How Do I Measure Improvements in Vision?

TRANSCRIPT FOR BEH PODCAST EPISODE 15

HOW DO I MEASURE IMPROVEMENTS IN VISION?

Dr. Miller:  He wanted to know, “how do I measure the improvements to my eye?” and I thought that was a good question for the call.  We’ll talk about this question, and some of these things we’ll circle back to over the next few months..  The most basic thing I recommend for people to measure their sight, is do a bit of an inventory of what you can see and what you can’t see. This process is good for everyone to do.  Write down on a piece of paper: can you read the cereal box, can you read the label in your underwear, the label on the bottle of shampoo, a headline in the paper, the address on the house across the street, the license plate in the car in the street in front of your house, the street signs, the television, big print or small print?  Literally take a piece of paper, write down the things that you can see and the things that you can’t see, put it in a drawer and in a month or two take it out and see if anything has changed.  That’s one of the best ways I know to keep track of your sight. You use the things around you, the things that are in your everyday life help you measure whether you are making improvements. 

I have people that call me, and they’re really pleased. They wake up one morning and suddenly they can read the clock at the side of the bed, where for years they haven’t been able to do it without getting really close to it or using a magnifier.  I had one man who, - I really love this story – that worked in a big box store.  When he first started the program, he’d go to the store in the morning and there were 30 aisles with a big number in front of each aisle which stretched off into the distant from 1 to 30.  When he first started the program he could barely see the number 3.  But after a few months, he could see all the way down to 16, and a few months after, he could see 23. Eventually he could see all the way down to 30.  That did a lot to motivate him to keep going, because he could see for himself that his eyes were getting better.

Sometimes this program can feel a bit difficult. It demands that you invest some time.  So if you have something you can measure that really is telling you that yes, this is making a difference, that’s huge in terms of motivating you.