(GStart3.txt) HOW TO AVOID NEARSIGHTEDNESS A Scientific Study of the Eye's Behavior Nearsightedness is a major debility for would-be pilots. A senior pilot with a major airline will earn $200,000 per year. Over a normal lifetime, a professional pilot will earn $2,000,000 dollars. The Federal Aeronautics Administration (FAA) requires 20/20 vision (focal state zero to +1.5 diopters) to maintain this qualification. Vision less that 20/20 (focal state less than zero diopters) will require a waiver to obtain a First Class Medical Certificate, and will deny you full access to a complete career as a professional pilot. Airlines PREFER pilots with naked eye 20/20. If you wish to maintain first class qualification and are entering a four year aeronautical college, it is essential that you make a personal effort to preserve you distance vision. This book will explain how to achieve this goal. HOW TO AVOID NEARSIGHTEDNESS contains a detailed scientific and engineering assessment of the eye's behavior. It is necessary to develop a complete understanding of eye's behavior under testable conditions to adequately understand myopia. The model and experimental data developed in this book demonstrate that reading induced nearsightedness is preventable. DID YOU KNOW THAT o Nearsightedness is preventable o The preventive procedure (in modified form) is now practiced by 25% of the eye care profession. o Experimental studies clearly show the effect that a confined (reading) environment has on the eye. o Nearsightedness is a negative focal state of the eye, rather than a organic, hereditary, or diseased condition. o The approach developed and used in this book was recommended for students at the U. S. Naval Academy. o Selected ophthalmologists and optometrists are willing to help you with prevention, provided that you understand both the difficulties and opportunities of the preventive approach, and you are willing to take ultimate long-term control and responsibility for the effort. GETTING STARTED Science is the art of making measurements. Make them yourself and you will believe the results. The first step is to establish a baseline measurement for your eye. You can down-load a good eye chart from: http://www.i-see.org Or your can cut letters out of the newspaper of the following sizes, and put them at 20 feet (6.1 meters). 1.4 Inch (3.55 cm) 20/80 3/4 Inch (1.77 cm) 20/40 3/8 Inch (0.89 cm) 20/20 Do not panic if your vision is worse the 20/20. It does take time to gradually work your way out of the situation. (i.e., change your focal status from a negative value to a positive value by wearing a plus lens.) For the most part, when you are at 20/40 you can work without wearing the minus lens. For driving at night, of course use the minus lens, but take it off as soon as you do not need it. When you see 20/20 you can an end further use of the minus lens. Put several charts up around the house and at work. Be prepared to see variation. This is completely normal. Form an opinion of the line that you can read on-average. Now you can begin using the plus lens for all reading. Use a plus lens as strong as possible that just blurs your habitual reading distance. Periodically push the work away for complete blur, and then bring it in until it just clears -- and continue to read at that distance. CONCLUSION The standard 0.88 cm letters at 6.1 meters set by Dr. Snellen was recognized to be excessive. For most people, and as a legal requriement, 1.7 cm letters (20/40) were established as the standard minimum requirement. Make certin you can see at this level before you drive a car. You should understand these legal requirements and make certain you always meet them -- by reading your own eye chart. The health profession has the same idea that you do -- that the minus lens should be restricted, and that an effort muat be made to prevent the situation. It is relatively easy to identify the problem of the minus lens. It is much more difficult to transfer intellectual wisdom and control to you so that you will judge the choice you must make about this course of action. There are three possible choices you might make. 1. Do nothing, and hope your vision will clear all by itself. 2. Change your career choice. 3. Resolve to explore the use of the plus lens by exhaustively reviewing the opinions and experimental data before you use any lens -- plus or minus. These choices and course of actions should be decided by you. Dr. Steve Leung is a optometrist who will assist you in making this type of determination. I know he wants to help you in every way possible, but I also know that ultimately, it is your own persistance that will achieve success in the long run. For the past 100 years optometrists have been attempting to explain this choice to you for your thoughtful review. They are willing to assist you in your decision to use the plus lens before you begin using the minus lens. The effect of the minus lens on the eye is understood by many optometerists. To demonstrate the existance of this type of knowledge, I quote these opinions. ********************************** THE EXPERT OPINION OF THE DOCTORS WHO ARE FORCED TO APPLY THE MINUS LENS AFTER A PERSON IS NEARSIGTHED These reviews may help you understand the necessity of using the plus lens -- before you get beyond the 20/40 to 20/70 stage of nearsightedness. OPTICAL POISON Dr. Jacob Raphaelson The bad effects of minus lenses on vision and health have been recognized by many optical men in earlier years, in this and other countries. There have been many voices raised against the promiscuous use of minus glasses at