Doing near work with high myopia

[shawn900]

I have a -8 and -9 vision. If I am doing near work such as reading or studying, is it better for me to read without my glasses and hold the book closer to my face or use my glasses for reading? I have heard different viewpoints that doing near work makes myopia progress further so I was just curious if reading without my glasses would have a negative or positive effect on my vision.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

If you are already naturally nearsighted and using your natural nearsightedness to read up close, I don't really see a problem with that.  Some studies have possibly implicated extensive near vision with some slight worsening of myopia but my understanding is that it applied mostly to younger children.  In a perfect world it is reasonable to theorize that wearing glasses that were something like minus 7 (the equivalent of your distance glasses with +200 reading glasses on top of them) would cause less accommodation and possible less progression of your myopia (provided you are younger than 35 or so.)  Again this all theory and you will find plenty of eye doctors that will say it really doesn't matter.  There is just no definitive proof but in my book if you are a college student you should see an ophthalmologist to discuss what would be the best option for you to wear when doing extensive reading.

[shawn900]

Anyone?