I glanced at Kimmie, my almost 16 year old daughter who was sitting in the passenger seat of the car. She is such a beautiful child that it is too bad that she has to wear such strong glasses. Her sister Paige was seated behind me in the rear seat, and I looked at Paige in the mirror. Paige is not quite 14 and has been wearing glasses now for around 5 years, but her prescription, at -6.50D, is not nearly as severe as her older sisters. Fortunately their brother Devon, who is 12, does not wear glasses and I have been told by the doctors in the study that there is only a very small possibility that Devon might develop a little myopia.
Because Kim is so extremely nearsighted our family was selected for a study at the Ophthalmology Center of the university. Kim started off at age 3 requiring around a -3D prescription, and over the next 9 years her -3D prescription increased by -14D. While she was younger the increases were somewhere in the neighborhood of -0.75D a year, but in the 3 years before she turned 14 she had increases that were around -1.00D a year that gave her the -18D lenses that she has needed in her glasses since she was 14. And now, at age 16, she is wearing -19D lenses in her newest pair of glasses.
The Optometry department of the university hospital has come up with a new reason for the myopia epidemic in children. Myopia is due to the eyeball growing too fast, or more simply, longer than it needs to, as the child grows. The doctors are all in agreement that the growth is caused by a natural, genetically stimulated and controlled process that is part of the eye’s development. Sometimes the growth process is too fast, or too much and myopia results. The amount of excess growth is very small, and is about 0.6mm per diopter. They now believe that the excess growth is caused by over production of an eye growth hormone that is produced by the retina and that is stimulated by focusing effort. The researchers at the hospital are convinced that the over production of the growth hormone is mainly genetically created, however it can also occasionally happen in a child who is not genetically subject to myopia through their parents.
Neither Duncan, my husband, or I were genetically myopic although now I certainly qualify as myopic. None of our immediate family members have any myopia. So for Kim to be so seriously myopic her overproduction of the growth hormone must be in her own genetic makeup. The doctors are doing testing with over 100 families who have very myopic children, and they are trying to isolate the growth hormone and attempt to develop something to counter the effects of this hormone in order to reduce the amount of myopia that some children end up with. It is probably too late for Kimmie, although at only age 16 she is entering her prime years for increases in her myopia, and Duncan and I would love to have them find some thing to prevent her eyesight from deteriorating further. And of course we would love for them to find a way of preventing severe myopia in any other children as well.
According to Dr. Robertson, the head doctor in the study, they will probably never be able to cure myopia. If they ever do manage to successfully make a drug or something to counter the effects of the growth hormone they will not be able to use it until they know for sure that the child is myopic. He tells me that the use of the anti growth hormone could have disastrous effects if it is used on a child in an attempt to prevent myopia. If they did that then there is a distinct possibility that instead of a myopic child they could have a child who’s eyes don’t grow long enough, and that child could instead require a strong plus prescription. Myopic children have it easier in life than children who require a plus prescription, as a myopic child can always take off their glasses and see up close, while a child with a plus prescription can’t really see very well at any distance.
The hope of this study is to prevent the very type of extreme high myopia that Kimmie has. If they could have used a little bit of this anti growth hormone on Kimmie when she was 3 years old and at a -3D they might have been able to keep Kimmie’s myopia under -10D. Now, if they can get the approval to test the anti growth hormone on children like Kimmie the best we can hope for would be to keep Kimmie somewhere around -20D. This is still a darned high prescription, and it might cause Kimmie lifelong problems.
It was very fortunate that our family was selected for the myopia reduction study. Kim was 12, and had needed another large increase, and Paige, who had worn glasses for a year then, also needed a small increase. Doctor Burke, the pediatric ophthalmologist that we go to told me about the study, and gave me the website where I could go to fill out an online survey. A week or so later I got a call from Dr. Robertson, the head of the study, and we went in for an interview. So, since we were accepted, the first Saturday of every month I and the 3 kids were at the university hospital having our eyes looked at. Duncan went for the first 2 months, but the doctors had all the information they needed from him by then, so he then got to stay home and go golfing with his friends.
