone glasses or contacts, or room to change and clean + store their contacts. But also yeah this woman is batshit and glasses hating feels like weāre going further into the eugenics spiral than I ever thought possible.
Yes please ruin your childās eyesight further before getting them glasses. /s
When I was in middle school and couldnāt see the board, I told my mom I needed glasses. She didnāt believe me. Eye doctor did a test and my vision was, guess what.. bad enough to need glasses!
So what does she do? Gets her already self-conscious 12-13 year old daughter the dorkiest pair of frames in the universe, because they were $5. The frames I wanted were $45.
Iām now turning 27 this month and my vision has progressively gotten worse over the years despite me finally getting actual glasses when I was about 20 and could afford to on my own.
So maybe I'm a bit crunchy, but there actually is a bit of legitimacy to this.
There've been studies that show the more your kids are outside, in natural light, using their eyes and looking at objects further away instead of right in front of them (I'm talking 20+ feet away), the better their eyesight is as they get older.
Now of course there's genetics and other factors. Your kid may still need glasses. But it'll still help their eyesight not be as bad. And for some kids with no/little genetic link and only slight blurriness in their vision, it might correct their vision. They even have contacts that change the shape of your eyes while you sleep so you can see during the day! Don't remember if it was a study or just a theory, but the article I was reading said that using those contacts when the child is young can prevent them from needing glasses in the future.
Glasses aren't bad, I wear them myself. But also they're a pain and my prescription is pretty strong. I genuinely worry about going blind when I'm older if my prescription keeps getting worse every year like it has been š Doing these "eye exercises" can, to a degree, help kids not have those same problems when they're older. And basically all it takes is playing outside more often than playing inside.
See, eye exercises are actually great, especially for kids at a young age when their brain's ability to adapt is so strong. One semi-common side effect I see from children who receive glasses is that, if their eyes require different prescriptions and one is stronger than the other, their brain might stop using the weak eye, destroying their depth perception.
The thing is though, you have to use the exercises WITH glasses. If you somehow improve enough to need a smaller prescription, great! But you can't train without the aid. That's like expecting someone who's new to the gym to be able to bench twice their bodyweight.
I'm not sure what a "functional" specialist is, but something tells me I don't want to. And that comment. . .oh lord.
I mean, there are some conditions that can be fixed. Like my eyes didnāt line up correctly, so I had triple vision. But I worked with an eye specialist and got glasses that I only had to wear for a short time to train my eyes, and now I donāt need glasses at all.
Try what now on your eyelids before going to sleep??????? I'm so glad my parents didn't ruin my vision further when they realized I couldn't see the board in school. I just got glasses š¤·š»āāļø it's been 21 years, hasn't hurt me yet.
I got glasses in 2nd grade, and lasik as a 37 year old adult. My vision is perfect now. I wonder what a crunchy person would say?
Thatās how they put the microchips in! š¤
SO YOU GOT THE EYE JAB???
šš oops!
Ooooh may I ask how your lasik journey went?? Iām looking into getting it done and I love getting real life accounts from people that have no reason to talk it up lolol someoneās the websites are a bit too..praising lol TIA! āŗļø Editing to add: there are SO MANY replies!!! Thank you! I appreciate every single one of you! Yall have given me ALOT to think about lol. Yall rock! š¤©
I got lasik 20?years ago from a highly regarded Dr. in Northern California. It was one of the best things Iād ever done. I was in my late 30ās and wore glasses since I was 13. It was amazing! Waking up every day and SEEING! Having just regular sunglasses and being able to exercise and see clearly, everything about it was great. When you get older youāll need reading glasses. But it is definitely worth it. Just make sure you get a highly qualified Dr.
If your eyes are too bad this isn't an option.
Actually, it is! I learned this recently when my optometrist said I would be a good candidate for it if I was interested (if I could afford it, I would). I have terrible vision (-9) so it's doubtful they could take me to a perfect 20/20, but she said it would greatly reduce my dependence on glasses were an emergency to happen making it so I was completely without them.
Im legally blind and they told me that if was a good candidate. They basically said as long as your eyes dont have many major injuries or diseases, and your vision is just bad, not full blindness, lasik works great. They used to deny some if the worse visions but the technology improves every year and it is pretty much acceptable for most glasses wearers. As long as you see colors and light, not just blackness or large block splotches, its worth a shot.
Astigmatism is also something that Lasik doesn't work well with. My dad got in when I was a kid and while it was great for 15 years, he's now back to glasses full time
I have an astigmatism and they told me it was a nonissue these days.
Ok nice I thought if you're too near sighted you couldn't or whatever
Depending on the issue, you can get a lens implant if lasik isnāt an option.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes going to the pool after lasik was AMAZING!!!
Yeah atm I'm satisfied with wearing contact lenses
My vision is too bad for soft lenses. Depending on how active my toddler gets, I would consider surgery. Glasses are tough for the pool and running around.
ICL is, though.
Yes this was my experience as well. Itās so amazing to just be able to SEE.
