Seeing Spots for Better Eyesight
April 27, 2008 by laura
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
As I write this post, I am wearing a pair of Pinhole glasses. When I first discovered this product, I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. A few weeks later, I received my pair of glasses and not only was I skeptical, but I had thought I had time traveled back in time to 1984. I am fairly sure that I had a similar pair, when I was a kid. Although I suspect they were for purely aesthetic reasons.
Now, it must be said that I have no problems with my eyesight, with the exception of being a little light sensitive. I work in a very bright office during the week, and so there are days when I wear sunglasses indoors. I wasn’t sure if I was the right person to test this product out. So I passed them around to various coworkers who have some vision problems.
Out of six people who wore them – one person loved them, and thought that it actually would help him. To be fair – he is the only person who gave them a fair chance. He wore them the longest, and looked at different things (computer, the newspaper, outside), to see if it would make a difference.
Three out of the six people just couldn’t get past the appearance of these glasses. The lens is made of perforated plastic, so you are looking through many dots. So they weren’t prepared to really get the experience. They did report that it didn’t make their vision any worse – or cause any other symptoms such as headaches.
Two of the six people, couldn’t remark on how effective these glasses are, because their vision is so bad – and these glasses are not for everyone. So really, they weren’t fair test subjects.
The last test subject is me. Here are my findings:
- These glasses filter out a lot of light. So in my very bright office, these glasses were quite helpful
- I had to slow down my reading speed a tad, just because the glasses are foreign to me, and it took some adjusting. This is not at all a negative. Slower reading speed means higher comprehension. In fact, I accomplished a whole lot more than I usually do, and that is due to wearing these.
- When sitting at my computer, changing head position from looking at the screen to looking at a report on my desk, would make me a little dizzy. So when I had to do a lot of switching back and forth-I just chose to remove the glasses. But when I am working on just one activity, such as writing this blog post-they work great!
- The pin-hole glasses are not to be worn in a dark environment. Which is why they are perfect in an office setting. The entire time I wore them, I was headache free – I am attributing this to the spotted specs.
- Definitely image is a lot clearer when wearing them.
- It does take quite a while to get used to looking through polka dots. But once I adapted to the change, I became a lot more focused (vision, brain power, everything).
These glasses will reduce peripheral vision, so make sure you do not wear them while driving or operating machinery.
When I started writing this post, I had an unbelievable hang over from lack of sleep. I have worn these glasses now for almost an hour, and not only is the fogginess completely gone, but my energy has started coming back. Now, I am not claiming that these glasses will completely combat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but they have helped with my visual focus. This is a huge step in the right direction.
If you want to know more about what Pinhole Glasses can do for you, go here.
If you are interested in obtaining a pair, you can order some through Pinhole-Glasses-Direct
**Picture Source- wikipedia
I have a condition called “recurring corneal erosion”. If my eyelids dry out while I’m sleeping, they stick to my cornea and during REM or when I wake up and open my eyes, it rips corneal cells off. Apparently this happens because of aberrations in my lens which prevent the corneal cells from attaching adequately. And the more erosions I have, the weaker the corneal cell bonds are.
The condition is not only EXTREMELY painful when the corneal tears occur, but for two days or more – depending on the severity of the tear – my vision is blurred. As far as I’ve been able to determine, there are two causes for the blurriness: First is the unevenness of the cornea after a tear. Second, there are occasions when a layer of cells detatch but do not completely tear off, so there is a space created where fluid can collect. The fluid distorts my vision.
I am scheduled for laser surger, where they will first completely remove the cornea, then they will reshape the lens so that it provides a smooth surface for the corneal cells to seat firmly.
In preparation for surgery I had a comprehensive eye examination, including the classic “eye chart”. Since I could not see anything but the largest “E” on the chart and even that was very blurry, the technician flipped a cover over that eye which had small holes in it – and I literally let out a gasp because suddenly I could see every single line on the chart – all the way to the bottom!
I asked if I could borrow or buy the “Occludor” with the pin holes in it so that I could return to work (as a database programmer) and they refused on the basis that there was no periferal vision and there was a liability issue – even after I told them I would not drive or walk or do anything but use them to work on my computer.
So when I got home, I pulled out my wife’s scrabooking kit and found a pair of red/green 3D glasses to use as a template for the frame shape. I cut out the frame and then poked an array of holes in each “lens”.
Sure enough, it works like a charm. Not only do these make-shift pinhole “glasses” completely eliminate the blurr and double-vision I had. The effect is significant even though the array of holes I made with a nail are not consistently spaced and have rough edges. It works with or without my regular prescription glasses, and it works for close computer work as well as distance vision.
I went online to see if I could find and purchase a pair of the Occluders that have these pinholes in them, and I discovered a wide range of pinhole glasses for as little as $13. Even though I’m scheduled for surgery, I’m going to purchase a pair because I can only get one eye fixed at a time and I can use them so I can work for a month or more until both eyes have been fixed.
Now, all of that sounds like so many other testemonials from questionable sources and I’m not claiming otherwise. I would, however, offer the following mitigations:
I’m a skeptic, through and through. I’ve been an atheist my entire life. The scientific method rules my world view, and I read The Skeptical Inquirer and various science oriented magazines and books on a regular basis. (well at least until reading became impossible due to my condition – but I still satisfy my inquisitiveness via youTube and podcasts)
I believe the skeptical responses to claims made for pinhole glasses where they say using the glasses for 10 to 15 minutes a day will imporve your vision – although I plan to test these claims first hand.
I’m making no extraordinary claims for pinhole glasses. All I’m saying is that for the blurriness caused by my corneal erosions, the pinhole effect works in that it allows me to see text and images without blurred or double-vision. I’m hoping that by purchasing a pair of laser cut pinhole glasses I can get even better results because the hole edges will be more precisely cut and the hole pattern will be more cosistent so as to avoid the spots in my make-shift glasses where there are small opaque areas due to the inaccuracy of poking holes by hand.
Also note that my wife tried my make-shift pinhole glasses (she has prescription glasses too) and her impression was that my glasses didn’t match her prescription glasses, she could indeed see text of a size and distance that she could no otherwise see. i will be interested to get her opinion of laser cut pinhole glasses.
Obviously, pinhole glasses don’t replace prescription glasses because of the lower light levels, lack of periferal vision, etc – but they absolutely help my current condition.
I hope this helps clarify the effectiveness of pinhole glasses.
Thanks!
BobK