Dear Prevention minded friends,

Retinula has "conspiracy theory" paranoia. I think that the
reason is more like this:

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately
explained by stupidity.

Hanlon's Razor

Retinula> ...by the way, is this the "proof" you offer that minus
lenses cause myopia?

Otis> I did not say "cause myopia", What I stated
was that the eye's refractive status "follows" its visual
enviroment -- as a natural process. When you substantially
change the average-visual environment with a strong plus
lens -- the natural eye will change its refractive state
accordingly.

Otis> Below is are the results of the Oakley-Young study which
proves that point.

Otis> ALSO I DO NOT support the concept of the bi-focal. The
purpose the plus is to AVOID getting into it BEFORE you
begin wearing the minus -- i.e., prevention on the
threshold, while the person still has 20/50 vision.

Otis> But this is a close to that goal as possible with the
human-primate eye. For complete SCIENTIFIC (not medical)
proof of this you MUST rely on the primate studies.

Best,

Otis

________

BIFOCAL CONTROL OF MYOPIA

Authors:
Kenneth H. Oakley, MD.
Bend, Oregon

and

Francis A. Young, Ph.D.
Primate Research Center
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington


The Oakley Young study.

Approximate results: Single-minus went "down" at a rate of
-1/2 diopter per year. The "plus" group has almost no "down"
rate.

<snip>

The control subjects have a mean annual rate of -0.53 for the
right eye and -0.52 for the left eye; under these conditions the
annual rate of progression for the bifocal subjects is
approximately 5 per cent (4 percent for right eyes and 6 per cent
for left eyes) of that shown by the control subjects. The
corresponding values for the combined group are -0.04 diopters for
each eye of the bifocal group and -0.51 for the right eyes and
-0.49 for the left eyes of the control group. The overall annual
rate of progression for the bifocal subjects is 8 per cent of that
demonstrated by the control subjects who were matched against the
bifocal subjects on beginning age, sex, beginning refractive error
and to some extent on total time.

For ages 6 through 12, except for age 11, the Caucasian
control subjects have annual rates of progression ranging between
-0.56 D and -0.67 D in either eye while the rates at age 11 are
-0.51 D for the right eye and -0.53 D for the left eye. At age 13
the rate drops to -0.49 D and -0.48 D for right and left eyes and
continues to drop reaching -0.42 and -0.41 D at age 14, -0.43 and
-0.41 D at age 15, -0.38 and -0.39 D at age 16 and, finally, -0.24
and -0.28 D for the right and left eyes respectively at age 17.
If a child is referred for examination at age 8 with 1 diopter of
myopia and continues to progress at the average rate for each year
until he is 18 he will develop approximately 5 diopters of myopia
by the time he reaches 18 years of age. The bifocal subject would
fall between 0 and 1.40 D of myopia.


<snip>