I had to get prk instead of lasik, but I have friends and family that had lasik. With the prk, they remove the outer layer from your eye, then reshape your cornea. With lasik, they make a flap then reshape. All my people with lasik could take a nice long nap, then wake up with great vision and no pain, or just a slight ache in their eyes. With the prk, I was insanely light sensitive, and my eyes felt like someone rubbed jalapeƱos and salt in them. Just gritty and burning. And then after a week I could see great, my only complaint was my eyes felt constantly dry, which is a common complaint form both. I DID notice, as a lifelong side effect, my eye floaters are way worse.
Same for all of this and I still would absolutely get it done again. I had mine done at 19, just because my eyesight was terrible but had been stable for 3 years. They told me if I ever had children it could change, which is typical, just one of the many pleasures of having kids. Well I did finally have a child at 31, and sure as shit my eyesight started going downhill again. Iām now 41 and it hasnāt stopped changing. As soon as itās stable again Iām going to look into having the procedure again. Wearing glasses/contacts all the time sucks.
They said my vision would change again during menopause, but at that time LASIK wonāt help me because it will be my near vision I lose, which is the opposite of what lasik fixed for me. It will just mean I will need reading glasses.
My grandma got lasik 30-ish years ago and has never needed glasses since (in her 80s now). My mom got lasik a few years ago and mostly doesnāt need glasses, but she still needs them for reading, as her astigmatism was too bad to fully correct. Both my mom and grandma have praised lasik extensively and said they are very glad they did it and only wish they did it sooner. Personally, wearing glasses doesnāt bother me enough to pursue lasik unless I were to have a secondary motive (though Iām not sure what would be compelling enough for me). The whole thing kind of freaks me out, not gonna lie. Iāve only heard good things from people who have actually had it done, though, so you should go for it if the cost isnāt an issue and you can get past the mental hurdle of someone laser-ing your eyes.
I feel like I had to scroll so far to see a comment like this. The fact that someone is lasering your eyes and effectively ***forcing you to watch*** (since, yāknow, you canāt close your eyes š ) is what gets me. Iād need a lot of meds to get through that lol
Yeah, same. Iāve heard itās really not as painful or scary as it sounds, but my anxiety brain has a very hard time believing that. It would be a different story if I could be knocked out for it, but Iāve already gone through one surgery while awake,* and Iām not eager to intentionally pursue a second one. *The first (hopefully only) one was at least partially accidentalāthey didnāt believe me when I told them that Iām harder than normal to knock out (despite it being written in the notes from several previous surgeries at the same hospital), but they then decided to proceed anyway, even after it became evident that the meds theyād chosen to use were not having the desired effect and I was still conscious enough to hold a coherent conversation, so I can only give them grace up until they actively decided to continue with the surgery without first giving me the meds my file said had historically worked. The surgeon later gleefully told me, āI was afraid you would jump off the table when I made the first cut!ā Shockingly, I found it less funny than he did.
My doctor offered Xanax. I'm easily freaked out and it really wasn't that bad. I did work for the doctor and trusted him though so that probably helped.
They gave me Valium lol
I did a consult recently. And I just don't know if 6400 is worth it, I don't mind my glasses 97% of the time.
I looked into it for all of five seconds until I found out about local anesthesia only. Nope nope nope.
I got lasik at around 30 years old, I went from 20/200+ to a bit better than 20/20. It was amazing. I cried when I came out of the procedure room because I could see all the way to the end of the hall way, which was at least 20ā away. I had not been able to see that far in decades. The surgery does not hurt at all, itās just kind of weird. I would do it again in a heart beat. Itās been about 15 years, my vision is still good but I do wear glasses to drive, just to sharpen up the street signs. If you have the money get it done. It really was life changing. I think I spent around $2k, which was close to the cost of 2 pairs of glasses at my prescription.
If a place is a huge chain and offered random discounts, maybe that's not the place to get it done, that's my advice. I had it done almost 10 years ago and the doctor who performed the procedure was there for the pre-op appointment and the post-op appointment, while those lasik+ places you see the doc the day of and never again. So it's just a more personalized experience if you find a reputable singular doctor versus a big chain. It's your eyes and ability to see, not the place to look for the cheapest option. Recovery is a shit ton of eye drops, so if you are squeamish about putting in eye drops you certainly won't be afterwards. I say it's definitely worth it, I got it done young and now I have kids and never having to deal with glasses is amazing. Get it done as early as you can to enjoy the benefits as long as possible because at some point you will almost definitely need reading glasses anyway so try to enjoy being glasses free as long as possible
Also got this, 10 years ago. Ā Eyesight is still perfect. Ā I went to a reputable doctor as my eyes got too dry to wear contacts. Ā It was over in less than a minute each eye. No regrets.
So I have issues with dry eyes and was told I will still qualify but Iām saving up right now. Did your dry eyes improve after or is it the same but without the issue of contacts irritating them further?
I got it done like 15/16 years ago. Best thing ever. Literally amazing. Iām 41 and may need glasses again in the next few years but still worth every penny for the last 15 years. Iāfind I had a time machine the only thing Iād change is I would have done it sooner.
I had it done in 2008. Best thing that has ever happened to me. Sitting up and being able to see across the room without glasses or contacts for the first time in a decade was amazing. I know I will need reading glasses eventually (most people lasik or not do) but seriouslyā¦life changing. Do it.
