Diplopia

[Steven]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplopia

Careful !

When using plus glasses and not focusing on anything (unfocusing) you are voluntarily producing Diplopia (double image)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplopia#Voluntary

Do not confuse this with astigmatism.
Double vision is neither dangerous nor harmful, and may even be enjoyable.

But if you use the technique of strong plus lenses and no focusing you have to make a habit when not using plus glasses to focus slightly on things as to not have all the time Diplopia.

Otherwise after days of not focusing you may think your astigmatism got up and your vision deteriorated. But this is false. Once you try to focus with both eyes simultaneously and get a single picture in the brain you will see that it was just the habit of not focusing that caused the double images.

[Alex_Myopic]

Hi Steven,

I use plus not only for near work but when I am at home as well as suggested in PVS to provoke myopic defocus. So although I use small plus (+1D) I do it for a lot of hours (2-3 hours) and I'm then well beyond the blur zone.

From your description above do you think I'm overdoing this way with plus and provoke diplopia by unwise use of plus well beyond the blur zone? Monocular diplopia also is more apparent to me when using plus at far although I would expect this effect with cylinders and not spherical diopters.

Not focusing due to heavy plus at distance seems logical that may provoke diplopia but in what mechanism monocular diplopia?

The good think is when with both eyes monocular diplopia is less apparent to me.

Dr Alex amongst other things suggests active focus for clearing monocular diplopia and I don't think plus at distance which is too blurry can help with clearing monocular diplopia at least.

[Steven]

I don't think you are overdoing it with +1.
Are you sure it's not astigmatism ?

[Alex_Myopic]

Some lines seem darker than other for me in this test when looking with one eye:

http://www.optical-center.co.uk/astigmatism-test

I wasn't positive in these tests some months ago.

Many people report this stage even if they don't use soft plus at far like me in Dr Alex's forum. Mr Todd Becker also dealed with this stage. Dr Alex treat this mainly as brain rehabilitation and not astigmatism.

[Alex_Myopic]

(Sorry for double posting but I have my reasons)

Is is possible that our eyes don't heal evenly in all meridians and thus the ghosting-added astigmatism after some heal in myopia?

Dr Alex suggest that for low myopia we may even not use cylinders since our vision is quite good even without them.

[Alex_Myopic]

Yes, for me with only spherical lenses I can see 20/20 with both eyes open although I have some ghosting.

[Alex_Myopic]

I've been three weeks without mild plus lenses for far when at home and no good result for reducing ghosting. Maybe mild plus for far doesn't provoke or prevent this from fixing, so I'm thinking of restarting habits as eating with plus etc.

[Alex_Myopic]

I've checked while doing accommodation rock at 6m on a Snellen chart and ghosting in my left eye has subsided and sometimes zeroed and in my right eye has become more stable even though I have restarted plus mild plus for far when I'm at home.
Trying to fuse the images, active focus and maybe hard blinking and eye rotations (for the cornea) may do the trick for ghosting. No ghosting when doing active focus or hard blinking.

I feel mild plus at home when at low myopia can help but it need also active focus to break plateaus.

[Alex_Myopic]

I put the Snellen chart at 6m and check which line I can just see (the smallest one). Then with small print I find when the print starts blurring but going closer and closer. In this way by alternating focusing with one or both eyes I put the inner lens to its extreme edges.
It is in the "rebuild your vision" program" and also in the Martin Sussman's "The Program for Better Vision".

[Alex_Myopic]

I have rechecked again and the ghosting is really subsiding! And yes in a sunny day with 20/25 I go outside without glasses anymore. Yet there is a lot way for improvement.

I measured my mother's PD with a photo and I believe if the person looks at the camera at 1m and not at far there could be 2-3mm wrong in the measurement (due to eye crossing).

[Alex_Myopic]

(Sorry for being out of topic)

I'm trying to buy from zenioptical a pair of glasses for my mother who can see 20/20 with her older pair of -3,25D, one diopter less than the last one.

I have also tested a pair of plus 2 from a pharmacy and didn't have a problem reading even though they were cheap glasses.

[Alex_Myopic]

I finally figured out that it's the moving focal planes that's doing the job,...

Yes, I don't have the same sensation inside the eyeball but I see the Snellen more clearly after some minutes of doing this exercise. Maybe putting the lens at its extremes for a while can do good even if I have to look very close for some seconds.

[Alex_Myopic]

Whether or not diplopia who have many people in the last diopter of rehabilitation is (not corneal) astigmatism in nature there is a good practice eliminating it:

by Vic Cinc, Sydney, Australia, using the Astigmatic Mirror to Reduce Astigmatism

http://www.i-see.org/astigmirror.html


I've noticed that the further from the chart the faint lines become double so if the exercise is done at far it stresses the problem better.

