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Ask HN: Can myopia be treated by compressing the eyeball?

2 points by ambrop7 ↗ HN
Here's an interesting experiment that anyone with myopia (near-sightedness) can do. Cover one eye, and with the other eye which is affected by myopia gaze into a distant object. Press gently with your thumb on the eye/eyelid. By adjusting pressure you can probably make your vision much clearer (at least I can). This must be because because the refractive error is eliminated as the eyeball is compressed.

Is there any treatment of myopia this way? As a simple example, would applying pressure over a long period cause the eyeball to deform permanently, improving vision?

4 comments

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T-A
Myopia is caused by light being focused in front of the retina (usually because the eye is too long), so it makes sense that compressing the eye reduces blurriness. But doing so long term seems like a really bad idea: you are increasing intraocular pressure, and that is known to cause glaucoma [1].

I would also be concerned about short term effects of such experimentation. You may be causing bleeding or other damage. No need to tempt fate.

[1] http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/glaucoma-eyes

ambrop7
I doubt you can do any significant damage by doing this experiment once, the amount of pressure needed is quite small (depends on your level of myopia) and probably less than rubbing your eyes.