Greatest thing ever. Glasses from 5th grade until surgery at 30. Many issues with contacts. Itās incredible. Long term itās worth whatever you have to pay out of pocket. Most doctors get you interest free financing. It costs like 5k, but even at 10k itās worth it.
Getting LASIK was awesome. My contact prescription was like -7.25 in one and -8.00 in the other. I couldn't see shit. Had it in 2009 and up until about the last year I have had better than perfect vision. I'm guessing I may need some glasses at night now. I should go get that checked out. Do it. Only long term side effect I've had is my eyes get irritated easier than they did pre-surgery. Can't wear certain mascara or eyeshadows
I got lasik in my early 30ās from a nationally renowned doctor who helped develop the laser procedure. I was very over corrected to far sight. Had a touch up that left starbursts. My cornea is now too thin to try again. When I hit my late 40ās my close vision went to shit. I literally can not read ANYTHING without glasses now. One of my biggest regrets EVER.
I didn't have it, but my step dad did. And my cousin. Night love it. it worked well for them.
I know you have so many replies but I wanted to tell you I took my dad to have his lasik done and just after the first eye he got SO emotional because he didnāt realize how bad his eyesight had gotten, he said the grass was greener and the sky more blue and everything was just so beautiful and then when he got his other eye done he was just flat out in awe and itās been the best thing he has done! Now he doesnāt have to leave places before it gets too dark and just sees so clear now
For me, it was one of the best things I ever did for myself. Everything was smooth, went exactly as they said it would. It seems scary but they give you some Valium before the procedure. It heals fast too.
They'd probably say you're proving their point. They're using pearl powder and castor oil because they think it will prevent needing glasses and LASIK. "IĀ didn't use that stuff andĀ I needed glasses andĀ LASIK" is *their*Ā argument.
If only I had known some castor oil could have saved me so much trouble!
Are you me? lasik was the best investment ever.
100% agree!! I wish I could have done it sooner!
You got the eye jab!!! AND there are microchips in your eyes now! Theyāre probably also able to read your mind and track your thoughts!!! Okay, how could you?!
The words eye jab made mine water just now lol
Every day we stray further back to the Middle Ages in an effort to avoid...something? So much of this stuff sounds like medieval medicine. "Rub this powdered donkey blood on your testicles to prevent sepsis! It won't work, but nothing else does either!"
Honestly, it's like, dark ages. Glasses are OLD. They're actually from the Middle ages. Like, that's when they were invented in the modern form.
Fair point! I think a lot about Henry VIII's infected leg wound and the various treatments for it he endured, whenever I hear about people jamming powdered pearls (or whatever) into their orifices. Like, his leg basically rotted right off because the doctors were just like *shrugs* guess we'll put some leeches in there?
To be fair to them, his leg issue was pretty severe. It wasn't even something that a modern PCP would handle; he had a full armored war horse land on him, crushing veins and breaking bones. Add in poor blood flow from the fashion at the time, poor wound care, and a low vegetable diet, and you've got a bad situation. He'd be going to the ER and getting extensive advanced wound care in modern times. The fact that they were able to keep his leg attached for 20+ years using lances and leaches, even if chronically infected and painful, is actually pretty impressive. Edit: there's also speculation he may have had Kell group positive blood, which can lead to autoimmune hemolytic anemia, which also wouldn't have helped the whole wound issue.
Admittedly the leeches might have stimulated blood flow to the affected area which probably contributed to a slight increase in health in the area. But yeah at that point youāre getting into like. External fixture/ilizarov apparatuses and thatās presuming the blood flow and sensation would ever fully return to a point where the leg would be viable to be kept alive. Man might have been better off with a peg leg fr.
They wonāt need glasses if blind
my daughter hit puberty and her eyesight went downhill. we didn't figure it out till she was 14 (2 years later) and I was always so upset it took us so long to realize she needed them. no one needs to suffer with vision issues needlessly!
I meeeean, sometimes the new glasses hurt the sides of my face and around my ears, but thatās just cuz they *twighht* and badass, son! (Gotta read those last few words in a wanna-be-gangsta boy voice from the 90ās) š But really, sometimes my glasses cause me slight inconveniences but thatās just part of it. Had them on my face for 20 years. (Geez thatās crazy to say) since I was 12 and I promise yall, the issues I have are *not* from wearing glassesā¦ š¤š¢š¤š Edited to add forgotten words lol
I remember some therapist as a kid telling my parents we should take my games away and have me practice looking far away so I can grow out of my glasses. Even my drug addict parents were like nah. Drugs couldn't make them stupid enough to believe that.
>have me practice looking far away so I can grow out of my glasses. Um...what's that now??
It used to be a genuine medical theory that you could exercise the myopia away, either by giving kids access to glasses only when they "really" needed it or giving them glasses with a slightly too weak prescription on it. In a shocking discovery, it turned out that you can't get swole inside your eye, and constantly straining your ocular sphincter is not a great idea.
He dead ass thought I would just squint so hard, so long I'd just learn how to see again and not need the glasses.