[Alex_Myopic]

Using the Astigmatic Mirror for diplopia

The following exercise I have developed myself for diplopia, astigmatism or simple myopia.

Using the Astigmatic Mirror we can find the axis of diplopia or astigmatism. This is the darkest line where the two lines (the darkest and the faintest, one in reality) fall one onto the other due to the fact that they are on the astigmatism axis so they appear as one darker line except for the tips of it.

Most of us know that if we apply a soft pressure with the index and the thumb at the cornea just above the eyelids the myopia diminishes.
I have noticed that this soft pressure diminishes diplopia or astigmatism also. The index and the thumb form an axis and if this axis is at 90 degrees or vertical to the axis of diplopia (astigmatism) the most faint and double lines merge into one and become now the darkest ones if the pressure is enough. So because this new axis is vertical to the diplopia axis, it diminishes it.

If one has not astigmatism he might technically induce it that way for a short period of time.
 
I practice it with each eye for some minutes with soft pressure in order not to hurt my eyes.

There are studies that show that orthokeratology (pressure to the cornea by lenses) can slow down the myopia rate and maybe the above is an analog.

edit:
The pressure in the cornea didn't work for me after a month of trying. So better do the following instead looking the astigmatic mirror.

The process I generally use is this: go outside, find something with high contrast. lampposts are good for this against the sky. Pull focus. blink. wait till the two images are sharp then stare and try not to blink. keep staring. after staring for a while things go a little hazy. blink a few times and the images should be aligned. This might not last for long but consistently doing it over time will result in less and less effort being required and the images combining for longer and longer periods. Also one of the 2 images gradually gets stronger over time and the other more faint.

***************
Finally I managed how to fuse a ghosting image in an exercise!
I do now the astigmatic wheel mod as I edited.
http://forum.gettingstronger.org/index.php/topic,1007.msg7711.html#msg7711
A good trick is to pick a line in the angle that is not ghosting on two lines of equal strength but in one stronger and one fainter. Then trying to move them too close in order to fuse while making the faint line more fainter.
It is as active focus with one eye, and tear may come after the effort.

Of course the astigmatic mirror must be beyond the blur zone to see the ghosting images quite far from one another.

[Alex_Myopic]

Many suggest eye rotations and moving them to the maximum position they can, so as to stretch the extrinsic eye muscles in order not to pull and not have muscles imbalances

Dr. Raphaelson found that plus lenses with NO CYLINDER COMPONENT would actually cure astigmatism. Below he explains how...

WHAT ABOUT ASTIGMATISM?

 I have been asked many times the following question: how can I give a
 pair of plus 1.00d spherical glasses to a child without examination and
 without finding out whether or not he has astigmatism? Let me tell you
 about this. I have been pondering this question to myself for many years.
 It was only a few years ago that I came to a conclusion. It is not only
 proper to give spherical plus glasses to a child who seems to have
 astigmatism, but it is, in reality, the best thing to do.

 I came to this conclusion because I now believe that astigmatism, like
 myopia, is an unnatural development of the eye due to our near-vision
 environment. Astigmatism, like myopia, develops during school years
 because of the prolonged and intensive bending of the eyes during those
 years, and also because natural hyper-sighted eyes are given no
 opportunity to relax and to stretch.

 Let me quote you a report by Dr. E. W. Adams, O. D., to the Optometric
 Research Institute. He says: "We have been surprised to find that the
 percentage of pupils with astigmatism increases during the successive
 years." He reports also that in the first and second grades very little
 astigmatism is found, but after these two beginning grades each
 successive grade up to about the sixth increases thi percentage of
 astigmatism; after the sixth the percentage remains about the same. Dr.
 Adams also reports that from their research they have the feeling that
 myopia is increasing.

 This report was the result of a survey and a thorough examination by
 highly capable optometrists with suitable testing equipment. In the years
 of 1935 and 1936, 6,560 pupils were examined in eight public schools in
 Detroit, Michigan.

 This report is not the only basis for my conclusion about astigmatism. I
 have many other basic proofs from my own experiences and observations. I
 also have reports by other optometrists which concur with my conclusion.
A pair of plus 1.00 glasses for a child for near work is much safer and
 more beneficial than a minus 0.50 or even plus 0.50 cylinder glasses.


NOTES

 Nearly ninety per cent of astigmatic eyes are of the low grade type, that
 is they are fitted with cylindrical lenses of less than one diopter
 (1.00d) either plus or minus. In most cases, the wearing of plus
 spherical glasses would reduce or cure the astigmatism and eliminate the
 need for cylindrical lenses.

 My advice to parents would be to have their children wear a pair of plus
 one (+1.00D) spherical glasses for at least one year before thy allow
 their children to be fitted with cylindrical glasses.