Patent CA-2393274-A1 (CA)
Title: Reversing nearsightedness
Inventor: YEE JOHN WILLIAM
IPC: A61F9/013
Filed: 2002-07-22
Abstract: I am proposing to correct one's nearsightedness with a plain pair of contact lenses. The lens has no prescription. The contact lenses are worn for about ten to fifteen minutes a day while you are performing certain drills. Your vision would improve while your are wearing the lenses. When you take them off, you would still retain that improvement.   Perhaps a good term for the procedure is orthoculogy (Latin for "correcting the whole eyeball") or ortho C, for short. The lens can alter the shape of your whole eye instead of only a part of it like the cornea (as in the case of orthokeratology, laser surgery, or cornea implants) or the lens of your eye (as in the case of plus lens therapy or interocular lens implant), and the implications of such a total change is enormous. I will also refer to the procedure as plain contact lens therapy to emphasize the impor-tance of using a plain contact lens, or "plano" lens as it is sometimes referred to in optometry parlance, as oppose to a prescription contact lens.   The ortho C lens' are intended to reverse nearsightedness by reversing the shape of the nearsighted or myopic eye. The nearsighted eye is different from the normal eye. In all cases of myopia, the focal point of an image in the distant falls in front of the retina instead of on it. The following are some common features the eye could assume to produce that refractive error:   .cndot. The lens.   The lens of a normal eye should be "flat" when it brings a distant image into focus as in figure 1. (It is "flat" in the sense that the centre of the lens is shorter from front to back.) Instead, the lens of a myopic eye assumes a "bulge" shape when you attempt to make something out far away as in figure 2. (It is said to be "bulged" in the sense that the centre of the lens is longer from front to back.) But it should only assume a "bulge" shape when you look at something close-up as in figure 3-not when you are looking at something far away.   The lens of a normal eye changes readily from a "flat" shape to a "bulge"  shape as your focus shifts from a distant image to a close image. The lens of a myopic eye changes from a shape that is already "bulged" as in figure 2 to a more "bulged" shape as your focus shifts from a distant image to a close image; it becomes more "bulged" not only to converge the diverged rays of light from a close image (instead of parallel rays of light) but also to compensate for the elongated shape of the myopic eyeball.   It is possible that the myopic shape of the lens contributes more to your nearsightedness than the myopic shape of your eyeball and cornea.     .cndot. The eyeball.   The normal eyeball is almost spherical as in figure 1. Instead, the myopic eyeball is usually in a "bulged" or elongated shape as in figure 2. When you attempt to bring a distant image into focus, the focal point falls short of the retina as in figure 2. The image then appears blur.   It is possible that your nearsightedness is due mainly to the elongation of the eyeball and the lens of your eye and your cornea may not be affected that much.   .cndot. The cornea.   The cornea may take on an irregular shape due to "strain". This condition is known as astigma-tism. It is possible, as in some cases of mild or moderate myopia, that it can contribute more to your nearsightedness than the myopic shape of the lens or eyeball.   .cndot. The shape of the eyeball, lens, and cornea.   In this case, you would get a combination of the above scenario: the eyeball is longer from front to back, the lens is unable to "flatten" out sufficiently for distant focusing, and your cornea is uneven. All those parts of your eye contribute significantly to your nearsightedness.  This condition is prob-ably the most common.        Improving the Structure of the Eye Suppose you could somehow apply a force to reverse those conditionsa force that is opposite to the one that tends to cause your eye to become more and more myopic. Let's call the force that is responsible for the myopic shape of your eye, "strain". If "strain" is responsible for making your vision worse, then wouldn't an opposite force make it better? I know it's not that simple. The eye is not a homogeneous entity which could be easily moulded and shaped. But taking into account all the physiological and psychological changes that took place in your eye due to "strain", suppose there is a force that could "reverse" all that. And I am using the term "reverse" in a specific sense to include mental as well as physical changes. Wouldn't that be interesting?   Let's call this opposite force, "stress". Perhaps a couple of definition on how I use these terms will give you a better understanding of the "reversal" process. "Strain" is the force that causes the lens and the eyeball to "bulge" or elongate from front to back and the cornea to assume an irregular shape. "Stress" is the force that "flattens" the lens and eyeball from front to back and "smooths out" the cornea and thus improving one's distant vision.     To improve the structure of the myopic eye, you have to do the following: you have to relax certain muscles (the ciliary muscles), you have to loosen certain muscles (the oblique muscles), and you have to strengthen or increase the tensile strength of certain muscles (the rectus muscles). That creates the tendency to reverse the myopic shape of the cornea, lens, and eyeball-instead of improv-ing just the shape of lens or just the shape of the eyeball or part of the eyeball (like the cornea). The improvement then becomes more complete.   The idea of totally reversing the myopic shape of the structure of eye as a whole (the cornea, the lens, and the eyeball) had been kicking around in my head for years. Of course, the usual response is that it cannot be done-at least not without surgery. But there are no guarantees that methods like laser surgery or implants by themselves can halt the myopic eye's deterioration. There is still the "tendency" for the lens or eyeball to become more myopic and the cornea to become more irregular. In the following pages, I will explain how to reverse that tendency with plain contact lens therapy.      The plain contact lenses will reverse one's myopia (or nearsightedness) by:   .cndot. Shortening the elongated shape of the myopic eye.   .cndot. It will also tend to reverse the myopic or "bulge" shape of the lens when it attempts to bring distant images into focus (images at twenty feet or more).   .cndot. It will also "smooth" out the cornea (and thus reduce or eliminate the amount of astigmatism that is usually associated with myopia.   By attending to all of those possible deviations when one becomes nearsighted instead of just to some of them, you are addressing the main causes of your nearsightedness. The reversal process will be more complete. Also, your improvement will be more stable if you correct the whole eye instead of just a portion of it. It reduces the possibility of a relapse.   There are other types of natural therapy that attempts to improve your vision by correcting only a part of your eye, like the cornea (by means of orthokeratology) or just the lens (by plus lens therapy), or just the eyeball (by natural relaxation, like the Bates method); but the other portions of the eye which are weak will still create the tendency for your vision to become worse (when those parts of your eye which are weak physically become worse).   It is more efficient to reverse one's myopia by attending to the muscles of the eye by relaxing and strengthening them rather than tampering with the physical eye (without relaxing or strengthening the muscles). If you relax certain muscles (the ciliary and oblique muscles) and increase the tensile strength of other muscles (the rectus muscles), the eye will be more compliant in reverting back to its former shape and in maintaining its modified shape.   The plain contact lens' main function is to loosen the oblique muscles (the muscles that "squishes" the equator of the eye to cause it to be too long from front to back) and to increase the tensile strength or to tighten the rectus muscles (the muscles that run transversely from front to back) so that the eyeball can shorten from front to back. It also relaxes the ciliary muscles to enable the lens in your eye to "flatten" for distant focusing.   The combined application of a mechanical draw and a focal point draw are responsible for modifying the shape of the eyeball and the lens of your eye. Also, when the mechanical "draw" is combined with the focal point "draw", the outcome is a progressive improvement in vision. The effect is the opposite to the regressive influence that a minus lens (your prescription lens) would have on the eye.   After you remove the contact lens, the lens and the eyeball will tend to retain its modified shape.