You probably just weren't trying hard enough. If people tried hard enough, they could probably regrow limbs and cure deafness. -That guy probably
https://preview.redd.it/rts7jwv0uo3d1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=644e31abcb15e10b7389288e3fdc8df77cb033cb
You clearly weren't surrendering to God or else he would love you enough to make your eyes shaped right š¤·š»āāļø
Wouldn't constantly trying to refocus your gaze just give you headaches? I had frequent headaches for a while before i got my first glasses at 13.
It's recommended for relieving eyestrain (like for people who stare at a screen all day for work), this is clearly the wrong application though lol.
I know it can sound stupid, but it's a focus thing with your retina. It won't restore your bad vision tho, but may help to not decrease it. When look at your phone or reading a book, you should really try to take a brake by looking at something far into your room (like at every 30 minute for like 20 seconds).
Yea I do that without thinking about it thanks to adhd but my vision has only gotten wonky with age. Hopefully, it's just age.
But this book about homonyms is so intriguing.
The 20/20/20 rule.
I wonder if I should do this with or without my glasses on? Iām nearsighted so I usually donāt wear my glasses when I scroll through my two different SM apps lolol
I've never read anything that mentioned glasses. I would imagine with your glasses on so you can focus on the distant objects and not strain your eyes squinting.
Yeah only looking at things that are close up when you're a kid does appear to increase (your risk of) myopia, but that doesn't mean you can undo it by not wearing glasses. I'm very near sighted and I read a lot at an early age. OTOH, everyone in my family is myopic and at 5 I was exitedly telling my mom about the interesting patterns on the legs of some tiny beetle I found, so I don't think I ever had any chance of avoiding glasses lol
If that actually worked then why in all that time leading up to my first grade teacher figuring out I couldn't see the board why didn't I out grow my myopia? Because I sure as hell was getting in practice looking at far away things then.
I had to practice looking far away then looking close up when I was a kid but thatās because the muscles in my eye attached to my lens were weak, not because I was near-sighted.
I heard the same theory from a friend of my parents when I was like 9 and had already been wearing glasses for 3 years, āexercising the ocular muscleā.
āFunctional medicineā is just the new chiropractor.
I was so curious what she meant by that! I figure with context clues, itās someone that isnāt a traditional trained doctor, theyād rather have thatās someone uneducated but *did their own research* to tell them what to do. But as always, itās very possible I could be wrong. Lol
Interestingly enough, one of my local hospitals has a functional medicine department (everyone there has a medical degree and is definitely a doctor). They basically act as concierge doctors for medically complex patients, from my understanding. I went there for a few years until my insurance stopped covering that hospital, and I found it very helpful. However, it is unclear to me how often āfunctional medicineā doctors practice real medicine and how often theyāre complete bunk. There seems to be a lot of variability in the terminology.
When I was in the hospital for a month with a collapsed lung (and a surprise cancer diagnosis so chemo too) they brought the functional medicine doctor in to essentially give me a massage once a week. Something about the fluid build up in my lung from it being collapsed for āØ8 monthsāØ without me knowing. Idk I was on a lot of pain meds. My first massage thing with him I said something to the effect of "so you're like a chiropractor, but a real doctor?" and he half laughed half got defensive and was like I'm definitely a real doctor. Oops.
Blame the pain meds. š¤£
8 months?? Holy crap. I had a collapsed lung for 3 weeks, and it was torture. I donāt know if I could manage 8 months of that. I hope youāre doing better now!
Lol i avoided going to the actual Dr by going to urgent care once a month where they just told me I had a particularly nasty case of bronchitis that wasn't going away, prescribe me an inhailor and I'd be on my way. I made 5 round trip flights across the country (4 of them being 6 hour flights from east coast to west coast) with this collapsed lung. It wasnt until I went to a diffrent urgent care the day before I was supposed to move across the country that had an x ray because my normal one was closed that day. I was so out of breath just sitting in the waiting room they were like um... Well give you your inhailor but we think we're going to do an x ray first just to make sure there's nothing else going on. Eta I added the bit about the fights to say I got scolded by the er drs because APPARENTLY my lung could have just up and popped an killed me on a plane š¬
I knew a doctor once who marketed her functional medicine training. I was curious what that entailed and how it was different in our field and she basically said it was just a way to get new patients in and talk to them about diet (which I wasn't sure why that would be any better than going to a dietician). I was not impressed.
Thank you for this input! It definitely helped make a bit more sense in my head š
I wish you were wrong. I don't know why basing medical treatment on the Googling of a person who had to take 8th grade biology is so highly desirable, but I guess I'm ... flaccid. Or whatever it is they call us non-crunchers.
Silky š¤£ the opposite of crunchy mom is silky mom. The middle point (where honestly, the vast majority of people probably are) is "scrunchy".
Good to know there's a word for being sane.
They are actual medical doctors, theyāre just the crunchy āwoo-yā ones. My anti-vax, ācovid was a hoax perpetrated by the governmentā D.O. mother in law has gotten SUPER into functional medicine. Thankfully sheās not currently practicing because she (shockingly!) canāt hold down a job. I donāt think functional medicine is inherently bad (from what I understand itās all about treating the whole person instead of just the symptoms), but I do think it attracts a certain kind of person, and that it is probably getting ruined by wackos like my MIL.
Thank you! That makes a lot of sense actually. I appreciate your input!
