Denialism Has Reached One of the Last Remaining Areas of Science Untouched by It: Eyeglasses

“You may have been told that you need glasses, but that’s actually a lie.” This is what Samantha Lotus, a self-proclaimed Canadian holistic master coach and influencer, says in one of her TikTok videos. “There are mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual reasons why you may not be seeing...” she adds.

But if you listen carefully, you’ll soon understand that the reason she’s saying all this is mainly financial, specifically, an $11 course that she markets and that, evidently, is good for absolutely nothing. Are we truly at a time with eyeglass denialism? Well, here we are. The last few years have been stubbornly psychotropic, to say the least.

Vision problems. Let’s start by discussing myopia, the most common vision problem on the planet. In the last half-century, myopia has doubled in many parts of the world, such as the U.S. and Europe. In Asia, for example, the situation is much worse. It’s estimated that, some 50 years ago, there were only 10-20% of people with myopia in China. Now, 90% of young adults have it. In Seoul, figures indicate that 96.5% of 19-year-old men suffer from myopia.

What’s going on? The issue is that eyeballs are simply growing excessively. Myopia isn’t caused by mental, emotional or spiritual factors, but rather because your eyeball has grown too much. This usually happens during school years and can worsen during growth spurts.

But why is this happening? Many researchers have wondered about the reason behind the sudden increase in myopia cases. The rapid emergence of this “myopic epidemic” seems to rule out a genetic change. In fact, according to Seang Mei Saw, a researcher at the National University of Singapore, there’s an environmental factor that explains the recent increase in myopia cases.

“Don’t read too much, or it’ll wear out your eyes…” For years, people believed that the main cause of myopia was the time children spent studying or looking at things “up close” like books or screens. Now, experts know that the root cause is dopamine deficiency due to lack of exposure to sunlight.

And, as it turns out, this explanation makes sense. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 15-year-olds in Shanghai spend about 14 hours a week doing homework, compared to 6 hours for American children and 5 hours for British kids. However, the story is more complex.

Let’s talk about light. In the late 2000s, researchers conducted larger studies and concluded that a lack of outdoor exposure is the underlying issue. Although there’s some debate, the current consensus is that intraocular dopamine controls the growth of the eyeball, limiting its deformation. The problem is that the production of this dopamine requires exposure to sunlight to be at optimal levels. Specifically, experts say we need about three hours a day in environments with approximately 10,000 lumens.

Can vision be “trained”? In any case, it’s clear that there are complex issues related to eye health. For instance, the idea that glasses may contribute to the problem isn’t new. In the 1920s, ophthalmologist William Bates argued that corrective exercises should replace glasses. Some decades later, other experts extensively studied the potential role of fatigue, stress, or muscle tension in eye problems.

Training the eye. However, by the late 1990s, most research on exercises to treat myopia was discontinued due to limited and unsystematized results. Although some eye training programs can be successful in certain contexts, they don’t typically yield significant long-term results.

And when we talk about eye training programs, we’re referring to the best out there, rather than an $11 class that claims to help people stop wearing glasses when driving. Unfortunately, as of today, the only proven methods for vision improvement are corrective lenses, surgery, and certain types of drug treatments. Everything else is simply pseudoscience.

The pseudoscience business. Just before the pandemic, false treatments for Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia were estimated to be worth $3.2 billion. Reliable data on the scale of pseudoscience’s impact is lacking, but it appears to be a market that has continued to grow in recent decades.

Pseudoscience, alongside massive online audiences, turns any nonsense into a potential niche market. However, the real problem is that all pseudoscientists do is spread misleading claims and inaccurate information. The issue isn’t about an influencer going viral after claiming eyeglasses should be abolished. What’s actually concerning is how deeply these messages influence a large number of people, leading to confusion and potential harm.

Image | Zarak Khan (via Unsplash)

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