Clinical Studies

Below you can find many third party clinical studies on the progression of myopia and how myopia may be reversed.

Causes of Myopia

Lens induced myopia (LIM) & axial length change in humans

• "Significant changes in optical axial length occurred in human subjects after 60 minutes of monocular defocus." IOVS, 2010
• "The human eye is able to discern the sign of defocus within minutes after exposure to blur and make changes in its axial length in a direction to reduce the amount of retinal blur", Scientific Reports, 2020
• "During relatively short periods of accommodative stimulation, axial length increases in ... young adults", IOVS, 2006
• "The eye undergoes a significant axial elongation associated with a brief period of accommodation...", OVS, 2010
• "It is therefore clear that preventive approaches need to concentrate on measures that prevent or reduce axial elongation, since this would result in a reduction in both the need for refractive correction and the long-term pathological outcomes", Acad Med Singapore, 2004
• "Refractive correction of myopia will lead to accelerated progression", OPO, 2007
• "Continuous correction of myopia results in a linear progression that increases myopia...", GACEO, 2015
• "...A reduction in the axial length of the adult eye serves as an emmetropizing mechanism...", AJOPO, 1987
• "...This study found that small but significant bi-directional changes in SFCT (Sub-Foveal Choroidal Thickening) were caused by retinal defocus in healthy presbyopic subjects aged 50 to 67 years of age....", IOVS, 2018
• "Small but significant changes in SFCT (Sub-Foveal Choroidal Thickening) (5-8%) were caused by retinal defocus. .", OPO, 2015

Lens induced myopia (LIM) & axial length change in animals

• "Extrapolation of these (animal) findings to humans predicts that natural emmetropization (normal eye development) will be inhibited...by early intervention with prescription lenses..." OPO, 2007
• "It has been suggested that environmental factors such as extensive near work act as triggers of myopia....The expression of AL (Axial Length) genes activated by environmental factors leads to the elongation of AL (Axial Length)." Ophthalmologica, 2011
• "Hyperopic defocus accelerated vitreous chamber elongation (Axial Length) and produced myopic shifts in refractive error...Following lens removal, the...monkeys recovered from the induced myopia..." IOVS, 2013
• "We demonstrated that eyes of young animals of various species (chick, tree shrew, marmoset, and rhesus macaque) can shorten in the axial dimension in response to myopic defocus." IOVS, 2013
• "The chick eye is able to change its refractive state by as much as 7 D by pushing the retina forward or pulling it back (when stimulated by lense use)..." VR, 1995
• "Chicks' eyes rapidly compensate for defocus imposed by spectacle lenses...The complex etiology (cause) of human myopia may reflect these temporal properties." IOVS, 2009
• "If the effective focal length of a growing eye is modified by spectacle lenses, the eye compensates by altering its growth, thereby keeping images in focus..." VR, 2002
• "In a matter of minutes, the eye can know which way to grow..." IOVS, 2005
• "...spectacle lenses could predictably alter the growth of...eyes resulting in ... refractive changes in both the hyperopic and myopic directions." VR, 1999

Nearwork-Induced Transient Myopia (NITM) & Nearwork Causing Permanent Myopia (PM)

• "Today there no longer seems to be any question that nearwork is a causal factor for myopia. " The Lancet, 2000
• "People who do an excessive amount of near-vision work may experience a false or "pseudo" myopia...Clear distance vision usually returns after resting the eyes. However, constant visual stress may lead to a permanent reduction in distance vision over time. " American Optometric Association
• "Near work which is a primary, environmentally based factor in the development and progression of permanent myopia (PM) may take effect via near work-induced transient myopia (NITM)." ZYJZZ, 2012
• "...based on recent converging evidence from clinical, laboratory and modelling studies, a five-fold argument will be advanced for a possible link between PM (Permanent Myopia) and NITM (Nearwork-Induced Transient Myopia)." OPO, 2008
• "Continuous reading, close distances of reading, television viewing... and use of fluorescent desk light were significantly associated with myopia... which indicates that visual behaviors and environments may be important factors mediating the effects of near work on myopia.." PLoS, 2015
• "The current study provides novel evidence, based on objective data, to support the association between the intensity of near work, light intensity and myopia..." BrJO, 2020
• "Near work such as close reading distance (< 30 cm) and continuous reading (> 30 minutes) independently increased the odds of having myopia in this sample of children." IOVS, 2008
• "The purpose of the present study was to...investigate the possible relation between NITM (Nearwork-Induced Transient Myopia) and PM (Permanent Myopia); and to determine the possible associations with NITM " IOVS, 2008