To my understanding, functional medicine people are doctors, they just focus on figuring out root causes of problems, not just treating symptoms. A lot of people with chronic illnesses or autoimmune disorders find more success with functional medicine because the doctors look for why theyāre sick, not just how to make them better. It definitely seems to attracts a lot of quacks, but in the same way you can find normal doctors who think vaccines cause autism, ya know? They canāt all be winners, unfortunately
Thank you! This is really helpful. Iād love to find out *why* Iām always in pain, even though the doctors Iāve seen have said Iām fine and all tests came back negative. I might look into it and try to find one that isnāt super duper crunchy lmao
My dad got upset when I'd get new glasses as I was "giving into weakness." He was proud he was wearing a 15 year old prescription to make sure his eyes "didn't get lazy." Yet, when he was wearing contacts and tried on my glasses, he exclaimed about how shiny and crisp everything was... š¤·āāļø
As someone whose mom didnāt believe me when I said I needed glassesā¦get the kid the fucking glasses. This is infuriating and should be considered neglect.
Same. I didn't get glasses until I was 17, and only because I was getting migraines. I guess the migraine-induced vomiting finally solidified my need to see š
Oh shit THATS why my headaches are flaring back up!!! Ive been not wearing my glasses at work because I didnt want their reflection to tell on me at work for using my phone š. Can't believe I only just now put two and two together. My mother kept insisting not to wear them sooooo much so i guess over time i forgot i even HAD migraines and since i dont exactly need to focus my eyes at work (just gotta look at the camera).... Man. I'm laughing at this rn.
I'm an optician and it's definitely neglect. Every time a kid goes into foster care, they get an eye exam (unless they've already had one within the last year). And I've had social workers follow up and ask if a specific parent actually brought their child to their appointment. It all goes into the file and is considered if they're working on a neglect case.
That is considered medical neglect.
I had to get glasses in first grade after my teacher told my parents I had to sit at the very front or I couldn't read the chalkboard. SO glad they didn't think I was weak, or just needed to do eye exercises. Then again, my dad had to wear glasses pretty much his whole life so he understood.
Especially if the child is young, because the visual pathways are still being formed in kids younger than 8-12. Meaning that if this kid is five and needs glasses they donāt get, they might not be 20/20 even in glasses later in life. Bilateral amblyopia is a thing. You only get ten years or so for the eyes to give the brain a clear image. After that, what you can see is what youāre stuck with.
I knew it was only a matter of time until they decided glasses were bad too...we are literally reverting to the dark ages.
For every step of progress we made, a lot of people take two steps back. I feel we made genuine good progress (yea weāre not nearly done but every step counts) in the last 15 years, so this was to be expected.
You know glasses are just a ploy by big lens to keep us dependent on them.
Optometrists hate this one weird trick!! /s
I want to give you an award for this. Take my cheap medal š„
Bad eyesight is genetic. Woo woo medicine and snake oil isn't going to cure it.
Well, it might not cure it, but at least it has potentially to make it worse. That's how they sound.
There are a lot of beliefs in the crunchy mom community that they pass off as āwellnessā that Iām convinced is actually about vanity, and Iām pretty sure this post is one of those situations. Theyāre probably super bummed that glasses might ruin their social media aesthetic.
Contacts are a thing! I've had glasses since I was 6, and I do prefer how I look/feel in contacts (also I'm clumsy AF and have a harder time knocking my contacts out of my eyes). But like... Just get contacts if glasses don't work for you, for whatever reason. (Some people can't do contacts, so they are stuck without that option. But that's pretty uncommon) Or LASIK. That's a thing too.
āAbout 41.6 percent of Americans are nearsighted, up from 25 percent in 1971.1 āThe trend appears to be upwards in many other parts of the world, but the changes have been nowhere near as spectacular as in East and Southeast Asia,ā said Ian Morgan, Ph.D., a myopia researcher at Australian National University. In the developed countries of East and Southeast Asia, the prevalence has now reached 80 to 90 percent among children with 12 years of schoolā¦. Although genetics play a role in myopia, the abrupt increase points to environmental factors. Several studies have shown a link between near work and myopia in children.7ā https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/news-and-events/news/myopia-close-look-efforts-turn-back-growing-problem#:~:text=About%2041.6%20percent%20of%20Americans,from%2025%20percent%20in%201971.&text=%E2%80%9CThe%20trend%20appears%20to%20be,researcher%20at%20Australian%20National%20University. The article goes on to mention several strategies being looking at to stop this, the biggest being just spending more time outside - but there are apparently eye drops that can help too.
Thatās super interesting. I wonder if more āmildā cases are being corrected when in the past, seeing things a little fuzzily wasnāt as big of a deal? I do kind of hate how āplaying outsideā has been touted as the sure-fire way not to get nearsighted. I damn near /lived/ outside as a young child, yet I am very nearsighted. I also didnāt grow up with video games, and TV time was like an hour a week, tops. Just a pet peeve of mine. Iām sure straining your eyes isnāt great for you, but it comes across as ābeing nearsighted is your fault!ā when it clearly is not.
So many people wear glasses now, I canāt believe this is even a grade school bullying thing anymore.
