Anonymous wrote:20/20/20 rule
outdoor time

This
-signed an ophthalmologist

OUTDOOR SPORTS - soccer, baseball, tennis, field hockey, lacrosse, etc. Not indoor sports, but outdoor sports.

Please ignore the AI-generated posts above. According to my child's ophthalmologist, the two best things you can do for your kid to keep them out of glasses are (1) get them outside as much as possible and (2) avoid screens. If you must use screens, TV is better than iPads/laptops. Sit far away.

As for the eye drops - these are common and supposed to prevent eyesight from getting worse. My own optometrist said the instant one of my kids needs glasses to get them to him right away to make sure they get treated. They no longer have to suffer with getting glasses and eyesight that gets worse and worse. There are ways to prevent it from getting worse.

That said, bad genes are bad genes. If everyone in the family has glasses, your child is likely to get them too.

There was a study in Singapore comparing ethnically Chinese students who typically spent time indoors vs. ethically Chinese students who live in Australia where they are often outside as part of the school curriculum, doing outdoor sports, beach, etc.

There was a really big difference in how many kids needed to wear glasses and the severity with kids in Australia doing much better.

My take away with my kids was for them to get a bunch of outdoor time. It is important to be able to look into the distance. So it doesn't count if you read a book outdoors. So we intentionally signed up our kids for soccer not basketball (primarily indoors) and for baseball/softball not gymastics (primarily indoors).

Additionally because so many people in our family wear glasses with really strong prescriptions (severe myopia) we asked our eye doctor to write a note that due to a medical reason they needed to be placed to the fullest extent possible in a classroom with natural sunlight not a basement classroom with artificial lighting.

Only for near-sightedness -- studies in Taiwan with good sample sizes and good controls -- showed that having a good bit of daily outdoor time either significantly reduced increase in near-sightedness or stopped it.

One result is that schools there now have a minimum daily outdoor time.

DH and I have bad nearsightedness (with a side of astigmatism too). DH is -7 and at my worst, I was -12. Somehow, our almost 16 year old has perfect vision. Each year, the eye doctor says next year could be the year he starts to need glasses. I'll say with a bit of shame that he has heavy screen usage and not a great diet, so I'm shocked it's not worse. I think the saving grace for him is that he plays baseball almost year-round so he's using his distance vision and in the sunlight too. Also, he never went through a massive growth spurt (was more of a slow and steady guy); the eye doctor said vision can decline during growth spurts as the eyeball gets stretched out (for myopia). They say that even if he does eventually need glasses, he's most likely escaped having the really bad vision his parents do.

There is a lot of research about nearsightedness in East Asian countries and dramatic improvements after lifestyle changes (driven by the government). Basically, kids need to spend 2 hours a day outside starting very young.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/10/kids-glasses-vision-increased-nearsightedness-myopia/671244/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, wearing glasses is so not a big deal. My son got them a week after his first birthday. He wore them for 10 years and they improved his eyesight enough that he no longer needed them.

How could a kid wear glasses for 10 years become 20/20 suddenly with perfect eyesight? To cure nearsighted?

I never said he was nearsighted. He was farsighted. He also wore a patch for a few years to strengthen one eye.

If your kids have bad eyesight, get those ortho-k contacts to correct the vision overnight. And then stop worrying about something that you really can't control.

Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition
Exercise for eyes.
Maintain your blood sugar, blood pressure, weight and cholesterol levels
Drink lots of water. Eat lots of greens, seeds and nuts.
Full body exercise
Oil massage for whole body. Castor oil massage in scalp and face.
Castor oil on eyelids.
Avoid eye makeup.
Sleep
reduce screen
Take breaks when reading or watching screen.
Charge your cones and rods with the red color of early sunrise. 10 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:DH's family side have some health & mental genes and my kids unfortunately have inherited some when born. Our 9 year old niece from DS's side has -3.0 nearsighted and she rarely watches screens. BIL had bad eyesight and wore glasses since age 7. A year ago, they are giving her a FDA unapproved steroid eyedrop (prescribed by doctor) every night to prevent eyesight getting worse. A year after now, she needs to wear glasses daily and doing eyedrop every night. They tell them it is the gene. Anything can I do to prevent or postpone that my kids getting that as well? There are not many kids wear glasses at ES yet.

I have no idea how to postpone or prevent what you are stating. I just find it curious that despite both my spouse and I having pretty bad vision, our kids are 20/20 and are now 17 and 19. Crazy. I have really bad astigmatism and spouse really can't see at all without glasses / contacts. I started wearing glasses in 5th grade and same for my spouse.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, wearing glasses is so not a big deal. My son got them a week after his first birthday. He wore them for 10 years and they improved his eyesight enough that he no longer needed them.

How could a kid wear glasses for 10 years become 20/20 suddenly with perfect eyesight? To cure nearsighted?

20/20/20 rule
outdoor time

Honestly, wearing glasses is so not a big deal. My son got them a week after his first birthday. He wore them for 10 years and they improved his eyesight enough that he no longer needed them.

DH's family side have some health & mental genes and my kids unfortunately have inherited some when born. Our 9 year old niece from DS's side has -3.0 nearsighted and she rarely watches screens. BIL had bad eyesight and wore glasses since age 7. A year ago, they are giving her a FDA unapproved steroid eyedrop (prescribed by doctor) every night to prevent eyesight getting worse. A year after now, she needs to wear glasses daily and doing eyedrop every night. They tell them it is the gene. Anything can I do to prevent or postpone that my kids getting that as well? There are not many kids wear glasses at ES yet.