Reversing Myopia

Outdoor time & distance vision

• "It is now well established that spending more time outdoors during childhood lowers the risk of developing myopia..." BrJO, 2020
• "Outdoor activity reduces the prevalence of myopia in children." Opthamology, 2008
• "The most immediate path to myopia prevention in schools is to increase the amount of time that children spend outdoors within school hours" PRES, 2018
• "..VL (Violet Light) is one of the important outdoor environmental factors for myopia control...VL exposure can be a preventive strategy against myopia progression" EBioMedecine, 2017

Using reduced or no lenses (myopic defocus)

• "The human eye is capable of responding to the presence of blur by changing its axial length, so that the retina moves towards the defocused image plane (using reduced lenses)...These findings provide evidence that the human eye is able to detect and respond to the presence (using reduced lenses)... of blur within minutes." Scientific Reports, 2020

• "Our findings suggest that myopic defocus (using reduced lenses) slows the progression of myopia in already myopic children, supporting previous findings from animal studies..." IOVS, 2004
• "Compared with SV lenses (Normal Glasses), myopia progression was found to be retarded by PALs (Bifocals / Reduced Lenses) to some extent in Chinese children" OPO, 2008
• "Results of this study suggest that such children, if myopic, may have an additional benefit of slowed progression of myopia." IOVS, 2004
• "Eyes of chick, tree shrew, marmoset, and rhesus macaque can shorten axially when presented with myopic defocus...Implications for human myopia control are significant." IOVS, 2013
• "The results suggest that imposed peripheral myopic defocus (reduced lense use) may be able to be used to control on–axis axial elongation (myopia progression)..." GACEO, 2017

Active Focus (accomodative training or accomodative facility training)

• "Training of the accommodative system (active focus)...resulted in improved dynamics...This is consistent with earlier reports in the literature of improvements..." OVS, 2009
• "This study evaluates the effect of accommodative facility training (active focus) in myopes and emmetropes (normal sighted)....The results showed that training (active focus) improved the facility rate (results) in both groups..." VR, 2010
• "These results suggest that accommodative facility training (active focus) is an efficient method built on loss of symptoms among children..." DO, 1999
• "The result of this study indicates that accommodative facility training (active focus) has a real effect on the amplitude of relative accommodation in patients with impaired relative accommodation..." OPO, 2001
• "This experiment shows the effectiveness of automated accommodative training (active focus) in reducing asthenopia (eye strain) and improving accommodative facility." AmJOPO, 1987

LASIK

A good resource for information about LASIK: lasikcomplications.com

• Less than 20% of people with 10+ diopters will be below 1 diopter just 3 years after LASIK

Articles

From the blog

These are blog articles on EndMyopia about clinical studies, but not clinical studies themselves. You may find them interesting. Also see the science category.

• what we know about axial elongation of the eye, and its role in the development of myopia (dissertation)
• in some cases, memories that are lost due to brain trauma may still be present in the human brain. (animal testing)
• studies that have considered the negative impact of minus lens use for close-up, and looked into smarter alternatives to “minus for everything”.
• The Role Of Contrast Adaptation In Myopia Development & Reversal
• Researchers in the US have developed a new drug that can be delivered directly into the eye via an eye dropper to shrink down and dissolve cataracts – the leading cause of blindness in humans. (animal testing) (2015)
• Back in the 1960’s this guy Torsten Wiesel from the Harvard Medical School’s department of neurobiology ran an experiment on kittens. (animal testing)
• On contact lenses
• Diabetic retinopathy. Or, how your eating habits can take you straight into one of the leading causes of adult blindness.
• wearing glasses to correct myopia, will create more myopia.
• Dynamic Visual Acuity
• Night blindness
• Near Work Causes Myopia (USNAS)
• Lens-Induced Myopia
• Can Axial Length Be Reduced For Less Myopia?
• Bi-Focal Contact Lenses For Myopia Control
• Negative lens-induced myopia in infant monkeys: effects of high ambient lighting (animal study)
• Myopia starts with environmental stimulus, in particular extended close-up focus.
• Eye Drop Warning: Avoid Benzalkonium Chloride

