Guide:Not reducing too quickly

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The temptation of every student of EndMyopia is to reduce their correction faster or more than their measurements justify. Or in many cases to cause their measurements to justify a reduction they have not actually yet earned, by using active focus when measuring. Visual acuity is not intended to be a measurement of your ability to active focus. Your true myopia value doesn't change until your vision actually improves. The amount of correction you're wearing is arbitrary rather you are .25 diopters under corrected or 2 diopters. The only difference being rather the correction you are wearing provides good stimulus or excessive strain and risk of blur adaptation.

Avoiding the too fast reduction trap

The best ways to avoid falling into the trap of reducing too quickly or too much is to be sure you are measuring objectively and as accurately as possible. Many things affect our vision and if you only take into account the measurements achieved with the ideal settings (ex. outside in full sun, first thing in the morning) you will always reduce faster and/or more than you should. By all means note these measurements but also get measurements that are in less ideal conditions (ex. artificial lighting at the end of the day). If you are taking your full range of vision into account you are much more likely to set your correction at a middle point, to provide good stimulus without excessive blur in most settings. It is usually not a good idea to reduce until you are consistently measuring 20/20 indoors for about 2 weeks.

Also note that different aspects of your vision tend to be affected at different rates, it is not unusual to have your snellen chart results change at a different time than your cm measurements. Often your distance landmark (provided you have a proper text reference) will be the last thing to improve, as it is well outside the diopter bubble. Additionally your eyes will improve at a different rate in relation to each other. This is known as ocular dominance and it is important to be sure both eyes are ready to reduce or you will be putting your non dominant eye at a disadvantage in the new correction and this may result in opening a diopter gap that can and should be avoided.

The point will come in your reduction when all of your measurements reflect your improvement consistently in both eyes and then you know it is time to reduce.

Face recognition test

Another indication that one has reduced too much is when recognizing faces becomes difficult in a social setting. It is a common experience to accidentally cheat at Snellen or cm measurements, while not being able to recognize a friend at a socially acceptable range is strong indicator for having reduced too much.

If you are unable to read signage, such as on the street or indoors, that is also another indication that you have reduced too much.

Q&A: Does Blur = Stress? And How Much Focus Is Too Much Focus?

I already reduced

If you already fell into the trap of reducing too quickly or too much, don't worry you are not alone. If you are still managing to improve, great! You got away with it this time; don't expect it to be a pattern though. More likely though you have stalled in progress and it is time to dial that correction up to where it belongs. Having a correction just .25 less than your full 20/20 correction is the best way to provide good stimulus with resolvable blur that doesn't disrupt your day to day life. Going back up is not a step backwards, once again your true myopia value is the same regardless of how under corrected you are. Increasing your correction gives your eyes the opportunity to achieve active focus, without which you will not improve. Don't waste time and risk blur adaptation trying to "stick out" a correction that has too much blur, put that correction away (you will get back to it) and get into the right correction.

See Also

References

What does Jake say about it? https://endmyopia.org/reducing-too-quickly-why-its-your-biggest-mistake/

More here: https://endmyopia.org/?s=reducing+too+quickly

Can I Reduce More Diopters For More Gains? (Spoiler, NO.)