Dr. Robertson is a wonderful man. He has devoted his life to the study of myopia, and his goal is to reduce the increasing numbers of severe myopes that are appearing around the world. He is so knowledgeable that sometimes I think I would like to have married him, but actually my own husband is a wonderful person and a fantastic father to the kids. Early on, during the first 2 months that we were going to the university on Saturdays, Dr. Robertson asked Duncan and me if we would be interested in seeing exactly the same way that Kim saw with her glasses off. So both Duncan and I were shown how to insert a special pair of contact lenses. Dr. Robertson said that these contact lenses were just a bit stronger than we needed to replicate Kim’s present vision, but he told us that they would give us the same vision she would have after she had another small increase in her myopia. Duncan wasn’t interested when Dr. Robertson asked him if he would like to wear a pair of glasses over the contacts so he could see the same way that Kimmie did with her glasses on, but I was very interested, so Dr. Robertson gave me a pair of glasses to put on. For the first little while I felt a bit disorientated, and a little dizzy, but the feeling soon went away. Then Dr. Robertson suggested that I should wear the contact lenses and the glasses around for a day or so to give me a better idea of how a real life high myope would see. Duncan was all for the idea of having me wear the glasses, even though he didn’t want to take part in the experiment.
So that is how I began wearing -20D glasses during the second month of the study. That evening when the kids and I got home Duncan told me that he loved my appearance wearing the glasses. When I suggested that after the experiment was over I would be happy to get a similar pair of glasses to wear with no prescription in them Duncan said that it wouldn’t be the same. Part of the allure of the glasses was the strength of the lenses, and without that the glasses would not have the same attraction for him. That night we made love as we often did, and Duncan asked me to leave my glasses on until after we were finished. It was a wonderful experience. I am almost positive that he was a far more interested participant in our lovemaking than he had been for ages.
When the kids and I went back without Duncan for the third month of testing Dr. Robertson was a little surprised to see that I was still wearing the glasses. I explained to him that my husband had really liked my appearance wearing the strong glasses, and after a few days of wearing them it just sort of became second nature for me to put in the contact lenses and wear the -20D glasses all day, and into the evening. I would remove them just before going to bed most nights, except for the nights that Duncan wanted to make love.
After telling him that Dr. Robertson looked at me for a few minutes without saying anything. Finally he spoke. “Do you like wearing those strong glasses Sheila?”
“Yes, I believe I do Doctor.” I replied.
“Would you feel the same way if you had no other choice but to wear those glasses to see anything past the end of your nose?’ Dr. Robertson asked.
“You mean what it is like when I take the glasses off? I don’t think I would mind, as long as I had good vision again when I put the glasses back on. I really don’t have a problem with wearing these glasses Doctor.” I said.
“It is far easier for us to give you some of the children’s excess growth hormone to create myopia in you than it is for us to know exactly how much of the anti growth hormone we should inject in a child who is producing the excess naturally. If I were to give you a little bit of the excess growth hormone that Kim is producing in her eyes, it is possible that we could hold back her increases considerably. But then you would become very nearsighted. I want you to think about this over the next month, and if you want me to do that I will. You will need to sign a lot of forms absolving us from any responsibility. But if you are willing to do that for your daughter, if you develop myopia we will also be sure that the growth hormone is actually the cause of the children’s myopia.” Dr Robertson said.
“All right Doctor. I will talk it over with my husband. If he wants me to do it, and I want to do it, we will start as soon as you are ready.” I replied.
I spoke to Duncan and he told me that he wouldn’t mind if I had to wear strong glasses if it would help Kimmie. So the only person that now had to decide was me. I wore the contact lenses and the -20D glasses all day, every day for that full month, and by the time our next session came around I had pretty well appeared in front of everyone who knew me wearing the -20D glasses. Some people didn’t say anything, while others commented that they hadn’t realized that I wore glasses. I merely told people that I had an eye infection and couldn’t wear contacts anymore so that was all that was said. I still loved the vision that I got with the GOC combination, and I decided I wanted to do it. I would be helping Kim, so that was a positive benefit.
“What have you decided Sheila?” Dr Robertson asked me when I saw him.
“I want to go for it Dr.” I replied.
So, that day I received the first injection of the retina growth hormone in each eye. Dr. Robertson told me that I shouldn’t expect immediate results. He advised me that I would start noticing that my vision wasn’t as good as it had been, and possibly by the time the following month rolled around I might need to have the power of the plus contact lenses reduced to allow me to see properly through the -20D glasses. I was fine with that.
And that is what has been happening now for the past 39 months. I was a little disappointed when Kim had her prescription jump another -1.00D just before she turned 14, and then she went up another -1.00D to -19D just a few weeks ago but Dr. Robertson explained that they really couldn’t be sure how much of the excess growth hormone they needed to take from her as they needed to still allow her eyes to grow and function properly. I had assumed that I was getting all of the growth hormone that they were injecting into my eyes from Kim, but Dr. Robertson also explained that they couldn’t take it all from Kim. He said they had taken some from Paige, and some from the other girls in the study so that everyone would have their myopia controlled better.
