Harvard Professor Of Evolutionary Biology,
About Myopia:

In his book, “Story Of The Human Body” Daniel Lieberman has this to say about myopia:

Nearsightedness is a complex trait caused by many interactions among a large number of genes and multiple environmental factors.

However, since people’s genes haven’t changed much in the last few centuries, the recent worldwide epidemic of myopia must result primarily from environmental shifts.

Of all the factors identified, the most commonly identified culprit is close work:intent focusing fro long periods of time on nearby images such as sewing and words on a page or screen.”’

This is from the chair of the department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

And of course he is correct. Him, along with clinical studies over the past 4 decades confirm that myopia is an environmental problem – and the thousands of posts in the support forum of this site show that we clearly have an excellent way to stop and reverse myopia.

First, Let’s Understand What Exactly Is Affecting Your Eyesight:

All Myopia Starts As A Temporary Symptom.

Initial myopia, or pseudo myopia, referred to as NITM, or “near induced transient myopia”, in medical journals.

This is just a spasm of the focusing muscle in your eye (the ciliary). Caused by too much close-up focus, when the muscle is at its most contracted, the symptom is just ‘transient’ – temporary.

While this symptom is diagnosed as myopia and glasses are prescribed, it could easily be reversed at this stage. It isn’t until you begin wearing glasses (the minus lens, as referred to in studies), that your myopia becomes something more dangerous.

Once You Begin To Wear Glasses, Your
Vision Gets Worse.

You will find this phenomenon listed in medical journals and studies as “lens-induced myopia”.

When you put a minus lens (your glasses are a minus lens) in front of an eye, be it human, monkey, mouse, or even fish (there are studies on fish!), it becomes myopic. Since the eye is a dynamic organ, it responds to the change in where the light focuses on the retina.

Remember, myopia initially was a focusing muscle spasm. While using a lens to refocus the light seemingly addresses the symptom, it just creates a new problem – progressively increasing myopia.

None of this is news to medical science.

NITM has been coined by medical science, and is mentioned in myopia studies dating back more than 40 years.

Google Scholarly Reveals Dozen of Pages of Clinical Studies:

There are hundreds of these studies published by a range of universities and science journals:

British Journal of Ophthalmology

“Ophthalmologists should also recognise and take up the challenge of preventing or curing myopia by addressing its cause and not simply treating the consequences.”

State University of New York

“The relation between myopia and near work has been reasonably well established in humans

[…] This includes the environmental factor of near work-induced transient myopia (NITM).”

The University of Waterloo

“The visual environment is an important factor controlling ocular development in lower vertebrates, as well as in higher ones, and eye development is not strictly genetically determined.”

Wayne State University

“In vivo high-resolution analysis of changes in ocular components and refractive state of the eye upon induction of experimental myopia in mice.”

The University of Alabama

“A minus-power lens placed in front of the eye produces increased axial elongation and a myopic shift […]“

Clearly, myopia is well researched and well understood in the medical science community. This is absolutely not the case on the retail level – where the bulk of the education is centered on creating lens prescriptions and selling fashion glasses and contact lens technology.

I hope to provide you with a more health focused approach to myopia, here.

Who Not To Ask About How To Improve Eyesight:

This may sound cynical, but that optic shop is in business selling you things that keep you coming back.

If they focused on how to improve eyesight, they would be out of business soon. And the ones who educate them (the optic shop), are huge, multi-billion dollar a year lens manufacturers. There is nobody in the chain of corporate vision health, interested in how to improve eyesight.

And again, no need to take my word for it:

That is Luxottica’s last five years of stock performance. What do they sell? I’ll let you guess. You might guess fashion frames and other glasses-related accessories, and not be far off.

This is not an isolated example. Another:

And that is Essilor. French lens manufacturer. Your lenses are probably made by them.

That’s their five year stock trend. There are billions of dollars at stake, not improving your eyesight. There is more:

Here is Zeiss lens manufacturing five year stock trend. I could go on with this, forever.

