Is it possible to improve vision in myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism with exercises and without surgery?

This publication is dedicated to refractive disorders or situations where you need glasses or contact lenses for constant wear.

It is only about glasses that have been needed since childhood or have become necessary before the age of 40.

And about the situation when you need reading glasses after the age of 40, we will write in another article.

If you don’t like reading, you can watch the video based on this publication.

And if you like reading more, then we continue.

First of all, let's remember how the lenses work and what the focal length is.

 When you want to view something under magnification, you need to take a magnifying glass and determine the location when the object in question becomes clearly visible. This position is called the focal length of the lens and may be larger or smaller depending on the optical power of the lens. 

Also, the focal length works "vice versa". If you need to project something through the lens onto a surface, then the clearest image will also be obtained when the lens is at its focal length.

Optical power is measured in dioptres, distance is measured in centimeters.

Remember that the higher the optical power of the lens, the shorter the focal length.

The structure and work of the human eye

The eye is a sphere; in fact a globe, where in the front part there are 2 lenses - cornea and lens, and in the back part there is the light-sensitive layer called the retina.

The task of the cornea and the lens is to clearly project the image onto the retina.

When the image hits the retina, the information is transmitted through the optic nerve to the visual cortex, where the image received by the eye is processed and perceived.

By the way, speaking about a lens, we talked about a flat surface and focal plane.

And the retina is NOT flat, so there is only one zone of the clearest vision.  It is called the yellow spot or macula.

So, there are the cornea, the lens, the focal length and the retina.

The normal size of the human eye is usually 23 mm.

When everything is good, the size (length of the eye) corresponds to the focal length of the optical system.

But sometimes this balance is disturbed. Most often the size of the eye doesn’t correspond to the optical power of the eye and therefore the image is focused either before or after the retina.

In such cases, refraction disorders occur and a person can't see well.

These disorders include near-sightedness or myopia, far-sightedness or hypermetropia, and astigmatism.

Let's take a closer look at them, and also learn how to correct these disorders.

Myopia or nearsightedness

In this case, the eye is larger than its optical system is designed for, and the focal point is located before the retina.

In this case, it is said that the eye is too big or the optical power of the eye is too high - the greater the optical power, the smaller the focal length.

Hyperopia or farsightedness

In this case, the size of the eye is less than normal or the optical system is not strong enough, so the image is focused behind the retina.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is a violation of the correct shape of the cornea. Ideally, the cornea should have a spherical shape or be as round as a soccer ball. With astigmatism, the cornea has the shape of a rugby ball and therefore the image from one part of the cornea can be projected in front of the retina and from the other part behind the retina. By the way, astigmatism can be present both in the eye with normal length and in the myopic or hyperopic eye.

So, how can these refractive errors be corrected?

When the eye is arranged in such a way that the image hits either before or after the retina?

Can we change the shape or size of the eye?

The answer is NO, it is impossible.

What about numerous exercises for "improving eyesight" or gymnastics for the eyes? After all, the eyes are tense and exercises can relax them.

The answer is NO again. Refractive errors cannot be corrected with exercises.

So, there are muscles in the eye that move the eye, but these muscles cannot affect the size or shape of the eye, so no exercise can help.

There are only 2 options - non-surgical and surgical.

Improving vision without surgery

This is optical correction of refractive disorders, i.e. glasses or contact lenses.

When the optical system of the eye is stronger than necessary (nearsightedness or myopia), it should be weakened by adding a third lens with a minus power to it.

In the case of hypermetropia, the optical system of the eye should be strengthened and a plus lens should be added to it. By the way, patients with a low degree of hyperopia may not wear glasses for a certain period of time due to accommodation, but this is not useful or completely safe for the eyes, and it is not proof that «exercise can improve vision».

Adding a lens means wearing glasses or contact lenses that will correct the optical power of the eye and the person will get high visual acuity if the low visual acuity is due only to refractive errors.

How to take off your glasses, you ask?

What can you do to avoid wearing glasses?

What other ways to improve vision are there? 

Yes, it is possible to live without glasses, but not thanks to eye gymnastics or other unconventional methods.

This was made possible by a surgical operation. 

Modern refractive surgery is safe and effective, and will be discussed in the next publication.