6 myths about vision restoration you shouldn't hope for

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Visual gymnastics, carrots and glasses with holes - we figure out which of these helps, and does not harm the eyes.

Myth 1. To restore vision, you need to do eye exercises

"Gymnastics" for the eyes does not guarantee the restoration of vision. But such training cannot be called completely useless.

Vladimir Zolotarev, ophthalmologist, head of the "Essilor Academy Russia"

Exercise is a good way to relieve muscle tension and relieve headaches, dry eyes, and other symptoms of fatigue. Exercise improves blood flow to the retina and helps train the eye muscles.

However, it is futile for Vision Training Not Proven to Make Vision Sharper to hope that eye exercises will save you from myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism, or at least reduce their manifestations.

The only exception is lack of convergence. In this state of Convergence insufficiency, due to muscle spasm, the eyes cannot simultaneously focus on the same point, as a result of which the image floats or doubles. In this case, eye exercises can help relieve muscle tension and improve focus.

One of the most popular exercises for this is pencil push-ups. It consists in focusing your gaze on a small letter on one of the edges of the pencil or on the tip of the lead and trying to follow this point, now bringing the pencil closer, then moving the pencil away from the face. It should only be taken into account that such training has contraindications.

During retinal detachment or recovery from eye surgery, vigorous stimulation of the circulation can lead to visual impairment. In addition, exercise is not recommended for inflammatory diseases of the eyes, so that, along with tears and other secretions, the infection does not get onto healthy tissues.

Vladimir Zolotarev

Therefore, it is best to arrange "fitness" for the eyes after consulting a doctor. The specialist will help you understand the causes of possible vision problems and suggest his own therapy option, which may be much more effective than exercise.

Myth 2. If you wear glasses all the time, you will see worse

The explanation for this misconception about the restoration of vision is this: if you do not give your eyes a load and make your life easier with glasses, your eyes will "relax" and your vision problems will worsen.

Rano Ibragimova ophthalmologist, specialist of "Essilor Academy Russia"

The myth comes from the incomplete correction technique popular in previous years. Earlier, ophthalmologists believed that if you wear weak glasses and spend a lot of time without them, it will help train your eyes and improve vision.

Therefore, many are afraid to change glasses for stronger ones, put on "glasses" or lenses only in special cases, and the rest of the time they prefer to painfully strain their eyes, trying to train them in this way. However, suffering is pointless 20 Eye and Vision Myths - American Academy of Ophthalmology and, moreover, harmful.

Practice has shown that this approach not only does not stop the progression of myopia, but can even provoke it due to excessive tension of the eye muscles.

Early Ibragimova

In general, glasses will definitely not make your vision worse. But they will relieve the eyes of unnecessary fatigue and associated headaches.

Myth 3. To strengthen eyesight, you need to eat carrots and blueberries

Indeed, vitamin A is required 20 Eye and Vision Myths - American Academy of Ophthalmology to maintain eye health. And it is true that carrots contain Carrots, a fairly large amount of beta-carotene, the plant precursor of vitamin A. However, all this does not mean that eating carrots will improve vision.

The fact is that the body does not need much vitamin A to keep its eyes healthy. And we get it from a variety of sources: spinach and other leafy greens, orange vegetables and fruits such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes and apricots, as well as dairy products, liver, and oily fish.

In general, if a person is not starving, most likely, the level of vitamin A is already in order. Trying to improve your eyesight by adding more carrots to your diet is pointless.

The story is similar with blueberries. This berry contains many Fruits That Have Lutein and Zeaxanthin carotenoids, in particular lutein and zeaxanthin, which are also essential for eye health. However, the body gets all the vitamins it needs from its regular diet. Blueberries are just a tasty and healthy addition to the diet, but not at all critical for the restoration of vision.

It is worthwhile to specifically lean on carrots or blueberries only if for some reason a person is forced to eat extremely poorly and monotonously, that is, he risks getting hypovitaminosis. In this case, it is important to remember: plant foods rich in carotenoids should be eaten with animal fat, such as sour cream or butter, so that the nutrients are better absorbed.

Myth 4. In order not to spoil your eyesight, you need to use less gadgets

Staying on your TV, computer monitor, or smartphone for hours can make your eyes tired. But it is almost impossible to spoil vision in this way 20 Eye and Vision Myths - American Academy of Ophthalmology. And, accordingly, you will not be able to save your eyes by simply refusing to work in front of the screen.

Yes, long, uninterrupted visual stress is one of the factors of Short Sightedness. Causes that increase the risk of developing myopia. However, this factor is far from the only one. Also play a significant role:

• heredity;
• hormonal How Hormones Can Affect Eyes and Vision changes;
• the amount of time spent outdoors in natural light.

So the impact on eye health of constant use of gadgets and any other prolonged visual stress, such as reading in low light, is greatly exaggerated.

Instead of giving up working with devices, you should take more walks in the fresh air. And if you have to sit at a laptop or use a smartphone for a long time, try to blink more often and give your eyes a rest every 20 minutes. For example, you can go to a window and look into the distance or, for 1-2 minutes, move your gaze from the screen to the ceiling or wall and back.

Myth 5. Glasses with perforation will help restore vision

If you wear black glasses with many small holes in the lenses, the image in front of your eyes will really become clearer. That is, vision will indeed improve slightly.

The clarity of vision directly when using such glasses increases due to the fact that focused beams of light enter the retina through many holes in the dark plates.

Early Ibragimova

However, there is not a single study that proves the long-term effect of using such glasses. As soon as a person removes them, vision becomes the same again as before.

Myth 6. While I can see normally, there is no need to go to the optometrist

Nearsightedness and hyperopia are not the most unpleasant visual impairments, especially if they do not progress. Much more dangerous is retinal detachment or glaucoma - insidious diseases that do not make themselves felt for a long time, and if they do appear, then they have minor symptoms.

For example, signs of such impairments can be blurry vision, sometimes pain in the eyes, headaches and profuse discharge of tears, as well as a desire to reduce the usual distance from the eyes to a book or monitor.

Vladimir Zolotarev

If there is even a thought that vision seems to be deteriorating, a visit to an ophthalmologist is required. According to the Action plan for the prevention of avoidable blindness and visual impairment for 2014–2019 WHO, up to 80% of all visual impairments, including serious and threatening blindness, can be prevented or cured. The main thing is to ask for help in time.

This material was first published in July 2017. In March 2021, we updated the text.