Acuvue, the contact lens maker, did 64 BILLION dollars in business last year alone. Why don’t any of these guys tell you how to improve eyesight? Above, the billion dollar answer. Your optometrist is just the last guy in that chain of sales. The guy telling you that “there is no cure for myopia”, is the sales guy of these lens manufacturers. That might be a bit blunt, but how else can you reasonably put it?

That’s it. That’s all there is to know. NITM, lens-induced myopia, billions of dollars in profit to keep your eyes behind lenses.

Ophthalmologists Are In On The Profit Scheme.

It would be easy for you to say … “Alex, now you are talking crazy.” But let’s have PBS and the Wall Street Journal do the talking, instead of me.

Do you know what the top paid medical profession in Medicare payouts is?

Do you know how much money the professionals make, who tell you that myopia can’t be cured, and that only surgery or lenses can manage your eyesight?

Take a look at this shocking article on how much your eyesight is really a profit motivated business. Let’s look at highlights of the full and disturbing story, from this PBS article:

WASHINGTON — Medicare paid a tiny group of doctors $3 million or more apiece in 2012. One got nearly $21 million.

Those are among the findings of an Associated Press analysis of physician data released Wednesday by the Obama administration, part of a move to open the books on health care financing. Topping Medicare’s list was Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen.

In the $3 million-plus club, 151 ophthalmologists — eye specialists — accounted for nearly $658 million in Medicare payments, leading other disciplines.

***

(Link: Wall Street Journal original research.)

Who makes the most money? Ophthalmologists. Who supports their education, and the product sales? Lens manufacturers.

Who tells you that myopia can’t be cured, that we don’t understand the cause (though clearly we do)?

Who claims that only their advice is the truth, and that only lenses or surgery can manage your eyesight?

Who tries to silence anyone who dares to suggest that myopia is manufactured illness?

And while this site, the idea of myopia being reversible may sound far fetched, I hope you are beginning to see how much profit is the main motivation of the industry.

Keep in mind that this isn’t just me, Alex, asking you to trust me. Go to Google Scholar, or PBS, or The Wall Street Journal, and see for yourself.

NITM And Lens-Induced Myopia

Once you have NITM and get an incorrect treatment plan from the optometrist (incorrect being glasses instead of some simple habit changes), you end up with lens-induced myopia. This is where the trouble starts, and where you eyesight continues to get worse. Here again, a quick search on Google Scholarly reveals that this isn’t any kind of news to anyone in the medical field. Hundreds of studies ranging from high school students, to monkeys, mice, birds, and even fish, all show that putting a minus lens in front of the eye causes increasingly poor eyesight.

It is at the NITM stage, that the question of how to improve eyesight should stop the whole progression. Unfortunately that isn’t the case.

Of course so far, none of this requires a leap of faith on your part. There isn’t any question about these facts.

The only question is, why your optometrist has no earthly clue about what medical science, and science journals in his/her field have been discussing for decades.

Once you are clear about the cause, it’s time to look at some changes:

Start Looking At Your Glasses As A Temporary Crutch

Glasses shouldn’t be replacing your healthy eyesight.

They should be a crutch to help regain it. Remember lens-induced myopia? Glasses are pretty dangerous, if abused. You experienced this already, with ever increasing prescriptions. Of course you shouldn’t just stop wearing glasses, that won’t accomplish anything. When we look at how your eyesight got worse, and in reverse, how to improve eyesight, prescriptions are a big piece of the puzzle. And dialing back to a level where your eyes have to work for focus, is a very good idea.

There are two key concepts here, which you will want to understand very well – the blur horizon and active focus.

Of all the things on this site, understanding those two concepts will get you the furthest.

And before you ask why nobody else talks about this – I don’t know. But I have been doing this for over 40 years, and a lot of it has come from trial and error, client feedback, reading all those clinical studies your optometrist has been busy ignoring, and looking for solutions rather than prescriptions.

Why Eyesight Exercises Don’t Really Work

The same reason most diets don’t have a long term positive effect on weight, eye exercises just give you temporary improvements.

They sound interesting, they sell lots of books and online programs, but I rarely hear of anyone who improved their vision using some exercise regimen. I am certainly not opposed to anything that works – but doing a set of odd (and most not exactly a natural use of your eyes) exercises every day hardly has anything to do with addressing the cause of myopia (remember, NITM and lens-induced).

