kids need glasses?

Dave_C_2

If you go on the website and click on the contact us all you get is an email address - red flag number 1.

About us reveals that it is a one man operation by one Mr Donald Rehm -red flag number 2

Not a Doctor Donald Rehm -red flag number 3

To recap the international Myopia Prevention Association is a one-man operation run by someone with no medical degree.

You don't need to be an expert to realise that this a scam.

Dave

nedmundo

As an Optometrist, I agree with the sentiments above. The problem with the internet is that it's easy to make unsubstantiated claims without any liability.

If you give kids reading specs unnecessarily, it could play havoc with their convergence and accommodation. There is also some research which found that not correcting myopia potentially makes the myopia worse. I know what's I do for my kids and it's not what's suggested in that video.

kermitfrog

Dave_C wrote: »

You don't need to be an expert to realise that this a scam.

I rest my case.

brambram

[QUOTE=nedmundo;55777367
There is also some research which found that not correcting myopia potentially makes the myopia worse. I know what's I do for my kids and it's not what's suggested in that video.[/QUOTE]

My own eyes couldn't get any worse, each time you vistit the ops they tell you your eyes have deteriorated and you need new lenses, then they tell you not to wear your old pair or swap and change (I wonder why).

see here as well
http://www.powervisionforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?2-Power-Vision-System-Beginners

any way its about being aware that there may be an alternative to this rather than following without question the established methods. I have e-mailed an optician today to ask them directly if + lenses would damage eye sight further.

Pennywise2012

brambram wrote: »

My own eyes couldn't get any worse, each time you vistit the ops they tell you your eyes have deteriorated and you need new lenses, then they tell you not to wear your old pair or swap and change (I wonder why).

see here as well
http://www.powervisionforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?2-Power-Vision-System-Beginners

any way its about being aware that there may be an alternative to this rather than following without question the established methods. I have e-mailed an optician today to ask them directly if + lenses would damage eye sight further.

If you're a myopic adult, and you wear glasses weaker than your prescription (i.e. more + powered), all it will do is partially correct your vision, because your visual system and eye is fully developed. So you'll see better than with no glasses, but not as well as if you had full correction. If you go all the way and ditch your glasses in favour of some +3.00DS readers, like the video suggests, you'll probably get run over by a bus :rotfl:

nedmundo

brambram wrote: »

My own eyes couldn't get any worse, each time you vistit the ops they tell you your eyes have deteriorated and you need new lenses, then they tell you not to wear your old pair or swap and change (I wonder why).

see here as well
http://www.powervisionforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?2-Power-Vision-System-Beginners

any way its about being aware that there may be an alternative to this rather than following without question the established methods. I have e-mailed an optician today to ask them directly if + lenses would damage eye sight further.

You can believe what you want, but it really is a load of old snakeoil - see Bates method for more of the same.

Mindless_Clone

Dave_C wrote: »

About us reveals that it is a one man operation by one Mr Donald Rehm -red flag number 2

Not a Doctor Donald Rehm -red flag number 3

To be fair - and a complete pedant no doubt - top level consultants rarely go by the "Dr" title and and nearly always addressed as Mr, Ms or Mrs. So he could be highly qualified... except that if he was, I am sure he'd have the relevant letters after his name so... nah, you're right.

OP, for what it's worth, I has 20/20 vision until I started driving in my 20s. Really - I'd had them tested only a year before and was told exactly that. Perfect vision. When I nearly failed the eyesight part of my test I got them rechecked and have a very slight prescription for myopia. We're talking about -1 and -1.25 here so really minor correction, but one that meant I now wear glasses for almost all distance work. I can watch TV without them but need them for driving, cinema, that sort of thing. Due to my previous job (checkout manager) it effectively meant I wore my glasses most of the day.
I started getting double vision around my peripheral vision a few years ago. In hindsight, it was probably too soon after my son's birth and I think I was probably tired/retaining fluid/hormonal and should have waited but the advice I was given by the ophthalmist was that my muscles were weak and, alongside some exercises I was told to do, I was told to wear my distance lenses for close up work like reading and computing. The theory for this was wearing them would force my eyes to refocus and effectively exercise the muscles more. To be fair, that makes some sense, but I'm an adult and my eyes are fully formed and my sight hasn't varied by more that +/- 0.25 in all the years I've had glasses.
I have recently had them re-tested as I was getting headaches and my sight has actually improved recently, but I think that's largely because natural ageing is correcting my mild myopia. My new prescription is only slightly different from my old one, but the difference that makes is really noticeable.

My own opinion is that, while I sort of understand some of the logic behind what this video is saying, I don't think they have the appropriate medical knowledge to actually advise on this. I suspect they've taken advice possibly given to an adult (perhaps similar to what I was told) and extrapolated it to apply to children and developing eyes. It would seem it's just not that simple.
I would be quite interested to see if anyone who is medically trained supports the theory. As others have said, if there's any sound medical grounding to this, I am sure there will be reports and papers published with real evidence. The fact there's not speaks volumes.

Pennywise2012

What's worrying about this is, like Nedmundo says, following the advice can actually cause problems for a child. Because you can buy the kind of glasses they're recommending off-the-shelf, a parent could easily see the advice on the internet, believe it, and start treating the child's vision themselves without consulting anyone, all the while believing they're doing the right thing.

Most of the sites about 'curing myopia' have disclaimers on them, but they're hidden away.

FloFlo

nedmundo wrote: »

As an Optometrist, I agree with the sentiments above. The problem with the internet is that it's easy to make unsubstantiated claims without any liability.

If you give kids reading specs unnecessarily, it could play havoc with their convergence and accommodation. There is also some research which found that not correcting myopia potentially makes the myopia worse. I know what's I do for my kids and it's not what's suggested in that video.

My daughter wears glasses for short sightedness, she wore them initially for school/classroom to see the board etc. Her eyesight worsened and the optician said she needed to wear them more, now she wears them most of the time, I was glad the optician had encouraged her to wear them more often as I could tell she was struggling to see adequately without them.

Was this the right thing to do or have we made it worse by her wearing them more?

My husband is shortsighted too approx -6 both eyes and never wore glasses at all until joining the army at around 17.

I am long sighted which is reducing as I'm getting older, don't need glasses for it and causes me no problems.

brambram

MC - thanks that gives me hope that ithere may be something in this theory

Pennywise - true, I would hope no one would do this without more facts and more research. our little one has her glasses and I am not about to go against the opticians guidance. so she is doomed to a life time of myopia at seven.

FloFlo - yes as a myopic 13 yr old my eyes got worse and worse as did all in my family Mum, sis, bro all wear glasses and all have deteriorating sight. keep your eye on her prescription for worsening each time she goes.
last time I went and obtained a new pair I dleiberately didn't wear them but continued to wear my old lenses so an undercorrection for 12 months and guess what, that year my eyes didn't alter. hmm.

my instincts say there is something in this theory, but going against professional advice especially for someone elses eyesight, I cant do that yet without further evidence.