kids need glasses?

brambram

update - question answered on specsave website here

http://www.specsavers.co.uk/ask-the-optician/will-prescribing-plus-reading-lenses-prevent-myopia-in-children/

however I feel that this question has not been answered fully.

so I will contact them again.

kermitfrog

brambram wrote: »

...however I feel that this question has not been answered fully.

so I will contact them again.

You sound as though you don't want to believe anything that contradicts that video.

brambram

hmm maybe, he didn't say what would happen if you prescribe the opposite way. (he knows, I know he knows)
he didn't answer if the genetic myopia can be halted, ie you may not correct entirely but if it can be stopped from progressing further so at 40 she is not as blind as a bat.
I am not sure how to phrase my questions yet.

paddyrg

Hi Brambram

Please be very careful what advice you follow - there is plenty of bad advice on the internet, often dressed up all fancy with plausible videos and the likes, but not standing up to scrutiny.

Everyone understands you just want the best for your child, every parent does, and sometimes it is hard to accept feeling powerless to change something, and that is what quack practitioners key into. Remember, nobody actually wants your child to need glasses. Opticians do not conspire to create addiction, they just want to help.

As they want to help, they do a lot of reserch. Proper medical research may not have fancy videos, but it doesn't need it, it has evidence on its side. That evidence is all there to view, for instance http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22161388/ is what is called an abstract of a meta-analysis, based on reviewing in this case 23 different trials (representing several thousand people). A lot of people dedicate a lot of time and money into trying to prevent diseases, not all diseases or conditions can be cured easily, some can be easily managed though, and then there are cures available later in life (laser surgery for instance).

Frustrating as it is, this is a case where you either listen to decades of research and experts, or some guy with a bee in his bonnet and a video. I really urge you to step back and think who, on balance, is likely to have the answer. It may be the one bloke, he may be a genius and have discovered something new, and if he has, he will be welcomed into science with open arms (science is not picky - where 'alternative medicine' works, it simply becomes 'medicine'!). But to do so, the guy needs evidence, not theories.

The 'evidence' he provides on his site is terrible - it just doesn't stand up, which is why nobody is taking him seriously in science, so he has to promote his book and ideas via videos. He would not need to if he had good evidence. He would instead be world-famous and loved globally for breakthrough medicine and saving the NHS millions of pounds. You see why I urge caution?!

I can make a claim that cake makes you thin, but only my special cake, because it has heptane-blocking doodackies baked into every bite. I could make a video, I could make it seem plausible, I could get a few celebrity endorsements within the week and get the cover of the Daily Mail...would my cake make you thin? Only as a part of a calorie controlled diet, as they say. But I would sell tons of the stuff. Don't think this is unrealistic by the way, every slimming pill/fad/diet/berry/etc does exactly this. People have vested interests which they promote. Where those interests involve flying in the face of evidence, they get slick advertising/videos and hope nobody questions the science and evidence. People want hope, they want to believe in diet pills, snake oil, abs machines, Vit C to cure AIDS (this was government policy in SA, backed by a millionaire vitamin seller, and in recent history), myopia cures, they want to believe there is some loophole, some overlooked easy answer. It usually doesn't end up that way (which is why AIDS is so ravaging in SA when so many lives could have benefitted from anti-retrovirals).

Please, please, do really weigh up who is telling you what and why before deciding who is more likely to be correct - one guy with a bee in his bonnet and a book to sell, or 100+ years of medical research that publishes its rigorous research?

brambram

I will be careful thankyou for your kind post and for your information link, its very useful.

paddyrg

brambram wrote: »

I will be careful thankyou for your kind post and for your information link, its very useful.

Honestly, it's because I care, and would be mortified if you tried out an idea which could prove harmful and I hadn't tried to help. I am sure you would be beyond gutted if there was any chance following 'some guy' without question could actually cause harm to those you love and want to help.

Is the guys idea harmful? I have no idea, I am not an optician, not a medical doctor, not a researcher - so have to trust specialists opinions. I just needed to make sure you had the bigger picture so you can make informed choices for those you love

All the very best,

bargainbetty

It is also worth noting that some eye conditions do deteriorate over time, then stabilise. I started wearing glasses for class-room work and TV at nine years old, progressed to full time glasses, and my eyes had reached a 5.5 and 5.75 level of shor sightedness by the time I was 26. I have astigmatisms in both eyes, which can change with hormonal developments, growth spurts, anything, it seems!

I have had the same prescription now for 10 years. I am routinely told I don't need to buy a new pair of glasses, and don't need to upgrade my lenses.

Personally, I will go to a trained, reputable and recognised optician/optometrist who can examine my eyes and see what is best for me, rather than listen to someone ranting on the net. If his research was sound, it would be everywhere, not just one little corner of youtube.

elmer

My eyesight became short sighted relatively quickly over 6 months when I was 16, being a stroppy teenager I refused to wear glasses at all.

6 years later, I bought contact lenses for the same perscription, Ive worn them every day for the last 26 years and my perscription has never changed in all that time regardless of whether I wore corrective lenses or not, so I think you need to go with the optician not the quack.

But its your child.....

elmer