The real key to vision improvement is positive, targeted habit change.

There is absolutely no way around this – we have to get a better set of close-up habits to resolve the NITM problem. And once we do that, we have to address prescription use and prescription strength to get you working on positive stimulus (active focus) for your regular lifestyle.

All of this means an up-front learning curve, habit building, and then basically “auto pilot” for ongoing improvement, and natural eyesight that will last.

Get Access To 40 Years of Myopia Rehabilitation Experience.

I’m Alex #endmyopia. This site is my retirement project.

After 40 years in the business of helping clients improve their eyesight through rehabilitation, I find that very little has changed. Your choices in finding a legitimate alternative to glasses or surgery are still few and far between. Even with the reach of the Internet now at our fingertips, I see very little meaningful discussion about eyesight health.

I hope to provide you with some education about your eyesight, and what happened to your 20/20 vision.

This isn’t another “eyesight exercises” site. I don’t suggest you use Bates Method, or pinhole glasses, Ortho-K, or any of the other various methods with questionable benefit. I also answer all of your e-mails myself. Drop me a line anytime to my personal e-mail address:

Bear in mind that sometimes it takes me a day or two to get to all e-mails. If you used any of my courses in the past, you should also have access to the forum – I check in there most days for your questions as well.

Take a moment to read through this page, and then explore the site, blog, and forum at your leisure.

I Can Help You To Start Improving Your
Eyesight, TODAY.

Instead of letting your eyesight continue to deteriorate, increasing your risk of retinal detachment later in life, you can start taking preventative measures right now.

I Put Together A Step-By-Step Program to Improve Your Eyesight, Based on My 40 Years Experience.

Take just 20 minutes a day, three days per week, to get your healthy eyesight back.

This program is the optimized, condensed, best practices of everything from my 40 years in helping clients get back their healthy eyesight. We leave out all the things that aren’t entirely necessary, and focus on the aspects that give you the most improvement.

The program is also mainly focused on habit changes, rather than eye exercises.

Why?

Eye exercises simply don’t work, long term.

You might be excited for a while and try them, but then life takes back over. What you need is a way to change your consistent habits in a way that makes them automatic, and require no ongoing effort on your part. The only thing that ever works, I have learned, is habit changes.

The Vision Improvement Course is all about getting you into healthy eyesight habits.

Here Is What You Will Find In The Full Vision Improvement Course:

1st Month – The Corse Course Program (All You Need For Improving Your Eyesight)

#1: Snellen & Strain Awareness Practices
• #2: Improving Your Close-Up Focal Plane
• #3: In Depth: Snellen How-To
• #4: Key Improvement Outdoor Exercise
• #5: Leverage Peripheral Vision Awareness
• #6: Discussing Your Snellen Results
• #7: Overall Progress Review
• #8: Retinal Shaping Practices (RS)
• #9: Retinal Shaping: Review
• #10: Myopia: Recognizing Depression Symptoms
• #11: Myopia and Alcohol
• #12: High Impact Focal-Plane Exercise
• #13: Beta Keratin: Key Dietary Supplements
• #14: Simplifying Habits: Exercise Variations
• #15: Experience Voluntary Muscle Control
• #16: Looking at the Support Forums
• #17: Close-Up Vision – a Limited Resource
• #18: Review / Preview
• #19: Rehab Treats – Best Practices
• #20: Myopia Prevention in Children
• #21: More Exercise Variations
• #22: Easy Focal Plane Tips
• #23: Check Your Ciliary Function
• #24: Another Focal-Plane Trick
• #25: Double Down On Improvements
• #26: Alex Tricks: Squinting and Blinking
• #27: Foundations for Continued Progress
• #28: What We Can Learn: Jeff Recounts His Experience
• #29: Normalized Prescription Part I
Near Focus Exercises – Day 1-5
• Customized Exercise Programs
• Working With The Myopia Calculator
• Near Focus Exercises – Day 6-10
• Normalized Prescription Part II
• The Android Centimeter Calculator
• Near Focus Exercises – Day 11-15
• #30: No Correction Sundays

The first 30 days cover everything you need, from measuring your own eyesight, to healthy close-up prescriptions, and all the small habit changes that will give you long term healthy eyesight.

