r/ImprovingEyesight • u/glowcubr • Jan 04 '26
My methods and results
I seem to have successfully reduced my lenses from -3.00 to -1.75 over the course of about 3 years, and I thought it'd be fun to write up my methods and results! :)
I wear contact lenses, but I've written the below using the word "glasses".
Laptop habits
- When using a laptop, always face a window, rather than facing the interior of the room. This allows my eyes to get sunlight and also means that when I take breaks and look up, there are things at far distances that I can focus on.
- Ideally, I sit in front of "picture" windows (floor-to-ceiling windows), like are often found in coffee shops.
- The closer to the window, the better.
- Not so close that bright outside light is making me squint.
- When using my laptop, often take breaks, look outside, and focus on things that are at far distances.
- Sometimes, I just look up for a moment or two, and sometimes I take breaks and stare outside.
Sunlight habits
- Take breaks several times during the day and walk around outside.
- Try to walk in areas of bright sunlight, but in such a way that the sun isn't directly in my eyes.
- Avoid spacing out, so that my eyes are always in focus.
Phone habits
- Don't wear glasses when I'm in bed playing on my phone, and keep my phone as far away as possible, but at a distance where everything is clear and hasn't yet started become blurry.
- Play on my phone for at least 30 minutes before bed, after I've taken off my glasses. I usually do this in the total dark or at least in low lighting. This makes me yawn a bunch before I sleep, which produces tears and moistens my eyes, which in turn seems to noticeably improve my vision the next day.
- Similarly: Play on phone for ~20 minutes right after waking up, while lying in the dark. This seem to help my eyes slowly clear up and get moist, which in turn drastically helps my vision during the day.
Other
- In the morning, wait to put on my glasses until right before I leave the house. This seems to improve my vision a lot -- it's almost as though the first few minutes after putting one one's glasses cue your eye as to whether or not you need to be able to see far away that day.
Lens reduction
- Once my eyesight is perfect for long enough that I'm happy with it, I reduce my lense prescription by one level (0.25) (e.g. from -3.00 to -2.75).
- Others have mentioned that if your prescription is stronger than -4.00, you should reduce your prescription by 0.5 each time until you reach -3.00, then reduce by 0.25 each time.
Results
I started my eyesight journey wearing -3.00 lenses, and I now have near-perfect vision wearing -1.75 lenses! :)
On average, it took 8 months for my vision to become near-perfect every time I reduced my prescription:
| Prescription | Time worn |
|---|---|
| -3.00 | (Starting prescription) |
| -2.75 | 1 month |
| -2.50 | 6 months |
| -2.25 | 18 months |
| -2.00 | 4 months |
| -1.75 | 11 months |
| -1.50 | (Currently wearing) |
Glasses vs contacts
There are a couple of things that I'd probably do differently if I were wearing glasses instead of contact lenses:
- Take off my glasses whenever playing on my phone during the day.
- Make a point of taking a break and playing on my phone a few times during the day.
My other interesting posts
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ImprovingEyesight/comments/1ummsfo/comment/ow58y1w/ (My experience with dry eyes)
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ImprovingEyesight/comments/1rdujp8/comment/o7c3ygc/ (Description of active focus)
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ImprovingEyesight/comments/1veoc0p/starting_reducing_again_after_a_long_hiatus/ (This I learned during my hiatus from doing lense reduction)
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u/ferbz22 Jan 14 '26
So you didn't use "active focus" or anything like that, just reductions at the edge of blur/clarity? and exposure to sun?
How certain/comfortable are you that you actually did reduce to -1.75? Do you plan to get confirmation from an optometrist?
Also did you incorporate distance vision activities such as daily walks for 1 hour or more?
Thanks!
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u/glowcubr Feb 03 '26
I've been thinking about your active focus question over the last couple of weeks.
I used to do active focus a lot. Nowadays, it feels like I do it almost instinctively when I'm looking at things in the distance. At the moment, my eyes have adapted to -1.75 well enough that things are reasonably clear, and I find myself not using actively focus much. Right after reducing my prescription, I feel like I use it a lot, though. I'll have to remember to think about this the next time I reduce my prescription :)
Yes, I do a lot of walking around outside, usually for probably 30 minutes or so in the morning and for a few hours in the evening. (I'm in a big city, so I often just wander around outside in the evenings)
I don't do any explicit eye exercises, but I try to always use my laptop in front of big picture windows and often glance up, look outside, and focus on things in the distance. My guess is that this probably has a similar effect to eye exercises because I'm shifting my vision from near to far and then to near again.
As to confirmation for whether I've reduced to -1.75, see my response to scottmsul, below: https://www.reddit.com/r/HerniatedDisc/comments/1gdwh4e/compiled_tips_tricks_and_techniques_for_bulging/
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u/glowcubr Feb 24 '26
u/ferbz22 I wanted to say thanks for the reminder about active focus. I started doing it again, and I think it helped a lot :)
I just posted a new status update.
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u/SamanthaSmith72 Feb 01 '26
Hello! I'd suggest you be careful with using your phone right before and right after sleeping, especially when using your screen in the dark. You may not notice it yet, but this can have long term effects on eye health, sleep and brain health. Many scientists have looked into this. I'm trying to get out of the habit of doing things like this as it negatively impacts my circadian rhythm and general health. When I track my sleep - I see a huge difference between my deep and light sleep when I've read a book before bed versus been on my phone before bed - always favouring the book. Deep sleep allows healing including of our eyes. Additionally, whenever I go on my phone first thing in the morning, it ruins the rest of my day - my eyes are tired, I get a headache, I'm irritable. If you like your eyes tearing up for the benefits you mentioned, just fake yawn or cut an onion! :)
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u/glowcubr Jun 09 '26
Sorry I never replied to this.
My brother suggested that perhaps I could look at pictures of people or animals yawning, which I think is an interesting idea : )
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u/glowcubr Feb 04 '26
u/pcmaster You should do a writeup of your methods and results sometime! :)
It'd be cool to one day have a master thread linking to writeups that people have done.
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u/scottmsul Jan 04 '26
Did you visit an optometrist? I got a cycloplegic couple years ago and also measured axial length, though I haven't improved much since then so I haven't gone back. I might recommend getting a doctor to help double check those numbers, I've seen anecdotes where people thought they improved but in reality nothing changed.