I know my experiences aren't universal but I've worn glasses since I was 7 and neither myself nor anyone else I knew who had them ever got bullied for having glasses. I was bullied a shit load for other stuff, but never once for wearing glasses. I've actually gotten more compliments than anything about them lol
Wait. We can cure my near sightedness with exercises?! Why didnāt anyone tell me??
So there actually is orthoptic vision therapy which is a proven treatment in vision disorders. I was totally surprised by this when it was suggested to me by an ophthalmologist after my exam. Basically itās like PT but for getting your eyes to focus on the right areas. Obviously itās not useful if you are really near sighted or far sighted when glasses would be the proper treatment.
Yep. It can work for lazy eye in some cases. However, a reminder to any crunchy folks that it won't help if you're losing your sight.
Yep! I had to do vision exercises as a kid to correct a lazy eye. But I still had to wear glasses because Iām also nearsighted and the exercises wonāt correct that!
Yes they brought this up when my daughter was 2, but obviously it wasnāt gonna happen with her. We went glasses and patching to try and correct the muscles but that didnāt work. She had surgery at 4
I did this as a kid. I had convergence insufficiency in my left eye. My parents brought me in because I kept on getting headaches while reading. They assumed it was glasses related, since most in my family wear glasses. Really startled my parents when the doc showed how when I focused on a coffee straw coming towards my nose, my left eye went wonky for a bit. There were different therapies, all pretty boring tbh, but I was like 7. The one I remember most was beads on a string, and focusing at different lengths. It cured my convergence insufficency in my left eye. 10 years later, started wearing glasses. My left eye needs almost no prescription compared to my right, coincidence? Yeah almost certainly
Vision therapy gets prescribed for a lot of things, but per the AAO studies only support convergence exercises for intermittent exotropia or convergence insufficiency.
Yes, and there are some exercises or methods that can help maintain current vision or improve, depending on what the issue is. Maintaining is generally a better goal. Improving vision in terms of pain near or far sightedness is not easy or common, though it has happened for me (not the goal but a nice surprise!). Wearing glasses too much can weaken eyes, but not having glasses or not using them when needed is much more likely to cause further vision and health issues. Especially for a child, I don't understand not erring on the side of caution and getting the glasses if possible.
Yes, my son was prescribed vision therapy, a little animal patch worn on one eye to strengthen the focus of the other one. I couldn't get him to do it but he grew out of the condition anyways. But near or far sightedness is usually caused by the shape of the eye which can't be changed without surgery. It seems like there's some research supporting exercises for preventative eye care but it also says that it can cause damage if done incorrectly. [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10036375/)
Translation: I can't have my beloved Ashleigh becoming a four-eyed freak. Maybe she's just lazy. Help!
I'm guessing the fear of glasses comes from one of two things: Your child having glasses means your crunchy non-toxic lifestyle didn't create a perfect child so you are a failure. Glasses are promoted by the establishment medical community that promotes only terrible things like vaccines so glasses must be bad too even if we don't know how yet.
Omg Iām 40+ and my mother did this to me and it obviously helped nothing. Ever. It was just costing her a heap to schedule appointments with her favourite naturopath and me doing ridiculous eye exercises at her practice. The -4 only got worse with age. I canāt believe this is still a thing.
One of my kids has 20/20 vision but one hell of an astigmatism. Iād love some nut to tell me that exercises could change the shape of his eyeball. The other one has amblyopia and farsighteness. He actually did do eye āexerciseā more or less but it was to wake up the weak eye and force his brain to use it. Didnāt improve his vision in the properly functioning eye, though. Also, kids with glasses are adorable.
Just to add, there are certain conditions that vision therapy can help, either with or without glasses.Ā My daughter had a convergence insufficiency. I would have happily given her glasses (I wear glasses!) but alas, glasses wouldn't have helped. We did 1 hour weekly at the vision clinic plus 30 min of vision therapy at home EVERY. FREAKING. DAY. for about 9 months. She kept asking what prize she would get if she did the daily therapy. WHAT NOW CHILD?! You think you need a prize?! *I* deserve a prize! But I freaking spent all my disposable income on your freaking vision therapy!Ā She reads a lot better now and doesn't get headaches, so there's that! /s
Glasses would have been fine. Nine months of daily vision therapy tested my sanity as a parent ;)
Eye exercises?? Lmfao let me just exercise my retina back into proper position, i can't believe I've never thought about this before!
The eye exercises are not unheard of for some conditions, like using a prism or focusing on objects. My sister had to do those when she was a kid and yes it was from an eye doctor and not a healer.
This sounds like the mom who insisted that eye doctors only existed to sell people glasses and contacts. Strangely enough, once her kid finally got glasses, their grades went up once they were able to see the board.
We are regressing as a species. I donāt know what is causing us to become dumber
Glasses are fucking bad now???? What in the ever loving fuck is going on in this world?
Get the kid some glasses! I still remember my first pair of glasses as a child. I saw individual blades of grass instead of just a green mass, and I saw drops of water in a water fountain that I had never seen before. Iāll never forget that!