From there, you can choose to get advanced program topics, or just continue with what you learned from the core program.

(Optional) Advanced Program Contents

I answer all of your questions in the support forum, and of course I offer a no-questions money back guarantee, if you find the course to be anything less than fantastic for your eyesight.

The support forum is entirely uncensored, and open for you to read anytime. Just click the “Support” button on top of every page – it shows all participant questions, feedback, and stories. I added the forum for transparency and to help build a community around eyesight improvement.

New: Up To 14 Installments 100% Free Trial

To help you decide whether a habit-change based vision improvement course is right for your lifestyle, I am now offering up to 14 installments entirely for free.

From there you can assess whether my program is right for you.

The 14 installments trial includes my full forum support and complete access to the program.

Get The Risk-Free Free Trial

Or for more course options, see the program options page.

Gabriel: From Panic Attacks To 20/20

“I read the 20/20 line today.”

“I rolled out of bed and looked at he clock. The black and red numbers looked particularly bright in the morning. After I shut my alarm off I made an observation. I”m seeing very well, I thought. And I wanted to know just how well so I hauled out the snellen chart and gave it a glance.

I decided to take it outside as it was a warm fall day with the sun shining on my back. I measured out twenty feet and wondered what I could see. Instantly, the 20/50 line jumped out at me. Then I spent ten minutes or so trying to bring the other lines into focus. Eventually I got down to 20/20. I wore glasses for 20 years and I just read 20/20 in about a month of vision recovery.

Contrast this to a few months ago when I misplaced my glasses. I was nearly blind, I thought. I stumbled around my house searching for my missing spectacles acutely aware of my impairment. I got distraught. After a few hours I started tearing up and having a panic attack which was only stopped by finding my glasses sitting on a chair I had looked over a dozen times or more but couldn’t see.

Now I’m rarely using glasses even though my vision isn’t truly 20/20.

The important thing is I can see and it’s wonderful.”

Find his full story here.

Liam: From -5.25 to 20/20:

“I joined the web program in July this year after already getting some small improvements on my own.”

“I had some good habits in placed mainly because of all the free content on this site + sites like gettingstronger.org and I wanted to see if the web program could accelerate my progress, plus fill in gaps in my knowledge.

I had learned about and tried the Bates method two years ago but that gave me zero improvements. It had me walking around with no glasses when I needed them. Also when your optician tells you flatout that it is impossible to improve your eyesight it’s hard to believe otherwise. If I wasn’t so stubborn I would have given up a while ago.

Anyway, in July 2012 I was wearing glasses with this prescription:

Left: -5.25, 0.50 CYL
Right: -5.00

Today I can see the 20/40 line consistently outdoors with no glasses, and if I let it clear I can usually read the 20/20 line too.

The whole story and forum thread are here.

Samson: Recovering From High Myopia

“My name’s Samson and I’m 20 this year. It’s my first time posting here so I thought I’d share my experiences so far!”

“About 3 months ago, I had -7.75 diopters of myopia and -7 diopters in my right, according to the centimeter calculator.

Not one to give up, I started googling for ways to reduce myopia.

One day, by chance, I found the #endmyopia Method mentioned ever so fleetingly on someone’s blog! Rather intrigued, I began reading the articles on the site. They made sense to me, since they were all about changing habits instead of un-maintainable exercises. After getting a part-time job, I finally took the plunge and subscribed to the web program!

And week by week, my eyesight improved, just by following the instructions and suggestions in the installments! I’m now at -5.75 in my left eye and -5 in my right eye, and I’m still surprised I managed to drop 2 whole diopters in 3 months! Onward to 20/20!

And a big thank you to Alex for making his method available to so many through the internet!

See the full forum thread here, and the related blog topic discussing his case, here.

Donations: Your Support Of This Site Via the Paid Program Goes To Promoting Eyesight Health.

Originally, all of the site contents were free.

At some point I realized that I could not support all the infrastructure as well as necessary promotion on my own. From this realization came the distinction between the free and (optional) paid content.

