Oh good one

One hour of outdoor time per day is not a modest increase

For some people it is

Near-sightedness

I was outside a ton when I was younger and I still have myopia. These things happen.

Well, yeah, I'm old, and there were cataracts in both eyes, but one went bad real fast, over the course of a few months. The doc told me that it's kinda rare, but it happens. What was weird is that it only happened in one eye, so at least I could see with my one good eye, but if it happened to that eye too, before I could get the surgery, I'd be screwed. I literally wouldn't be able to see well enough to drive, read, anything.

So the new lens corrected for any bad eyesight, more or less. I haven't had it tested now that it's fully healed, but it probably isn't perfect 20/20, but it's close. I have a contact in my other eye, which is still at a 9, so very bad. It also has a light cataract.

Now I can see the difference between the two eyes. In my new eye, colors are brighter and sharper. In my other, cataract eye, colors are slightly, but noticeably muted. I probably wouldn't even have noticed it, if I didn't have the new eye for comparison.

I've also noticed that late at night, when I'm tired but still watching TV, I get double vision. I have to consciously focus. The doc warned me that having a good eye, and a contact lens eye would mess with my vision, and I think this is what he was talking about.

The doc said that now that I've had one done, the insurance will probably spring for the second one, even if it isn't necessary yet. That means I'll have nearly perfect vision, and maybe need reading glasses. I use reading glasses with my new eye, but if I don't have them, it isn't a big deal, I see well enough for most stuff.

Sorry to yak so much about it, but It's kind of exciting, being able to see so well for the first time, as an old person, and I don't really have anyone else to tell it to that would care.

Amazing! Congratulations on your new eyesight!

You might have had a higher degree of myopia if you hadn't spent all that time outdoors.

Would this mean it’s a bad idea to give kids sunglasses?

Well if that is actually the causing effect, yes. I checked the paper and they do actually mention light brightness as a potential cause, as well as the other things but they have nothing on what actually causes the problem for real.

But I mean, clearly we aren't naturally meant to need sunglasses so in a way I'd say yea, don't give your kids sunglasses.

I see, my apologies then

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopia says that both terms exist in English? Not a native speaker; I think I have seen "nearsightedness" more often in English but my first language's term for it translates to "shortsightedness". 🤷‍♂️

You were made for anime, not office work

That’s fascinating. Is it typical for cataract surgery to cause near 20-20 vision or is this something that just happened to you because you have a unique eye shape?

No, the doc said this would get pretty close. I don't think they can ever predict exactly where your vision is going to land, but he knew it would be close enough for reading glasses, which I never go anywhere without anyway, even with contacts. They are replacing your lens, so why replace with just a clear lens that is the same as your poor vision, that has to be corrected with supplemental lenses, when you can just replace the lens with a correct one, and fix the entire problem at once.

Of course, an immoral eye doctor might want to fix the blurry cataract, but keep your eyesight poor so they can continue to sell you glasses and contacts.

So I was expecting an improvement, and it certainly got darn close. Closer than I've experienced for most of my life.

BTW, it also wasn't really painful at all. It was uncomfortable the first day, but not itchy or painful, much less so the next day, and was pretty normal in 48 hours. I took a Tylenol/Advil combo, and drops they gave me.

IDK why it would say that, I'm a native speaker and the two terms have different meanings. Short-sightedness refers to not planning for long-term problems.

Edit: looking at what comes up in search, I see it showing up that way. I guess words change if we use them incorrectly for long enough. I'd be awfully confused if someone started talking about my short-sightedness as anything other than a flaw in my problem-solving abilities.

ok, "Kurzsichtigkeit" in German definitely has both meanings without this causing confusion in practice

I spent 90% of my early childhood outdoors. Didn't work.

but my electronic image generator makes bam bam noise, must spend more money for more RAM

They fully replace the eyes' lenses, so they can give you lenses that correct your vision. It's just not a great idea to do surgery for something that can still be corrected with glasses.

Good try child sports teams. I ain't touching that grass unless you make me.

I've been told I look better with my glasses on.

Does it work for adults too?

No, it has to do with growth. An adult eye no longer grows significantly.

Both terms depend on context. If you talk about someone's myopic or short sighted plan to earn money you know they're referring to a CEO.

They can't predict with 100% accuracy, because vision isn't a completely objective matter as it also takes into account your brain's interpretation of the image, but they can get pretty close. The exams you took probably measured your eye's axial length, your cornea's keratometry, diameter and other measurements.

Your ophthalmologist then selects the formula that best suits your eye (there's different mathematical models for different cases of myopia, hypermetropia and how extreme they are) and then the lens' power is calculated according to the measurements that were taken. Usually the device that takes your exam already does like 80% of the job (in the mathematical side of things), but your doctor uses their criteria to define the final IOL and from where it'll be inserted during surgery*.

It's pretty cool to take that exam. In my country I used to take it for patients that were going into eye surgery.

* It usually means a little bit more math

Sometimes I wonder if people see numbers like 45% and think "OMG, 45% chance!" instead of "small number * 1.45 = another small number."

It probably helps against making it worse. My father always told about the 30-30-30 rule.

