You are likely waiting for the astigmatism installment, dealing with higher myopia cases. That is coming shortly. As will be some more strategies for Advanced Focal Plane Stimulus (though first you should really spend a week or two with the core variation of it, as discussed in #55). First though, let’s talk a bit about your differential prescription.
We took it easy, so far. This is important, as you need time to get familiar with eye strain feedback, and all vision recovery is a slow, deliberate process.
Odds are though, that we are taking it a bit too easy, by now.
If you have been following along, with the many installments this far, there is quit a bit of physiological change happening. Just as you would first take it easy if you started training for a half marathon, we have a somewhat similar scenario here. There is a lot of strengthening and readiness happening, when you first start exerting yourself in any new way. If you don’t take it slow, injuries happen. With eyes, you just get more strain. But by now, you are like a half marathon veteran.
And as half marathon veteran, your differential prescription is probably too strong.
That is, unless you have been pushing yourself past your established and expected centimeter value. Here is a thing to check for, something you may have noticed: Your vision is improving, you notice this in particular with focus pulling, your eyesight in lower light is better, you get more persistent clear flashes with your normalized prescription. And yet, your centimeter may not be reflecting those changes.
This isn’t the case for everyone. It is the likely case, however.
Our bodies, in many respects, have tendency to hold back. It’s not until you are pushed externally, or in an altered state of mind (particularly excited, scared, etc), that you realize strengths you never realized you had. What we think of as 100% in normal circumstances, is really closer to 70% (to use some vague abstractions).
What I am saying here, is that your differential prescription, is probably too strong.
So now that we said that more than once, let’s consider. You are doing mornings without glasses. You get more beta carotene, more U.V., less close-up without breaks, less eye strain. You are in active focus mode (pushing, pulling focus) quite a bit of time. Your prescriptions are no longer excessive. You are in a different ‘shape’ than you were, likely, last time you changed that differential prescription.
That’s what I find, at least, with a lot of clients. We don’t realize when we are ready to push forward, much of the time.
Here’s what we can do, today:
If you haven’t changed your differential prescription in 45 days or more, you have been wearing it consistently, you have pushed some focus, you noticed some improvements in your distance vision – then, it’s time to go lower, on that differential prescription.
You may think you are at the edge of blur. And you are. But it’s a soft target.
Go 0.25 diopters lower, if you are using a minus lense for close-up.
Buy it, but keep your previous one. Initially, just use the new one in the early in the day. Use it just for an hour, the first week. Two hours, the second. Three hours, the third. Push harder if you like, just be aware of headaches or fatigue. Stop if you feel strained, there is no real rush.
You will be in blur, well past the edge. But again, it’s a soft target. Your eyes are fully prepared now, to seek focus. You have much more latitude in expanding that boundary (not every month, but by now, we built up a big reserve). Be in that blur, where you can still read the text. A little blinking, squinting, while you work, experience how the focus momentarily improves, sometimes quite a bit.
This is one of those times where we push a bit harder, to make it past this soft plateau.
The lesson is this – while we generally want to take it slowly, the key eye health practice is to minimize close-up time, and stay away from working close-up without good ambient light. As long as we do that, though, we are ready to push a bit harder on the stimulus. We don’t want to accept what our eyes tell us is 100% (edge of blur). It’s the 70%, the margin we get when we don’t push. 0.25 diopters is in your reach, and you can get to clear that, with a little bit of time. Yes, we will have quite a bit more than edge of blur, but we need the shake-up to push our vision for further improvement.
And yes, we will get back to astigmatism, coming up. Just put it on your shopping list to buy a new differential prescription. Do it now, don’t let the upcoming installments let you forget about taking this next step.
Next up, tangible astigmatism correction suggestions. See you soon!
Cheers,
-Jake
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