Everything you need, is available entirely for free in the blog and support forum.

If you choose to financially support the growth of this myopia alternative, the paid program condenses all the materials into a simple step-by-step program. Alternatively, you can get review copies if you have a blog or site, or group discounts for schools or specific work or professional groups. Contact me with questions – I want to help with your eyesight improvement goals.

Vision Improvement Course: Up To 14 Installments 100% Risk Free Trial

To help you decide whether a habit-change based vision improvement course is right for your lifestyle, I am now offering up to 14 installments entirely for free.

From there you can assess whether my program is right for you.

The 14 installments trial includes my full forum support and complete access to the program.

Try 14 Installments Free

Or for more course options, see the program options page.

Neil: Ready to Remove the ‘Corrective Vision’ Restriction From his Drivers License:

“I’m amazed by how quickly my eyes have been improving over the past 15 days!”

“When I first started, I had just been (over-)prescribed at -2.00D/-1.75D after about a decade at -1.00D. I was wearing my minus lenses all day, even for close-up work (if only I had known then what I know now…).

On day 1 of the program I could clear 20/70 on my Snellen but not 20/50. I started wearing +0.5D glasses for close-up work.

Today, I cleared 20/25 on my Snellen for the first time! I only put my minus glasses on now when I need to be able to read text on the TV or on a whiteboard or screen across the room at work.

The full story here: http://www.frauenfeldclinic.com/myopia-forums/topic/day-15-progress/

Matthew: An Improvement Of 30% In Just 46 Days:

“Just received my normalized prescription contact lenses today (-3.00D; clean without any astigmatism correction). *Note: They simply arrived before my normalized glasses, so I popped them in and was so overwhelmed with joy that everything was still clear except the very, very far street signs (approximately 100m or further).”

“So of course I had to perform a quick Snellen test. Got home, went outside, measured 20ft, and made sure the noon sun was fully illuminating the chart.

At first, the best I could read was the 20/13 line. I pulled focus (was an amazing feeling) for about 5-10 minutes and was able to READ the 20/10 line!

Obviously this is very pleasing for me considering I was only able to read the 20/10 line with sunlight 46 days ago only with my full prescription (-4.00D, -0.50, 180; equivalent to -4.25 clean/no astigmatism).

Full Story: http://www.frauenfeldclinic.com/myopia-forums/topic/30-improvement-in-46-days/

Sara: Success With The Child Myopia Web Program:

“It’s been several weeks now that Zachary has been following you program. He has developed much better habits, better distancing, regular breaks, plenty of outdoor time and his +lenses for close up ( especially for computer use).”

“We have recorded his measurements morning and afternoon and are pleased to say that in the last 6 weeks he has gone from 90 cm to 226 cm!! He has gradually improved every day and hasn’t has a backward measurement for the last 4 weeks, it’s truly fantastic!! We cannot thank you enough

Full story: http://www.frauenfeldclinic.com/myopia-forums/topic/massive-improvement/

Bruno: Progress Using the Web Program:

“My latest centimeter measurements are implying it is time for another prescription change. I’m at around 80 cm = -1.25 now (both eyes). My left eye seems to have improved lately so both eyes are around the same.”

“With my normalized prescription(L-1.25 and R -1.0) I lately felt like my left eye had sharper sight than my right. Today I could read 20/30 easily and half of 20/20 on my snellen. So I think it’s about time to drop down to -1.00 on both eyes. What do you think?

Btw thanks for the article on astigmatism. It is the first explanation that made actually sense to me.”

Full Story: http://courses.endmyopia.org/forums/topic/good-news/

Jennifer’s Optometrist Visit:

“I’ve been following the program from the beginning, but I didn’t really have anything important to say until now. I’m one of the higher myopes in the program (I think). I started working on vision rehabilitation about six month ago.”

My original prescription (which had been stable for the last 10 years) was OD -6.5 -1.00×180 and OS -6.25 -.5×015. I just went for an eye exam on October 22 and the measurement there was OD -4.75 -0.75×180 and OS -4.75.

