This is a (much less structured) follow-up post to my original post on how to reverse your nearsightedness.
On August 31st of this year I wrote about how I was able to reverse my nearsightedness (myopia) using special plano (non-prescription) contact lenses. This therapy, called Ortho C, is a treatment developed by John Yee.
Since making my original post, I've received many emails requesting an update as well as inquiries from friends and strangers alike, all wondering if what I claim is true. Well, of course it's true! With that said, it's hard to demonstrate that it works because I can't show you what I am actually seeing. This kind of thing necessarily requires personal experimentation.
...and experimentation is what I've been doing. I've gone through three sets of lenses so far, and have done additional experiments with the assistance of Yee. These experiments have revealed quite a lot about how much my vision can be influenced by a pair of flat lenses.
My vision has stabilized and I am able to read the 8th line on the Snellen eye chart. Ordinarily, I would say that I have 20/20 vision. But, while I can read the 8th line (which is an improvement over my August results), I still have trouble making out the finer details at that distance trying to read such small letters.
My condition is also not the norm. I have two issues working against me that I must overcome. First, I have a condition called anisometropia. Anisometropia is a condition where each eye has a different prescription. In my case, my left eye was more myopic than my right. The second issue I face is an astigmatism. This explains why I can see objects off into the distance without the objects being obviously blurry, but at the same time I find it somewhat difficult to see finer details. It's like looking through a camera lens that is mostly in focus but which is out of focus just enough that you notice.
Thankfully, it's only an issue in dimly lit rooms and at night. Street lamps, headlights, and traffic lights all seem "diffused" at night. To correct this issue, temporarily, Yee has cut me astigmatic glasses that I wear while driving at night while we continue to work on the astigmatism. The astigmatic glasses do not correct for spherical myopia and are thus "plano lenses". Instead, they simply correct my astigmatism for nighttime driving. I feel safer with them on, and it is a noticeable improvement over trying to drive without glasses.
...speaking of which, I cannot wear my old prescription glasses anymore. The prescription is way too strong and feels noticeably over-corrected. I think I'd get a headache if I kept them on for too long. This is actually a good thing. It's just one more reminder that I do not need glasses to see well.
Questions, Answers, & More Details
Will this work for me? I've been asked by several people if they think that Ortho C would help them. My response has been, and remains, "Damn it Jim, I'm a financial consultant not an eye doctor!" But seriously, my suggestion would be to contact John Yee through his website and ask for a phone, email, or personal consultation. He's a straight shooter and will tell you whether Ortho C could help you or not. He may not be able to tell you exactly how well it will work until you get an eye exam, get your K reading, and try on a few lenses, but he could tell you--in general terms--whether Ortho C would be right for you.
Is the vision improvement permanent? All signs seem to point to "yes". It may take a few weeks to sort out your vision and get your vision to stabilize, but you should notice dramatic improvement in your vision right away if you are receptive to the Ortho C lenses.
For me, Yee had to introduce a second drill to try to help me with my astigmatism (over time). Over the long-term, it seems probable that vision improvement will be permanent as long as I don't return to wearing prescription lenses. Again, I'm no eye doctor, but I don't see where or how vision would deteriorate as long as I give my eyes a break from close up work now and then, don't wear minus lenses, and continue doing the eye drills.
How often do I need to do the eye drills? This is a tricky one. I tried upping my drill frequency to several times a week and my vision got worse. When I backed off, vision got better. I suspect that I was overworking my eye muscles and they tightened up on me. I've gone back to once a week and I seem to be doing OK. Still, you may find that you need to do the eye drills 2 or 3 times a week at first. The purpose of the eye drills is to relax certain muscles in the eye while tightening and strengthening others. My understanding is that your Ortho C wearing frequency depends on how bad your vision is and how receptive you are to the treatment.
What is the negative tear layer? One of the criticisms I've run into is the "negative tear layer" criticism. The negative tear layer is when your eyes produce tears that cover your eye or there is some kind of viscous solution over your eye that you are forced to look through. As you look through the tear layer, the tear acts as a "lens" that temporarily improves your vision, just slightly. In a sense, the tear is said to act like a minus lens. This has been a criticism of Yee's invention. Critics claim that the explanation for the improvement in vision is that the Ortho C lens has a tear layer between the lens and your eyeball while you are wearing the lens and that the reason your vision becomes clear with the lens on is because of this tear layer. This is a half-truth. There is a tear layer when you are wearing the lens. But, I think its effects are being overstated by critics. If the improvement in my vision were caused by the negative tear layer, then I wouldn't experience permanent vision improvement after the lens was removed.
Yee explained it to me this way (I'm quoting his words to me):
Although the ortho C lenses are a plain pair of lenses, you will actually see better with them on. This is due to the “multiplier effect” which takes place immediately. A common argument is that it is the result of your “tear factor” or “tear layer” rather than the “multiplier effect”.
There is a gap between an ortho C lens and your cornea because the curvature of an ortho C lens is slightly “flatter”. Your tears and contact lens solution would fill this gap and refract the rays of light that meet the lens. The parallel rays of light from a distant image would diverge to project its focal point closer to the retina. The effect is similar to wearing a minus lens; when the solution and tears fill the gap between the ortho C lens and the cornea, it produces the same result.
But you can see through an instrument called a slit lamp that the edge of an ortho C lens adheres more readily to the cornea compared to a conventional hard contact lens to minimize the gap between the contact lens and the cornea. This in turn minimizes the effect of the tear layer.
The tear factor may contributes to some of the clarity of your vision while you have the lenses on, but it does not account for the degree of improvement that you actually experience when you are not wearing the lenses. In cases of mild myopia, it is possible to retain all of the improvement that you would experience after one application (for about one and a half to two minutes). The ability to permanently retain your improvement in vision to allow you to see 20/20 or better in such a short time after you remove the lenses cannot be due to the tear factor.
Another proof is that if you assign a plain pair of contact lenses with the same “flatness” but with a slight increase in thickness, the tear factor is also present, but it cannot improve your vision in the same manner. If it is too thick, it will not improve your vision at all.
Furthermore, a keratometer (an instrument that measures the curvature of the cornea) will indicate that the curvature of the cornea has not been altered after you removed the lens. Thus your improvement in vision is not due to the “flattening” of the cornea but to the change in curvature of the lens and eyeball.
Finally, I want to conclude this post by saying that I already consider this treatment a success. The worst case scenario I envision is having to have eye surgery if I cannot get my vision "perfect". I haven't been convinced yet that I'm done with Ortho C. I do think I've experienced a dramatic improvement since I've started using Ortho C. But, I also think further improvement to correct my astigmatism is possible.
It's looking like "perfection" will come more slowly and with time. That, I think I can deal with at this point. What little issues I still have left with my vision do not keep me from doing anything in life and if I feel like I need some kind of improvement, I can always put my astigmatic glasses on. As much as I hate using crutches, it's nice to know they're there if I need them.
If you decide to try the Ortho C treatment, what I can tell you is that you will probably experience quick and dramatic results. You may or may not restore your vision to a "perfect" status right away. If you do have a stubborn myopic condition, it may take longer to sort out your vision issues. It may take multiple lenses. But, Yee charged me $375 and he's been willing to work with me and change out several pairs of lenses until we got the desired flatness we needed to get me back to reading line 8. If you think that that kind of success is worth that amount of money, I'd tell you to check it out. If not, I'd say skip it. Either way,
I'm happy with my improvement and very thankful for Yee's invention which has allowed me to do something I never thought possible.
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