Every 30 minutes

For 30 seconds

Looking at least 30 Meters into the distance

Considering that a fairly large percentage of children develop myopia (as high as 80-90% in some countries) a 45% reduction would be fairly significant, no? Or am I missing something

No. Interestingly once myopia does start developing this doesn't seem to slow the progression. It seems to be good for prevention and that's it

Is this procedure ever performed on someone with healthy cataracts to improve their eyesight?

It’s just not a great idea to do surgery for something that can still be corrected with glasses.

Well I generally agree, there are people who elect to get laser eye surgery. Is this procedure generally considered more risky than laser eye surgery?

where are you getting these numbers.. from what I can see, the global average was 23% in 2000 and 34% today.

I guess words change if we use them incorrectly for long enough.

Looking at the etymology, it appears that short sighted started as the medical term, with it's relation to foresight coming later. It's also older than nearsighted.

It may be less common in modern contexts, but it's definitely a "correct" use.

Also: all words are made up and the points don't matter.

The 80-90% claim seems to be repeated in various areas on the internet, including by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, which I assume to be reputable:

Over recent decades, the prevalence of myopia has skyrocketed, particularly in Asia. In countries like China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, up to 80-90% of teenagers and young adults are now myopic.

Of course these local averages are still consistent with a lower global average

I'm not sure if there's something as healthy cataracts. Every case of cataracts has to be eventually treated by removal of your eye's lens and then replace it with an intraocular lens (IOL).

If you meant if its ever done on a healthy lens, I'm not really sure. There's a technique for installing an IOL on top of a previously installed IOL that's called piggyback IOL, but on a healthy lens without cataracts seems uncommon.
Lensectomy and IOL placement can occur when the patient has a healthy lens in some cases though. When they're going through other issues such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy, fibrovascular proliferation can occur in the vitreous humor, which would require removing it (the procedure is called vitrectomy). In some of those cases, the replacement of the vitreous humor accelerates cataracts development, which means that the lens will have to be replaced with an IOL.

That's what comes to mind from my experience doing those exams many years ago, I could be wrong.

I've seen that too, with some emphasis put on viewing the horizon... though where I grew up it's very unlikely to see anything close to horizon-distance without being at a beach (mostly because trees... better than indoors sure but not much non-treetop distance to look at unless you're looking across a field/farmland, or maybe a radio/water tower or something).

though where I grew up it’s very unlikely to see anything close to horizon-distance without being at a beach

It would be interesting to see if people who live im these sorts of areas have higher rates of myopia. I’m not aware of any data that’s been collected on this though

That makes sense. I can see the hesitation about replacing the lenses of an otherwise healthy eye

They have to destroy your natural lens to make room for the replacement so it's a bit riskier than laser correction.

Makes sense

True, but I am like -2 or -3 in both eyes, so my myopia isn't great either lol

Not great, but it's also not -12 😀

LMFAO

My mom blamed us (me and my older brother) for "sitting too close to the TV"

She kept us mostly locked indoors in an apartment (besides going to school) from the beginning of my memory up till 8 years old.

Then we moved to the US and from 8 to 12 I was in school from morning (like 7 AM maybe? forgot the exact time) till like 6PM cuz she signed me up afterschool programs cuz she wanted to use it as free babysitting essentially so she can work longer...

And we cant go outside alone without adults.

In China it was "a lot of kidnappers on the street thay will traffic you and sell your organs"

In the US it was "if you go outside without an adult, CPS will take you away and you can't see mama again" (idk why mom spoke in 3rd person sometimes lol)

Yay! so... from birth to 12 I was indoors, either in school or at home, most of the time...

outdoor time was rare and only when parents have a day off or like the 15 minutes of recess in school...

that's basically our outside time...

In China we had maternal grandma that sometimes took us outside...

In the US, it was just mom, dad, older brother, and me (cuz grandma can't come yet, no visa yet)... So we had even less outside time... like parenrs had to work all the time...

But of course its always "too much screens!" to be blamed lmao

From 8 to 12 was when my nearsightedness really developed a lot.

I didn't understand why I had nearsigntedness at the time, but now looking back and analyzing my life, now it's so obvious why lol..

My older brother has like -9.00 or -10.00 in the nearsightedness thing. Its funny my parents called it like 900 or 1000 "degrees".... like it sounds so much scarier when they drop the decimal point and literally say: "you're about to have ONE THOUSAND DEGREES IN NEARSIGHTEDNESS! You're gonna GO BLIND!"

lol “Degrees” would just be the literal translation from Chinese to English for how they talk about nearsightedness in Asia, nothing about scariness lol

Nah, there were early studies on this pre-internet, which also means pre-smart devices.

if you want sad but unfortunate proof, read about the case of genie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)?wprov=sfla1

the relevant bit here is that when she was taken out of the room she was kept in till age 13, her eyes were literally unable to focus on anything more than 10 feet away (as that was the size of the room she was kept in). imo that shows that being outside where objects tend to be farther away at a young age helps train your eyes to do so in the future.

I've had nearsightedness since middle school. I am excited for you!

I would kill to not need glasses at -3.25 and -4.25 diopters.

LASIK scares me though so I just deal with glasses. I can't see very far, can't see the speedometer on my car without them.