I was getting curious to see what the common age for developing myopia is?
I have asked many people and most of them fitted in the group ranging 10-19 years old.
I was in the age of 13 when they put glasses on me.
Since no person maintains constantly perfect eyesight, everyone has been a myope at some time or other during even one minute after birth. Although I was fitted with glasses at 12, I am sure that my eyeball had begun to develop a myopic shape long before, though it is impossible to say when. I suppose that the more appropriate question would be, "When were you diagnosed as having myopia?"
A lot of people (or caucasians, anyway) develop it around 12 or 13, because of all the huge changes going on and sudden sense of social pressure.
Where I grew up, maybe 2% of the kids wore glasses by high school. Maybe it's gotten worse in the last 10-20 years, but I'm sure it's nowhere near the 25% nationwide average, which is ridiculously out of control if that statistic is accurate.
It's clear that myopia is caused, made chronic, and worsened by straining the eyes, evidenced by the observable symptoms of strain along with the positive symptoms of stopping the strain and learning to use the eyes better to improve vision, but without being very psychic it's hard to understand all the common elements of what exact process in a person's mind brings it on. You can see psychological issues, which can help clear things up, but sometimes there are hints of things behind that, too. For such a simple problem it's a very complex problem.
I had chronic vision problems when I was a baby, but it wasn't until I was 5 and started school that I was taken to get glasses.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
When I was about 8 I went to a different OD, a behavioral OD, who gave me a choice between glasses and no glasses. He gave me some exercises to do at home, but I just wanted to do my favorite one, and so we didn't spend much time on it, and we stopped it pretty soon. I doubt they would have done much good anyway. One nice thing was I was never told by anybody (at least until I was 15 by a friend) that I had to wear my glasses all the time or my vision would get worse, and my parents never really pressured me to wear them, so I wore them on and off over the years. My vision didn't improve until I found the Bates method, but maybe it would have gotten worse if I had worn glasses like an appendage.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
I received a strong minus at the age of
seven -- and was told, "...wear them all the
time or your vision will get much worse ..."
I did, and my vision did get much worse.
I also found (from Bates) that it is well known that
if you take a person with 20/70, and put him into
a strong minus, it a very short time his
naked eye will be at 20/200.
I truly think our vision is being screwed up by this
"system", and I think that providing second-opinion
information must be a REQUIREMENT of
any "professional" who deals with us.
I think that a person at 20/70 should be sent
to your site, and give a CHANCE to explore
these preventive concepts.
I mean if the child is 11 years olc -- what
is the RUSH to put him into a strong minus?
Afraid you will miss the sale??
Afraid the public will not "like" you?
I truly regret the consequences of
the "public be damned" attitude.
I think you, and we deserve more respect
than that.
Anything less than that is an insult to
your intelligence.
I can't exactly remember when I got glasses first, but it must have been in kindergarten / primary school. I have had glasses on my first day of school, I still have picture of it. I only wore them on and off and lost them a couple off times but then in I think 3rd grade I suddenly couldn't read tha blackboard anymore and they told me I had to wear the glasses all the time from now on otherwise my eyes would get even worse. Which they did anyway even though I wore glasses .
I was still little then but I wish my parents had known about the Bates Method and not put glasses on me, I am now -8.5 in both eyes .
I started having trouble seeing the board in grade 6 [age 11] - for copying notes, my teacher just had me sit at the front -
Not until about a year later, did anyone tell me I should get glasses (my English teacher - and I sat in the back of her class). I got glasses during March break - the doctor having said that if I'd come any later I might have been legally blind [something like that]. [age 12, nearly 13]
I had no idea about Bates until grade 12 [age 17]. Had I known, I don't think I would have wanted the glasses.
Everytime I see a kid wearing glasses, it just pisses me off because the lack of information surfacing about the use of spectacles. I became Myope after receiving my computer ever in my life to own one. I started using it constantly because I didn't have any associates living around me. We had to move. Took about half a year of constant use of computer activities to make me myopic enough to realize that my sight was not normal. And now life sucks cause you can't see shit, and you can't see peoples faces, and most significantly, you can't see the beauty of nature itself. The world just disappears into a shade of blur.
I was 9 when I first had noticable trouble seeing distant objects. Didn't realize what it was for a while, but as my vision got worse I of course was made aware of it and when I was 10, I had to get glasses. Didn't wear them often, mostly just to see the board/overhead projector at school. I became more and more nearsighted (and in fairness this happened while not wearing my glasses except to see distant objects, so I can't blame wearing minus glasses for my worsening vision then.) When I turned 13 I got contacts, had a lot of trouble with them and for months wore them only rarely, the rest of the time wearing glasses only when needed. Eventually, I started wearing them every school day, but they still irritated my eyes for quite a while.
Then, shortly before my 14th birthday, I realized I couldn't read the computer screen unaided unless I hunched up really close, which had not been the case at any time before. Now, I had previously used my home computer frequently, almost always unaided (since I usually took my contacts out right after I got home from school), so it wasn't a matter of merely having been accustomed to extreme hunching/squinting. Nonetheless, I had obviously used minus lense contacts for near work while in school (since you normally don't just take them out unless you're at home.) While I can't prove this, I strongly suspect it wouldn't have gotten to that point had I stuck to my previous practice of wearing glasses only when I needed them.
Eventually, contacts stopped irritating me for the most part, and I wore them more and more, but fortunately I always remembered to take them out before going to bed (I know some people get in the habit of sleeping with them in.) Now I think getting used to them probably added at least one layer of tension.
Now I found out about natural vision improvement when I was 14 (nearly ten years ago now), and was very enthusiastic until reading that contacts were a barrier, after I had just really gotten used to and become dependent on them. If I had just found out a year prior, I would have thrown my contacts away. Another half a year prior and I wouldn't have even gotten them. Another three years prior... I really feel that as opposed as I was to glasses and then with the struggle to adjust to contacts, I really should have found out something before I did.
It normally starts with not being able to read the board and you go to your eye doctor. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me glasses and I was someone who thought doctors know everything and when I was told that I should wear my glasses all the time, I did it, and that brought me up to here.
Finding this website and forum was one of the most important changes in my life.
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