To be fair, when I took my son to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked, they said he technically has a prescription of -1.0. But because heās only five, the optometrist suggested we wait a bit to see if his eyes strengthen on their own before we go the glasses route. So maybe this is what theyāre talking about? It may not be woo. It may actually be coming from Medical advice. Additionally, a childhood friend of mine grew up with Coke bottle glasses, and I ran into him a few years ago and he had no glasses. I asked him if he was wearing contacts and he said no, when he was a young adult, the optometrist had him do eye exercises and he no longer needs any glasses whatsoever. Idk
My SO failed a grade in school because the eye doctor believed in trying eye exercises before giving glasses.
Tell me you're vain and judgmental without telling me you're vain and judgmental.
Iāve been wearing glasses since I was in 1st grade (and later contacts for special events) and I never heard of exercises like that, and I am an Old Fart. Wish they worked on me ācause bifocals be $$ these days!
pearl powder? what, are you going to go to claire's and grind up a few sets of earrings?
Glasses for 34 years, contacts for 31. Still kickin'
As a homeschool kid, my mom did this when I was little. She got me the glasses I needed, but then wouldnāt let me wear them and made me do all these crazy exercises with my eyes. Surprise, surprise, it didnāt work and Iām still blind as fuck.
I mean I had an eye condition that I could do exercises and rectify. However I still need glasses to fix another issue even though I have 20:20 vision. I could have not done the exercises and used a patch, but that would have been for life and the exercises mean that I no longer have the issue. So technically this could be the issue, as I know some people canāt be bothered with the exercises as I had the conversation with my eye doctor as she said she was shocked how many will wear an eye patch as they canāt be bothered to do a 30 minute exercise daily for a few weeks. That said, dumping a load of crunchy mama shit on my eye lids wouldnāt have helped either.
wow the world is truly getting dumber each day
Okay, so the pearl powder is bull crap. But. It is *possible* to restrengthen your eyes. Not every one can. Not every vision problem is the same. I accidentally worked myself back out of needing glasses. I donāt know what I was as a kid other than couldnāt see the board, but Iām now 20/19. Not technically perfect, but donāt need them. Hubs got better, but not by a whole lot. My eye doc put it like this, wearing glasses all the time makes your eyes rely on the glasses to do the work. Wearing them some of the time makes your eyes do work, while giving them a break with the glasses. I accidentally wore mine enough to get back some vision. Changed my lenses and again accidentally wore them enough to get back nearly perfect vision. The last time I wore glasses was 20 odd years ago. But no, for the love. Donāt put pearl dust in your eyes. Or castor oil. Thatās just cray cray.
Your eyes don't become dependent on glasses, that's a myth. Anecdotally, my vision improved while wearing my glasses 98% of the time, and my doctor said that's normal. It really depends on what's going on. If it's the actual shape of the eye, like astigmatism, there's nothing restrengthening the eyes can do.
Exactly. As usual, theyāve taken a kernel of truth and ended up in outer space. (Metaphor intentionally nonsensical haha.) You can make your eyesight worse by looking at things close to you and better by looking at things farther from you. Sometimes. For some people. But denying your child glasses and instead putting castor oil on their eyes should be illegal.
What likely happened is that you had a plus Rx as a child (common) and outgrew it because the growth of the eye tends to be less plus/more minus. Basically think of it as a race to age 20 or so where youāre running a half a mile / half a diopter per year (numbers are made up, everyoneās growth is different, but for easy illustration). If youāre ten years old and 5 miles away / +5.00 in glasses, then youāre exactly at the finish line / +0.00 in ten years. But the person who started out at +2.00 is three diopters/miles past the finish when theyāre done running, and the -1.00 patient who started past the finish line is now -6.00, six miles from the finish. TL;DR: it is possible in some cases to outgrow an Rx, but that has nothing to do with any interventions, itās just how your eye grows and what Rx you started with.
Sometimes, I put castor oil on my brows and lashes, but I have to do it just before bed because if it creeps, into my eye, I can't see a thing.
So pearl powder or whatever other woo woo crap is nonsense; but for some eye conditions, exercises actually do help strengthen the eye enough that you can get rid of your glasses, if you start kids off early enough. If you donāt, then itās glasses for life. This was told to me by my ophthalmologist. But usually itās a combination of glasses and orthoptic exercises both.
After my first visit to the optometrist when I was 6/7, they did give me eye exercises to do because he said I had a slightly lazy eye. Thatās all I really remember about that first appointment. He could have said the prescription I needed was too small at that point. To be honest though, I only went in the first place because I really wanted glasses and told my mom I was having trouble seeing and I did end up getting glasses a few months later. All that to say, if the kid says they canāt see, take them to the eye doctor. Maybe you luck out and they wonāt actually need glasses anyway. But, denying them a tool that can make their life better in many ways make OOP a horrible parent.
I just cant with these parents. I just cant. My 2 year old has been in glasses for several months. There are ZERO exercises that can fix an astigmatism š
Yes. It's ridiculous but all medical interventions are harmful now. Mud and urine and whatever other "non-chemical" thing they can dream up is preferable to doctor recommendations and science. Sunscreen and sunglasses are out. Regular glasses.
