It's anecdotal I know, but my mother _did_ get -4 down to -1 just with exercises every morning and evening for several months, so I'm sure it _is_ possible at least with some individuals. It just requires work and dedication.
On the other hand for myself I did go for LASIK since I was -7 and didn't fancy the years of work it might entail. And it was like ... 2 day affair from going to the doctor to being fully functional without any side effects ... It was risky though as some people I know did do the same, and ended up with complications that took months to iron out.
I'm -6 and the risk of complications is what makes me think I'll probably never want to do any corrective procedure. I had been considering it for a while, but one time when I went in for a checkup, I happened to chat with another guy there who was seeing the doctor because his surgery was making him see halos. Apparently they usually go away eventually, but I decided I'd rather not find that out personally.
And I feel there's a kind of meditative calmness to the blurriness that I think I might miss. It's quite nice when I'm going to bed or waking up and everything is just a blur, no distractions to catch my eye because I can't see them! I'm probably doomed if I'm ever in an apocalypse and lose my glasses, though (see Twilight Zone "Time Enough at Last").
That's the first time I've heard someone express what I feel too! I'm -8.5 and -9.5 in contact lenses and that blurriness feels very relaxing for the brain. Though it's a bit unpractical having to hold my phone 15 cm from my face in the bed...
Also, our super power is the power to see extremely small details, which proves useful sometimes!
The other day I had a splinter in my left index fingertip that was so small I couldn‘t see it even under a magnifier. After some clueless and painful poking with a needle, removing my glasses did the trick. I located the splinter and got it out within seconds. Around -6 in glasses.
I have a similar correction and I was surprised when I was helping my brother reassemble a small motor he couldn’t see the fine details.
It wasn’t until I started wearing contacts (and thus couldn’t easily take them out) did I realize that short-sightedness gives me very good up close vision.
I can totally relate to the meditative calmness you talked about. I'm pretty sure, it contributed to my personality development as well.
I wonder if I'd have been more distracted and restless if I could see everything clearly.
I played a FPS where you could have the wall textures blurry or sharp. The blurry setting made me fiddle with my glasses unconsciously, so I went with sharp, even though I ended up looking at big squares in the limit, like a weird mosaic decorated the wall.
Can you share what exercises your mother did? Sounds like some very nice progression for her.
Glad Lasik worked out for you. What side effects did your friends experience? I've thought briefly about Lasik, but I have this (potentially irrational) fear of persistent headaches as a side effect, which would be a nightmare for me. So I stick with spectacles - it has no detrimental effect on my life, but I do wonder if it would be possible to get back good eyesight again.
Don’t remember the details of the exercises as it was long ago - some russian self help book, I think by Mirzakarim Norbekov , but the essence was to get one of the “eye test” boards and each morning focus on the elements you can see best and try to resolve just the ones below. Do it enough and you slowly start to “go down” the chart, getting better and better.
The problems - one mate didn’t properly understand the commands he was given, (not a native speaker) and ended up poking his eye sort of mid operation. They fixed his good eye, and told him to wait for a couple of weeks until the “flap” healed and regrew so they could do it again on the other eye. Totally avoidable if he was paying attention - I had no problems and it was over in like 5 mins.
Another mate didn’t get corrected to the exact focal length so they had to do it again a couple of months later. Not a big deal just unpleasant.
I decided to go for the operation after I had an eye infection and figured I was risking my eyes every time I was putting the contacts in, so might as well risk it once and be done with it. Glasses were not an option as I wanted (and still do) practice various sports, and -7 is not fun at all.
"but the essence was to get one of the “eye test” boards and each morning focus on the elements you can see best and try to resolve just the ones below"
I do this every day over years now "just in case it works" - hasn't helped me at all. Wish I could believe these delusions.
It sounds like quackery but I tried it for a couple months and comfortably went down .5(or is it "up" -.5?) and stopped going up every year. I stopped because the constantly switching strengths, self testing and having to remind myself to take breaks and look far away was more than I had the mental bandwidth for at the time. The "marketing" website reads like snake oil sleazery but what worked for me was the community wiki. Id spend hours correlating what was in the wiki with what he was hinting it at in his "hear my pitch for 10 minutes before I get to the point" videos until I got the hang of the routine, which was basically:
Have two pairs of glasses, one of them about half strength(self test for the exact number) for computer and close up work or in-home. Use your full strength glasses for important tasks like driving. Every 20-30 minutes take a break and look into the distance(works well with Pomodoro technique, if you do that), practice your blurring exercises.
Edit: at .5 adjustment I'm right at the edge of variance. It's possible to do nothing and have a slight improvement on your yearly optometrist visit because of secondary factors like change in environment or nutrition. I'm not a health expert so I can't say, but if anything that site helped me to do fewer things that strain my vision and a few things that made me more comfortable. Would I have fully cured if I kept going? Science says probably not, but I don't regret my effort.
Science is ever changing. After trying this out my self, I can say with confidence that current state of myopic management with glasses will be deemed as quackery on par with drinking crude oil to cure diseases in past centuries.
Near work imposed in schools and wearing glasses constantly is the reason for current myopia epidemic as can be evidenced by low myopia rates in schools following western curriculum that is more holistic in nature.
On the other hand for myself I did go for LASIK since I was -7 and didn't fancy the years of work it might entail. And it was like ... 2 day affair from going to the doctor to being fully functional without any side effects ... It was risky though as some people I know did do the same, and ended up with complications that took months to iron out.