the beginning of th century, and a few feeble voices were heard up to the decade of 1950. In the decade of 1950, the fitting and wearing of minus glasses became the rule rather than the exception. . . . . . . . . . . . In 1914, when the state of Maryland secured its optometry law, a clause was inserted to the effect that optometrists could not prescribe minus lenses to children under 15 years of age "except on an order or advice from a physician." In 1938, Neville Schuller, vision specialist of Toronto, Canada, stated, "I would like to have a law established forbidding the prescribing of minus glasses without extenuating circumstances." Dr. Rasmussen, stated in his book, "Myopia, in more than ninety-five percent of cases, begins between five and ten years of age. It increases largely because the myopic eye is given a minus lens." C.P. Rakusen, O.D., Shanghai, China, said, "from my experience in this land of myopes (i.e. China) I have formed strong prejudices against the evil of weak minus prescriptions in all ages." Samuel Druker of Brooklyn, N.Y., in the Optical Journal of March 15, 1946, wrote, "The suspicion began to dawn on me slowly that among the causes of progressive myopia it might be necessary to list concave (minus) lenses themselves. From many articles that have appeared in the past on the subject of 'Optical Poison,' a familiar term a decade ago, many other optometrists appear to have the same idea." * * * * * * * About Nearsightedness Prevention Nearsightednes prevention is not easy. It has been acomplished by individuals who have found in themselves the determination to use the preventive method as soon as they were less than 20/20. The method requires that you have a considerable amount of knowledge about the history of the problem. This knowledge will help you define your own role in working towards a solution. I suggest you read the web sites listed on my home page. No one should plunge blindly into the preventive method. Do not do anything until your have researched all aspects of the dynamic behavior of the eye, looked at the experimental data, and reached your own conclusion. Engineers work to solve problems. If a solution is produced, the idea is to devote all efforts to understand to results and to further enhance the initial success. For some reason, many people do not think that way. A return to 20/20 is described below. With proper understanding you should be able to duplicate the successful result described below. *************** A NEARSIGHTEDNESS PREVENTION SUCCESS Ophthalmologist Walter Lancaster said: A young man who had been wearing concave (negative) lenses asked if there was any way he could pass the test for 20/20 vision. His vision was 20/15 with minus-lens glasses on but was 20/30 without glasses. (i.e., a focal state of approximately -1/2 diopter.) He was given a +1.00 Diopter lens for each eye to wear constantly for three days. When he returned his visual acuity was 20/20+ without glasses and 20/20+ with a +0.50 diopter lens and he read some letters of the 20/20 line through a +1.00 diopter lens. In other words, his eyes had developed a protective buffer of +1.0 diopter. (This is needed because the U.S. Naval Academy was going to require that much buffer on entry to the academy.) Because of his use of the plus lens, his eyes changed their focal state by +1.00 diopters in a period of three days by wearing a +1.0 diopter 16 hours per day. ************** Subject: Some commentary on the origin of the term 20/20 and what it actually means. How to calculate the size letters and make your own. From the study of optics and astronomy, it was established that the "high quality" human eye was able to resolve (or separate) two stars separated by about 1 minute-of-arc. If you analyze the eye as an optical device, it can be shown that (at the wave-length of light) diffraction effects will begin to "kick in", and prevent resolution of much better that 1 MOA. Dr. Snellen decided that there should be a simpler method of checking the eye. He used "bars" separated by 1' of arc. The effect of making letters to this standard, was that the letters were 5 minutes-of-arc high. To calculate the height of the letters, it is easier to use the "Radian" angle measurement system. Thus: 5 minutes-of-angle = 0.001455 Radians Then: At 6.1 meters, multiply by 0.001455 to = 0.0089 therefore 20/20 = 0.89 cm letters In inches, 12 * 20 = 240 inches 240 * 0.001455 = 0.35 inches at 20 feet. So we should say 20/20/0.35 inches to be clear. Obviously you can obtain the 20/40 size letter by multiplying 0.35 * 2 = 0.70 inches. The same holds for 20/80 size characters. Using the above calculations you can set up a chart for 10 feet, or 3.05 meters. You can easily calculate the size of the letters and cut them out of the newspaper. THE VISUAL STANDARD CHANGED DURING WORLD WAR I The above standard is the sharpest vision that can be obtained by use of a minus lens. This standard was determined to be excessively high, and therefore unreasonable. As a result, during WWI, they realized that a great mass of soldiers would be wearing minus glasses if this standard were enforced. They then decided to not use the 20/20 standard, and choose 20/40 as reasonable and acceptable. If you are working to achieve a reasonable standard of vision I suggest using the reasonable 20/40 standard rather than using a strong minus lens to get to 20/20. This is to avoid having your eyes "adapt" to the minus lens. This is a TEMPORARY measure. If you are very persistent with the plus, you can verify your distant vision clearing to 20/20 -- if you work very hard at it.