Monday: 10/200 to 10/50 (swaying, relaxing)
Tuesday: 10/200 to 10/70 (acupressure, swaying)
Glasses test (indoor lighting at 10 feet):
On Monday I used my laptop for several hours while sitting outside so that I could look into the distance from time to time. I didn’t use my glasses, like I normally do, and I had lots of clear flashes on the roof of the house across the alley.
On Tuesday my reading wasn’t too good, but later that day I went on a walk with my fiancee and didn’t use my glasses during that. I enjoyed the walk and liked being able to look far into the distance even though it wasn’t clear. Although I’m myopic, I find it more fun to look at distance objects instead of close objects. I can’t completely explain this preference since I see close objects more clearly, but I think the reason is that I feel like I am using my eyes in a more specialized way for far away things. For objects up close I am able to experience them with any of my other senses (touch, hearing, smell, taste), but for objects far away I can only really see (and hear) them. These beliefs may seem to contradict the fact that my eyes are myopic, but maybe they just mean that I will be able to improve my visual acuity past 20/20 some day. 🙂
Finally, I did a Snellen chart check for my glasses today because they seem to be getting too strong; I can only wear them for so long before they start making my eyes sore. So I checked them (the results as compared to the original readings are in a chart above), and I have made big improvements since I got them! When I originally bought the two pairs of glasses, I was aiming for the strengths of 20/80 for the close work pair and 20/40 for the distance pair. At first, the close work and distance glasses allowed me to see 20/90 and 20/35, respectively. Today, I was able to see 20/60 and 20/26, respectively, through them. 🙂 Although these numbers are approximations (I tested at 10 feet), there are still large differences in the actual scores: 15 feet for the close work pair and 4.5 feet for the distance pair. However, I find it strange that I improved more for the close pair than the distance pair. If anyone has any ideas for why this difference occurred, feel free to leave a comment.
Based on these changes, I plan on buying one or two more pairs of glasses (from Zenni Optical) to replace my current two. I will get at least a distance pair that only lets me see about 20/40 and retire my current distance glasses. However, I will keep the close work pair as it seems they will become my distance pair soon enough 😉 . I think now- my summer break from school- would be the perfect time to get the new glasses because I’m driving less and will have time to adjust to them before school starts again in the fall. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to buy glasses. 🙂
Mark825's Blog 
Mark,
Good for you! Measurable improvement is such a great motivator. My guess as to why your close vision improved more than your distance vision is that as a myope you’re simply more relaxed seeing close than you are seeing in the distance. Walking outside without glasses will probably help you be more comfortable with distance, as it has me. Nuce going, again.
Nancy
Hey Mark,
Great job! May I ask what the prescriptions on the close-work and distance pair you currently have, and the ones you will get, are?
And I believe Bates usually cured his patients up to 20/15 or 20/10. 20/20 is by no means perfect or even average. Those with 20/20 vision may still be prescribed glasses, though it’s something like -0.25. There’s more to vision acuity than the Snellen, such as the quality of vision (which you’re getting too!)
Helena: Here are my prescriptions: Current close pair: -3.00; New close pair: -2.50. Current distance pair: -4.25; New distance pair: -3.75. I put no astigmatism corrections on any of these glasses.
I think Bates said most of his patients were improved to 20/10 vision. It’s been my (unstated) goal all along to reach 20/10 vision. 🙂
Hi Mark!
I wonder if you improve more with the close work pair because you use them more? That is the case with me… I stop using my distance pair because I find I only use glasses to do ‘close’ things like computer work and such. You put it so well when you wrote once how annoying it is to not need glasses for reading or for far things, but to need them for the intermediate distance because that’s usually what you have to read.
intriging… with your reduced glasses (-3) used for close work you can see 10/30. The funny thing is, I can see 10/30 without glasses, but for computer work I use -4 glasses… So my unaided accuity is better than yours, but yet I use a stronger prescription when I wear glasses than you do! How puzzling. I always knew the relation wasn’t linear, but this is a bit warped. This is confirming for me something I wrote about a while ago, that I don’t need my glasses for work. When I’m writing for my blog or to friends, I can see well enough to do it without glasses, but when I get in a hurry to do my work, I use the glasses to get it done faster than I can without them because my vision isn’t as good when I’m doing work…
keep up the good work! you’ll reach 20/10. I agree with Helena, 20/10 is normal, not 20/20! My husband sees 20/10, and already notices discomfort when he’s down to 20/15.
cheers,
Sorrisi
So currently I wear -4.5/-4.0 for computer work, but they are way strong, I see the screen clearly, and am not reminded to use the habits! They are not quite strong enough for distance vision, but I’m definitely getting there.
I am wondering, is blur noticeable with the close-work pair, for computer/reading/etc? I feel that it needs to be kept just under what’s too comfortable, so that you are reminded of blinking, breathing, and dodging. The -1.75/-2 glasses I had were too weak for doing computer work, (and they had astigmatism correction), so I had to get rid of them. Of course, it depends, sometimes I can do computer work without glasses at all. I haven’t been able to find a good pair of weaker powered glasses (there’s the whole adjusting to them thing), so I’m stuck with the -4.5/-4.0 for now, until I get a new pair.
Helena: I agree that your glasses should only be strong enough that you still need to use good vision habits while wearing them. Seeing 20/40 for the distance and 20/80 for close work seems to be a good prescription for me to use; these were the strengths Quackenbush recommended in Relearning to See.