Reversing Myopia: Kevin’s Story

From Holly: It’s not that often that I publish stories written by readers, but Kevin’s story is so amazing and inspirational, I wanted to share it with you. He came across my article on 5 Simple Habits to Improve Eyesight Naturally, and began making changes in his lifestyle and approach to seeing things.

Read his story below and learn how he’s reversing his myopia and has reduced his eyeglass prescription for nearsightedness. And if you’d like to reverse your nearsightedness and improve your vision, PAY ATTENTION to what he writes about listening to his inner voice. And that’s my two cents worth :).

Source: 123rf.com
Read Kevin’s story to learn how looking at the beautiful countryside of Indonesia has helped improve his vision.

Kevin’s Story

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That is the result I saw when I searched for, “What percentage of people are nearsighted?” Regardless of its accuracy, it is quite worrying, at least for me. I started using a pair of glasses since 15 years ago when I was in my last year at my junior high school.

I already started with -3,00 for both eyes with severe astigmatism -0.75. Not long after that (probably in around 1 to 2 years—can’t remember exactly), when my father took me for eyes testing again, the test confirmed that my myopia was worsening. I needed to wear -5,00 eyeglasses for both eyes. The cause of my myopia was clear. I always read comic books for hours, without taking a break even just for seconds. My parents, at that time already warned me, but I usually ignored it.

Since that time, I always worried about my eyes, but some people say that I can get laser surgery when I reach 25. That relieved me and I completely forgot about my myopia. I always think that using eyeglasses is normal. Other people used it too. The fact that there are more and more people around me using glasses makes me think: It’s okay, more and more people are using glasses too.

But recently, I found out my thoughts were wrong. Wearing eyeglasses and getting laser surgery when you already are using too thick glasses is not normal. Normally, you should be able to see clearly at distance without glasses.

Until some months ago—can’t remember how exactly, but probably around 2 to 3 months ago—I heard my inner voice tell me to take off my glasses when I did not need to see things very clear. Examples are when I:

  • Walked through with families in shopping centers. Seriously, I am not interested to see things there very clear there
  • Had a breakfast, lunch or dinner
  • Weed or watering the garden
  • Took a shower

Then, when I browsed over the internet, I suddenly found a web page that resonated me. Honestly, I was very skeptical of any kind of ways to treat or even reduce and cure any myopia except the medical ones like wearing glasses or having laser surgery or getting contact lenses. But when I read what Holly Tse wrote on her blog, a voice resonated in my head.

Isn’t it similar what my parents told me many years ago? To be precise:

Spend time outside, preferably in nature where you can see far away so your eyes will get relaxed. I remembered from a lesson during elementary or junior high school that when we see something close, our eyes muscles will be in a contraction state.

Otherwise, when we see something far, our eyes muscles will be in relaxation state. Too much contraction will cause our eyes muscles to be unable to relax to the point where we can see clearly in the distance over time.

Do take a break when you’re doing close work. Either in front of computer, smartphones, tablets, laptops or even reading comic books!

So at that point, I decided and tried the following things in my daily life:

  • Limit my close work to 6 hours a day maximum
  • Take a break after some minutes looking at the computers or laptops, by seeing other things in distances (as far as possible)
  • Stop playing games on smartphones
  • Spend time outside by walking around to the countryside each morning near our home (when condition permits)
  • Take off my glasses when I am not driving a car or working in front of a laptop
  • Let go the feeling to see everything in clear (because actually, I don’t need it actually), and just enjoy and relax to see things blurry

Now that I have done those things around two or three months, I notice something strange when I see something without putting on my glasses: those blurry things seem bolder. Everything seems bolder.

I just ignored it first. I thought it may be my suggestion or maybe it’s because the sun rays are intense. Then overtime (or weeks), I noticed things also getting bolder in the evening or nights. I used to see everything blurry when I took off my glasses, but it’s a bit strange that those blurry things now seem bolder to me.

I still ignored it until I noticed when I wore my -5,00 glasses, I felt something strange. My inner voice said, This is unusual and I need to check my eyes. Things seem too “clear” and too “bold” (literally). It doesn’t feel comfortable to see things like this with glasses on.

A few days after, I decided to go to a nearby optometrist to get my eyes tested again. And seriously, this was my first eye-testing after my last eye-testing around 12 or 13 years ago! The result of the test was I needed to replace my eyeglasses with -4.75 and -0.5 cylinders (formerly -5.00 and 0.75 cylinders). The optometrist confirmed my current glasses prescription is too strong now.

Conclusion:
I haven’t yet seen an eye doctor, so I can’t confirm this yet: if my myopia is actually reversing medically. But the fact that the optometrist confirmed my former glasses are too strong now, means that I need to wear glasses with a lower prescription now ( -0.25 lower ). Please don’t take the story above as medical advice. It is not medical advice and is not guaranteed to cure your myopia.

My eye prescription – 2014 v.s 2017

I plan to do eye-testing again in about six months from now, which should be around 2018, April 9 if I notice something else when I see something without glasses. Whether I need to replace my glasses again with a lower prescription or higher prescription, or there’s no need to replace them, I will update it on my website. And again, don’t take the story above as medical advice. It is not medical advice and is not guaranteed to cure your myopia.

Follow Kevin on his blog, Alter Life, where he shares insights on how to live your life with more gratitude, mindfulness, and peace.

2 thoughts on “Reversing Myopia: Kevin’s Story”

  1. Thanks for sharing my story, Holly.

    I hope it inspires others too, myopia is not the end of the world, and it’s surely reversible though it takes months or years, but I believe it is worth the time!

    1. I agree. I’ve been on my “vision quest” for a few years. While it is an ongoing journey and the destination of 20/20 is not in sight yet (yes, many bad puns intended), I’m so grateful to be on this journey. I do see the light at the end of the tunnel as my vision gets clearer with each passing year. Today, I was just barely able to read the words written on the side of a truck about 50 yards away. This is AMAZING since my highest prescription several years ago was about -6.00 with severe astigmatism.

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