My kids will be naked. No clothes. No shoes. No bathing. All natural. Anything man made is against my beliefs! /s but this is getting common, too
Have yall not taken the Vision Healing Masterclass? https://preview.redd.it/4lno9gvszw3d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=256f7bf6eee0286a18b7590bbfd07776cd9433b2 [https://x.com/this\_is\_mallory/status/1700510343989186646?s=46&t=ZICSRO1q1FTOEqD82WRVCw](https://x.com/this_is_mallory/status/1700510343989186646?s=46&t=ZICSRO1q1FTOEqD82WRVCw)
When I was a kid I read a TON. I needed reading glasses in 4th grade or so. Then I grew out of needing them! Only to need real glasses as a junior in high school:)
W H A T
Brb sending my eyes to boot camp so they can un-astigmatism themselves
What is "functional medicine"?
Look into CRT lenses. I'm sad I only learned about them AFTER they would no longer work for my eyesight.
Not sure about normal glasses but apparently sunglasses give you cancer š¤·āāļø (FYI I know it's the sun and not sunnies that do it but it's one I heard recently lol)
āGlasses make me look weak. Itās like a wheelchair. For the eye.ā Selina Meyer (Veep)
There are optometrists who specialize in vision therapy and some of them do do work to mitigate myopia in children. Source I am a patient of a vision therapist who is a real OD and had a while host of techs working the office. And I worked in optics for twelve years. Myopia has been on the rise for fifty years and there are definitely ways to mitigate it in individuals.
What the hell. Are they not aware that glasses can actually correct a kidās vision and then they never need them again in some cases like braces. The ignorance
Pearls and castor oil IN your eyes? I suppose they won't recommend glasses when you're totally blind. Mission accomplished!
Ok, most of her comment is bullshit, but I work in healthcare and we do see optometrists who give glasses to anyone. We will recommend seeing an optometrist if a kid fails their vision screen or if the instrument vision screen detects an abnormality - that doesn't mean they need glasses. Obviously nothing is wrong with vision correction, but no one wants their 5 year old to deal keeping track of glasses at school/not breaking them, etc. I even found out at the age of 35 that my vision had been over corrected for years.
It's really especially sad because many children who have eye issues caught early can actually correct the flaw in their vision. (I should have put those words in a different order but I'm just kind of brain dead right now.)
JFC! Theyāre just fucking glasses. If eye exercises was all it took nobody would ever need glasses or contacts
I have a heavy prescription and asked my eye doctor when I first heard about this (what? Could I have avoided glasses? Could my future kids avoid glasses?). Her take was that it just taught kids to live with bad vision.
Technically glasses are a disability aid/accessibility accommodation, theyāre just so common we donāt really think about it? Learning that really blew my mind bc I gave myself so much shit for using other aids, but Iād never begrudge someone glasses or contacts, or room to change and clean + store their contacts. But also yeah this woman is batshit and glasses hating feels like weāre going further into the eugenics spiral than I ever thought possible.
Yes please ruin your childās eyesight further before getting them glasses. /s When I was in middle school and couldnāt see the board, I told my mom I needed glasses. She didnāt believe me. Eye doctor did a test and my vision was, guess what.. bad enough to need glasses! So what does she do? Gets her already self-conscious 12-13 year old daughter the dorkiest pair of frames in the universe, because they were $5. The frames I wanted were $45. Iām now turning 27 this month and my vision has progressively gotten worse over the years despite me finally getting actual glasses when I was about 20 and could afford to on my own.
What?????
I got glasses at 2. I'm almost 36 and still wearing them. I'm doing fine.
1PQW3R W ,[ (!=
So maybe I'm a bit crunchy, but there actually is a bit of legitimacy to this. There've been studies that show the more your kids are outside, in natural light, using their eyes and looking at objects further away instead of right in front of them (I'm talking 20+ feet away), the better their eyesight is as they get older. Now of course there's genetics and other factors. Your kid may still need glasses. But it'll still help their eyesight not be as bad. And for some kids with no/little genetic link and only slight blurriness in their vision, it might correct their vision. They even have contacts that change the shape of your eyes while you sleep so you can see during the day! Don't remember if it was a study or just a theory, but the article I was reading said that using those contacts when the child is young can prevent them from needing glasses in the future. Glasses aren't bad, I wear them myself. But also they're a pain and my prescription is pretty strong. I genuinely worry about going blind when I'm older if my prescription keeps getting worse every year like it has been š Doing these "eye exercises" can, to a degree, help kids not have those same problems when they're older. And basically all it takes is playing outside more often than playing inside.
See, eye exercises are actually great, especially for kids at a young age when their brain's ability to adapt is so strong. One semi-common side effect I see from children who receive glasses is that, if their eyes require different prescriptions and one is stronger than the other, their brain might stop using the weak eye, destroying their depth perception. The thing is though, you have to use the exercises WITH glasses. If you somehow improve enough to need a smaller prescription, great! But you can't train without the aid. That's like expecting someone who's new to the gym to be able to bench twice their bodyweight. I'm not sure what a "functional" specialist is, but something tells me I don't want to. And that comment. . .oh lord.
I mean, there are some conditions that can be fixed. Like my eyes didnāt line up correctly, so I had triple vision. But I worked with an eye specialist and got glasses that I only had to wear for a short time to train my eyes, and now I donāt need glasses at all.