• The Hong Kong Myopia Epidemic
• incidence of childhood myopia among American children has more than doubled over the last 50 years
• Psychological Stress in Childhood and Myopia Development (OVPJournal)
• Unless you find uncle Jake’s myopia rehab facility, you’re in the lens manufacturer’s drug dealing pocket for life. (no paper)
• you can reduce your risk of the most common forms of glaucoma
• Eyes in Various Species Can Shorten to Compensate for Myopic Defocus and commentary by contributing optometrist (animal studies)
• Bifocal contacts control myopia progression better than multifocal spectacles
• A Sensorimotor Account Of Vision And Visual Consciousness (philosophy paper)
• contrast sensitivity (no paper)
• why outdoor time won’t magically prevent myopia onset
• glasses cause more myopia, faster
• https://endmyopia.org/peripheral-vision-loss/
• https://endmyopia.org/allan-hytowitz-genius-innovator-or-dangerous-heretic/
• https://endmyopia.org/this-woman-sees-99-million-more-colors-than-you/
• https://endmyopia.org/neural-response-to-flicker-rates-artificial-light-causes-myopia/
• https://endmyopia.org/ophthalmology-science-glasses-cause-myopia-period/
• https://endmyopia.org/coopervision-misight-contact-lenses-breakthrough-myopia-control/
• https://endmyopia.org/myopia-madness-glasses-way-strong/
• https://endmyopia.org/retail-optometry-even-science/
• https://endmyopia.org/eye-uses-chromatic-aberration-to-guide-axial-change/
• https://endmyopia.org/american-journal-of-optometry-adult-reduction-in-axial-length/
• https://endmyopia.org/studies-does-undercorrection-cause-more-myopia/
• https://endmyopia.org/science-confirms-human-eye-axial-length-change-lens-use/
• https://endmyopia.org/another-study-glasses-cause-rapid-myopia-progression-in-children/
• https://endmyopia.org/active-focus-does-it-actually-work-clinical-science/
• https://endmyopia.org/refractive-error-myopia-concept/
• https://endmyopia.org/shocking-news-not-all-ophthalmologists-are-retarded/
• https://endmyopia.org/optics-diopters-all-the-nerdy-maths/
• https://endmyopia.org/astigmatism-part-of-natural-focus-understanding-the-brains-autofocus-mechanism/
• https://endmyopia.org/can-this-tiny-piece-of-paper-replace-your-optometrist/
• https://endmyopia.org/why-is-my-eyesight-worse-in-low-light-indoors-dusk-night-time/
• https://endmyopia.org/study-outdoor-activity-reduces-myopia-onset-in-children/
• https://endmyopia.org/study-failure-to-discuss-myopia-control-verging-on-negligent/
• https://endmyopia.org/why-you-are-nearsighted-an-animation/

From the forum

Here are papers people have mentioned on the forum:

• Seeing Space: Undergoing Brain Reprogramming to Reduce Myopia by Antonia Marie Orfield (1994); Author's obituary

• a paper which tries to model how the human (and generally mammalian) eyes focus on objects (animal study) (short article), (full paper)
• a proto-endmyopia thing (here is the direct link to an old book, start with page 102.)
• If you have glaucoma, try vitamin b3 (Clin & Exp Ophtalm. Sept. 2020, doi: 10.1111/ceo.13818)
• Probability of myopia in children with high refined carbohydrates consumption in France (direct link to research article)
• on the effects of outdoor light on myopia progression (direct link to article)
• Bifocal Control of Myopia study by Oakley and Young, 1975.
• Visual Conditions of Symphony Musicians

• a bunch at Better than eye chart? (pdf), (visual acuity testing demo), (how we see pdf), (pdf), (pdf), (pdf), (pdf), etc. Discussion is about a proprietary tool that works better than the Snellen chart.
• Pigment Dispersion Syndrome

From Discord or the wiki

• Better sight without glasses by Dr. Harry Benjamin (pdf) (related to Bates Method, first published 1929)
• a collection of papers on accommodation, defocus, lifestyle, miscellaneous, and myopia

Documented case registry (EndMyopia)

EndMyopia maintains a public, openly-licensed registry of adult myopia-reduction cases, deposited as a citable dataset and analysed in a preprint:

• Steiner, J. (2026). EndMyopia case registry: 273 adult cases [Dataset]. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.21016340 (CC-BY-4.0)
• Steiner, J. (2026). A self-reported registry of adult myopia reduction: 273 documented cases (2013–2026) [Preprint]. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.21230819

The dataset is machine-readable and source-linked; median recorded reduction was −2.00 D, with 42 of 273 cases carrying third-party-exam or official-record corroboration. The data are self-reported and not a clinical trial.