Myopia - Summary

I have talked about this subject couple of times before, last time I had promised to write more useful post. Here is the attempt.

History of my own myopia (and how I mismanaged everything about it):

First prescription was -1.75 at the age of around 8, kept adding -0.50 to it at every visit to eye doctor every six months to a year till it reached -6.50/-7.00 at age when he assured it wont rise further. I had strictly worn glasses for each moment when my eyes were open, used huge sized frames that left no room for eyes to catch a glimpse of world directly. Soon after I started working, equally diligently I switched to contact lenses as recommended by the eye doctor - wearing them would help arresting further deterioration was the professional advise - as it would be even more effective in doing what those huge frame glasses did. (Okay, getting rid of those ugly glasses were also a motivation - enough of it even if doctor had not recommended.) - with work, computers screens became inevitable part of the day.

Inexplicably, viewing experience did not improve and even started getting worse - some of it was resolved when I got number rechecked - with higher prescription, though increased astigmatism could not be taken care - with lenses not supporting that correction (at that time at least) plus some other deterioration simply started becoming part of life - say dry eyes towards end of the day which slowly progressed to dry eye as soon as I put on lenses. and of course, I had forgotten what a clear and comfortable viewing experience is. In few years I had reached prescription of -10 / -10.25 sph, -1 cyl in both eyes. I had hit the bottom but at least after a long time, I found this new prescription accurate and satisfactory. (I escaped having my eyes operated to reduce myopia at this moment purely because my luck prevailed over my stupidity)

Some three years later, I was again at eye doctor's place - with mom, for her eye checkup. Given that my specs had become nearly opaque due to scratches, even though I had no problem with my prescription, I thought of getting numbers rechecked before making new specs. Indeed, fresh numbers were almost identical to what I was using for so long. btw, during these first of its kind three years when my eyesight didn't deteriorate, I had abandoned my lenses and switched back to glasses, my computer usage had gradually decreased, time with nature increased- trying to find bird among the trees near and far.

Few uncorrelated things happened over next two and half years. My computer + net rarely worked, my interest got shifted from birds to macro photography which changed how my eyes needed to work while photographing as well as time spent under the Sun (which increased significantly) and, in 2013 later half, I managed to find a remedy for my hyper acidity that had reached so troubling level that each day had become a nightmare.

End result of all these (plus probably ageing on my side) was that since mid 2014 my viewing experience through glasses, which was steady for nearly six years now, started deteriorating again - this time for a different reason. My Myopia had reversed its direction. As I had mentioned in my first post on this topic in January 2015 - it was reduced by a good -1.5D to be -9.00 now. Next year there was another reduction of -1D to -8.00 and now, its -7.50.

So, what all things appear to have contributed to my years of horrible viewing experience and what helped reversing the situation?

What Harmed
Near stress - both more time spent focusing near and continuously focusing at same near distance
Lack of time outdoors and under the Sun
Contact Lenses - By far the most horrible thing to have happened to me

What Helped
Reversal of all of above factors
My hyper acidity remedy - Triphala. Even as all the stress factors were reversed for more than five years, my eye sight only had steadied, it didn't start improving until after few months of me using triphala every day. Later, when I was experiencing significant near stress as I continued to use higher powered glasses for few months, also discovered value of triphala eye wash as immediate eye comfort. Its simply amazing.
Macro photography helped in more than one ways I think. Macro subjects often required to concentrate longer for perfect focus as well it was mostly with Sun in front and not back (not looking at Sun, but its still in front) - as a result my eyes often felt concentration 'stress' and responded with producing tears. - This I think produced much the same effect as 'Tratak'. Second, macro photography required much more steadiness - physical and mental. I guess that should have helped to improve Vata balance.

Now, I could have written most of above in my March '16 post as well. Why I didn't do it then? its because I had a feeling of missing something. listing out stress factors and set of DOs and Don'ts didn't look like very right way to understand the issue. But then something happened last year which made things clearer. Last year, couple of months were difficult - as in they ended up vitiating my Vata and Pitta quite a lot. Among all other impact it had, my numbers, which had reduced to -7.25 by then went back to -8.00 or even slightly worse. Now, during this sharp deterioration, none of the stress factors were in place and eye specific lifestyle was as good as it could be. yet, I did not wonder why it happened - for, I 'knew' it was due to deterioration of Vata and pitta. You know it takes some time before I realise what I already know. So, that's what I was missing - more elegant solution to eye health and unsurprisingly it tells us that eyes are part of our body - they dont work in isolation/as a stand alone system. and when I look back at all those years since childhood when my numbers were going from bad to worse - what was happening with by Vata Pitta balance? yes, trend was exactly the same.

Let me try to explain with an example. Say, Someone's bones are very weak. Now, he can try to save say his hand from fracture by protecting hands well. Similarly if he is interested in avoiding leg fracture, he can be extra careful about leg protection. but despite all these extra care, there is always risk of fractures so far as underlying bone weakness exist. Now, if he can get rid of his bone weakness, he need not worry about each and every bone specifically. Focusing on all-out eye specific care is like protecting specific bone. (and then similarly you go and do specific things for your skin, for your liver, heart...) Maintaining your Vata, Pitta and Kaph in balance is like strengthening bones. 

Does that mean you can go ahead and expose your eyes to any or all stressors? Well.. what do you think will happen to even someone with strong bones if he engages in.. in any bone-breaking activity? Similarly, even if you maintain overall vata pitta balance, constant stressors to eyes can disturb local vata pitta and show effects. Fair usage policy always apply.