The Myopia Challenge

An extensive research conducted by Professor Francis Young and his team conclusively proved that 98% of the Eskimo children do not need glasses until they are introduced to schools where 60% suffered from myopia. This is contrasted to the older generation of parents and grandparents, who lived a traditional outdoor life were not myopic. Therefore, vision problems are usually not inherited, but resulted from poor vision habits, mental strain and environmental factors. Francis A. Young et al, “The Transmission of Refractive Errors within Eskimo Families,” American Journal of Optometry and Archives of the American Academy of Optometry 46, no. 9, September, 1969.

A report by the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery found that submarine personnel working in a confined visual environment develop myopia much faster than other Navy personnel who operate in less confined spaces. “The Effect of Time in Submarine Service on Vision, Ira Schwartz and N. Elaine Sandberg,” Medical

Research Laboratory Report no. 253; Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department project NM 003041.57.03.

“Shortsightedness is on the rise around the world (about half the global population is expected to become myopic), but nowhere more quickly than in Asia. Particularly among ethnic Chinese. Only a few begin to have trouble focusing on distant objects as toddlers. By the end of primary school, though, it’s a problem for three out of five pupils in Hong Kong and half of those in Singapore. And with nine out of 10 university students in those cities having less than 20-20 vision, glasses or contact lenses are now par for the course. The picture is much the same in places like Taiwan.” Asiaweek, 16-06-2000

“In Singapore, one in two children is likely to be myopic by the time the child is Primary 6. One in four children is myopic by the time he or she is in Primary 1. Professor Donald Tan, the director of The Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) said 79 percent of Singaporeans aged between 16 and 25 are myopic,” Straits Times Newspaper, 13 February 2003.

Many Questions But Few Answers

Pinpointing the root cause and prescribing solutions to vision problems such as short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia have plagued eye-care professionals till today. Consider the following questions.

• What is vision?
• How do we see?
• Why do the eyes appear to be the only part of the physical body that is not self-healing?
• Why do eye-care specialists almost unanimously assume that prescribing glasses is the only solution, and never considered alternative approaches such as preventive or remedial/therapy vision care?
• Why do we continue to prescribe glasses for vision problems that only continue to deteriorate?
• What if glasses are really eye “crutches” that only hamper natural self-healing of the eyes is true?
• Would a mildly myopic person go blind if glasses are not worn all the time?
• Do we know the root cause of the problem? Is myopia inherited from our parents?
• Is myopia inherited from our parents?