Each injection of growth hormone caused about 0.03mm of excess growth in my eyeball. After the injection I will receive today Dr. Robertson feels that I will have reached the full -20D and I will finally be able to see perfectly from the -20D glasses without contact lenses. Although, I must admit that I have not been wearing the contact lenses for the past 3 months, because I found that I could focus quite well through the -20D lenses without the contacts. And if I did find that the glasses were a little strong for reading all I had to do was pull the glasses away from the bridge of my nose a little. It has been a relief not to have to go to the trouble of wearing the contact lenses under my glasses.
We arrived at the center, and the kids went off with the nurse that takes them to the children’s area. I always go directly in to see Dr. Robertson and today is no different. As usual he is sitting at his desk doing paperwork, and I knock at the door to his office before I go in.
“Sheila!” he exclaims. “It is good to see you. Are you ready for another injection?”
“I am Doctor. I guess that this will be my last one.” I answered.
“We will check your eyes as we normally do before we even give you today’s injection. We wouldn’t want to give you another injection and then find out that you didn’t need it, and your eyes are now worse than -20D would we?” Dr. Robertson asks.
So the doctor took me to the examination room, and seated me behind the phoropter. I knew that he started with a -20D lens because I could almost see the wall chart that was projected on the wall perfectly. A couple of the numbers were a little fuzzy, and I told the doctor so.
“That is actually very good Sheila. It appears that you are still slightly over corrected, so another injection of the growth hormone should give you perfect eyesight with the -20D lenses.” Dr. Robertson said.
“That is wonderful news doctor. I love wearing these glasses, and it will be nice to have perfect vision with them on.” I replied.
“I wish we had as good news about Paige and Kim. Both of them are producing the growth hormone like it is going out of style. I am afraid that they are both going to have large increases in their myopia soon.” Dr. Robertson said.
“Can’t you just take some more of the growth hormone out of their eyes Doctor?” I asked.
“Then I would have to dispose of it somewhere. For the past 40 months we have been injecting it into your eyes, so there has been no record of this. Now, if we just take it from their eyes we will have to keep records, and we could get in trouble if the authorities find out what we have been doing.” Dr. Robertson said.
“What do you suggest Doctor?” I asked.
“In the past 40 months we have been injecting you with most of Kim’s excess growth hormone, and we have also been giving you Paige’s as well. To obtain enough growth hormone to increase your prescription by about -0.50D per month we have also had to use the growth hormone from other young girls, which has helped keep their prescription lower as well. I would suggest that since Paige has a lower prescription than you and Kim, we should probably let Paige’s prescription increase. Then to keep Kim’s prescription as low as possible, we could continue injecting the surplus into your eyes. I am thinking that if we just use Kim’s excess growth hormone we could get away with increasing your prescription by no more than -0.25D every 2 or 3 months.” Dr. Robertson said.
“How bad would my eyes have to get?’ I asked.
“As I said, if we just use the excess from Kim, you might go up around -1.00D a year. Worst case scenario would be that you would go up -1.50D a year. And if we find that you are increasing your prescription by less than we estimated we can also give you some of Paige’s excess. But I wouldn’t worry about Paige until her prescription climbs to around -17D or -18D. She started her myopia a little later than Kim did, so she might never reach the -20D mark. And as you can see, a prescription of -20D isn’t a real problem. But if it gets over -25D, then it is hard to get the person to 20/20.” Dr Robertson told me.
“Give me today’s injection and I will think over what you have told me Doctor.” I said.
So, Dr. Robertson gave me the injection that in 30 days was going to bring me to a visual acuity of 20/20 wearing my -20D glasses. After he was finished I collected the kids, and we headed home. I couldn’t stop thinking about Kim. Her -19D prescription was only -1.00D lower than mine now, but the chances were that Kim’s prescription could go as high as -25D, maybe even -30D, and that would not be a good thing for her.
For most of the next month I thought about my options. I must admit that I am now wondering what it would be like to have an even stronger prescription. I find that I am having no trouble at all focusing on things, and Dr. Robertson says that my vision can probably be maintained around 20/20 all the way up to a prescription of -25D. I think that I will let him go ahead with the injections, as long as we can keep Kim’s and my prescription right around the same range.
Specs4ever Oct 2012
https://vision-and-spex.com/the-retinal-eye-growth-hormone-t349.html