The other really great new was that my doctor was very intrigued by the positive change in my vision and was interested in more information on the subject of vision rehabilitation.

http://courses.endmyopia.org/forums/topic/optometrist-visit/

Cora: Reporting Improvements

“So, I’m excited to tell that I have improvements, I think! I’m the one lagging way behind, so this is very exciting as I had almost (but not quite) given up on my eyes.”

“My Snellen started out with a pretty solid 20/30 and 20/25, with no change during the day. A few days ago I tested again and found myself at an easy 20/20 and 20/15! And this morning I checked again and could make out 20/15 and 20/13. This however, was with a bit of straining to read, but I got the letters right after all. So: EXCITING! I have to test again this evening to see where I’m at then. I already have had some very light retinal detachment and thinning out, so every bit of relief for my retina is most welcome.

I do feel like it is uncomfortable reading with my full prescription contacts, but I felt that right away when I first could compare using reading glasses. I think at -7 point something that is probably just the case.

I’m liking this. “

Full Story: http://courses.endmyopia.org/forums/topic/improvements/

Experience Your Own Vision Improvement – Free Course, Free Trial, and Full Course Options

There is no other program like this one. You can choose from one-on-one support and work with me directly, or use the simple Web Program and follow at your own pace. And in any case I check on the forum almost every day, to answer questions you might have.

Check Out The Vision Improvement Course

Help Spread Awareness

Enjoyed this article? Did it help you with some ideas on how to improve eyesight? Help spread the word about real eyesight health. If you have a blog, participate in forum, or even social media, please share a link to this post. You might help someone else discover this alternative to glasses.

Download A Copy Of The Free Myopia Prevention Course.

It is a great introduction to vision health, and divided into four easy e-mail installments.

While it doesn’t go as far as the Vision Improvement course to cover how to improve eyesight, it helps in stopping the myopia progression:

[newsletter]

Enjoy!

Anytime you have questions about your eyesight, or this site, just send me an e-mail to:

Latest Posts From The Eyesight Health Blog:

Forum & Membership Enhancements

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When you look at any forum participant, you can now click their name and see their profile along with a host of options. That way you can follow their progress, see questions they asked, and even connect with them directly.

Here is how it works, it’s really quite simple!

1. Click the name next to any post:

2. Click the forum link:

3. Read member’s forum posts:

That’s it! Even I could figure it out.

Notice that when you first click their name, their most recent activity shows. This only works for anything posted since the functions were added. Anything older than a few weeks won’t show up in that activity feed.

There are other functions in there, you can message individuals, you can add them as friends and get notifications when they post, and start groups. From what I am told these aren’t really going to be promoted for now, but they are there if you want to use them.

If you enjoy getting to know contributors better, you can also add a profile picture to your own account (from the main forum page at the top).

Any questions, use the contact link or the Q&A, or the forum. So many choices! 🙂

I hope to see you take advantage of our forum features!

– Neha

By Jake S.|February 20th, 2017|The Course|

Reader Mail: A Whole Lot Of 20/20 Gains

We get a lot of e-mails, with improvement reports and thumbs up on the endmyopia process. I want to post every single e-mail of righteous gains individually.

Each is well worthy of its own post, celebrate the effort and results.

Too many though and we’d be here forever posting them all. So today here is an update post on the improvement e-mails from the last couple days. Read them all, they all should be offering bits of insight and inspiration!

E-mails and some Facebook posts, too.

Babsi, progress from -6.25 reduced to -4.50:

Christiane, a full diopter reduced:

Dan, 3 diopters reduced in six months:

Jo, -4.75 to -4.00 in three months:

Jodie, an optician, starting out with endmyopia:

A thumbs up from Joy:

Savitha, 1.25 diopters reduced:

Troy, from -4.50 down to -3.25:

Chelsee, from -3.00 to -1.75:

Wow, right?

That’s an intense amount of diopters being disposed of, all over the world, by all walks of life. Imagine, this is just a few days of e-mails, and how many people are doing the same and just not necessarily writing in about their progress?

Please do keep the reports coming, they’re so important to share and catalog. Let’s […]

By Jake S.|February 17th, 2017|Just With Blog, Student Reviews|

Harvard Professor Of Evolutionary Biology, About Myopia: