Discussion

I solved the riddles of cataracts. The cause of the wedge-shaped cataract is the unreasonable power of accommodation. Therefore, everyone can prevent wedge-shaped cataracts and can stop their progression.

  MEASURES

1.  How should we avoid using the UNREASONABLE POWER?

　I call the age over 41, “the age of presbyopia.”

　From the age of presbyopia, in order not to use the UNREASONABLE POWER, we must use reading glasses with “lenses of sufficient strength.” “Lenses of sufficient strength” compensate for a short degree of the power of accommodation.

2.   Reading glasses of sufficiently strong power

Almost all eye doctors probably prescribe eyeglasses using the “lens change method.” Using this method, a doctor asks a patient as follows. “With which lens can you see better, this one or before?” In this way, the doctor decides the lens power. This method is not suitable for preventing wedge-shaped cataracts, however. When a patient is fitted with glasses using this method, she might use close to the maximum power of accommodation during the test. Accordingly, her glasses will run short of degree.

At the age of 40, in theory, a person should not use the accommodation power of 3.3 D. Considering that the danger of cell being crushed increases with age due to the high PRESSURE, we need to reduce the power of accommodation as early as possible. 　For this purpose, everybody should wear reading glasses from the early 40's onwards. In this way, we can put an end to the UNREASONABLE POWER.

　However, at the age of 40, as remnants of POWER work a little, the eye feels that reading glasses of 3.0 D are too strong. It is the same over the age 40, while an eye retains some power of accommodation. If eyeglasses are fitted using the “lens change method,” reading glasses which run several degrees short will be made.

Sufficiently strong power for reading glasses is the degree which makes up for the shortage in diopters at each age. This shortage is the difference between the power which an eye uses to look at nearby objects and the power which is normally usable in accommodation at each age. To make these spectacles, they must be prescribed using a method I call the “adding fixed degree method”. This is the only way to prevent the UNREASONABLE POWER.

I will explain the “adding fixed degree method.” In this method, we add the fixed amount of degrees at each age to the fitted degrees of a patient's glasses to see distant objects. The fixed amount is 1.0 D at the age of 42, 1.5 at the age of 45, 1.75, at the age of 47, 2.0 at the age of 50, being increased 0.25 D for every 2.5 years of age after that, finally reaching the fixed amount of 3.0 D at the age of 60. Over the age 60, the fixed amount is 3.0 D for the rest of the patient's lifetime. Moses says as follows.

“Further loss of the accommodative power with recession of the near point, continues unabated until about the age of 60 years, by which time all the accommodation has been lost.⁶”

The 3.0 D of a lens about 12 mm in front of an eye is equivalent to 3.25 D for the eye itself. The focal length of 3.25 D is about 30 cm. Lenses of eyeglasses are made using steps of 0.25 D. If reading glasses of a higher diopter number than 3.0 D are used after the age 60, the eye will only be able to see nearer than 30 cm by those glasses.

If everyone wears reading glasses of sufficiently strong power after the age of about 42, it is possible to prevent the destruction of the human lens completely. Even if a person wears glasses later than that, he can stop the progression of cataracts on the condition that the destruction of the lens is not too far advanced. Additionally, even if the cataract has advanced significantly, reading glasses of sufficiently strong power will be able to delay the progression of a wedge-shaped cataract.

However, to people, it is difficult to understand what presbyopia is, and what the reading glasses are. Many people do not know what they use reading glasses for. They say, “I can read a newspaper without glasses.” Eye doctors are lacking in effort.

3.  Spectacles with progressive multifocal lenses

In a vertical writing culture, spectacles with progressive multifocal lenses cannot take the place of reading glasses of sufficiently strong power. In a progressive multifocal lens, the part used to see nearby objects is in the lowest position. (Fig.5-1, 5-2) The part for near vision has some spread in the horizontal direction. However, that part has very narrow spread in the vertical direction. Therefore, the spectacles are useful in a horizontal writing culture, but in a vertical writing culture, a person cannot read vertical sentences. He will read vertical sentences through the part to see distant objects. This is a very important matter. No one is aware of it, however, because Europe and America are in the horizontal writing culture. Even in the horizontal writing culture, progressive multifocal glasses are not enough for preventing the unreasonable power of accommodation. A person in the horizontal writing culture might look at a nearby object through the part to see distant objects. Many people do not know that the upper part of the progressive multifocal lens is only for seeing distant objects. They might think they can look at everything, near or far, through the center of the progressive multifocal lens because they wear “multifocal glasses.”

And reading glasses are used not only to read sentences, but also to look at everything nearby. Everyone must look at not only sentences, but also every nearby object with reading glasses. Then, we should stop using the label “reading glasses,” and we should call those glasses “close-at-hand glasses,” for example.

　THE NEAR FUTURE

Edward Cotlier writes about cataracts in “ADLER'S Physiology of the eye.” “Biochemical abnormalities may herald morphologic changes of the lens.¹⁹” Everybody who studies cataracts thinks like this; however, it is not true. In a wedge-shaped cataract, morphologic changes begin first, and then biochemical abnormalities follow. Therefore, no one could discover the cause of cataracts, even though they investigated all biochemical changes. The excellent researcher John Harding knows all about biochemical changes in cataracts. Harding writes in his book “CATARACT Biochemistry Epidemiology and Pharmacology (1991),” as follows.

“In the last chapter I deal with the prevention of cataract and its delay by anticataract agents. There have been enormous advances in this area in the past few years and there is the promise of an effective therapeutic treatment soon.³”

It is very regrettable.

　Wedge-shaped cataract is the destruction of the lens caused by the PRESSURE. Before cataract occurs, the “excessive accommodation” develops myopia, and it gives rise to the “distorted lens.”

The planned life span of a human lens will be about 50 years. The role of the human lens as an optical lens ends at that time. But the human life span is getting longer, and it continues to do so. In near future, the average human life span might reach 100 years. Like the human life span, we must extend the life span of the human lens.

As we can prevent cataracts by using reading glasses, which are easy to use, we can reduce the number of cataract surgeries. In an ophthalmologist's office, this prevention will be sensed within three years as it stops the cataract progression in patients' eyes. In a large institution of ophthalmology, this will be recognized within three years as a decrease in the number of cataract surgeries. However, they will never do so. This is because they do not want to lose the large profits from cataract surgeries. But we should not forget their big profits are big losses of people.

   So many surgeons of ophthalmology are operating cataracts every day in the world. They never think about the cause of cataracts. We are in the Dark Ages today.

Now, we can estimate the rough number of cataract surgeries all over the world. We will name the total number of cataract surgeries operated in the world “TOUT.” I think the types of cataract surgeries are as Fig.5-3. I estimate each percentage of surgeries in TOUT. About 60% are wedge-shaped cataracts, about 35% are nuclear cataracts and about 5% are subcapsular cataracts.

I suspect as follows.

“Wedge-shaped cataracts” / TOUT will now be 60 %. But I think that “true wedge-shaped cataracts” / TOUT are about 30 %. The rest of the “wedge-shaped cataracts” are really the visual acuity loss due to the distorted lens. Accordingly, this corresponds to about 30 % in TOUT.

And, “nuclear cataracts” / TOUT are 35 %. As with the wedge-shaped cataract, I think that “true nuclear cataracts” / TOUT are 5 %. The rest of “nuclear cataracts” will be the visual acuity loss by the distorted lens. I think this corresponds to 30 % in TOUT.

Therefore, the true items of cataract surgeries will be as Fig.5-4.

We can prevent cataract and the distorted lens by using reading glasses of sufficiently strong power. Using reading glasses is an easy way to practice. The 30 % of TOUT operated as wedge-shaped cataract, and another 30 % of TOUT operated as nuclear cataract will go away. The total ratio of those useless surgeries is at most 60 % of TOUT. Of course, most of the original surgeries for wedge-shaped cataract become unnecessary by using reading glasses of sufficiently strong power. That ratio in TOUT is at most 30 %. The surgeries for wedge-shaped cataracts and the surgeries for the visual acuity loss due to a distorted lens will become unnecessary. They come to at most 90 % of TOUT in total.

   And we might be able to prevent nuclear cataracts. It is known that AGE is one of the causes of nuclear cataracts. If we avoid a large amount of food which contains AGE or makes AGE, we will be able to reduce nuclear cataracts. Those foods are heavily roasted meat, fried potatoes and the like, fructose or fruits, sugar and baked sugar, carbohydrate-rich foods and so on.

　We, or you and I, can decrease the number of cataract surgeries, by using reading glasses of sufficiently strong power. We can decrease the number of all present operations by at most 90%. Enormous numbers of cataract surgeries which are primarily needless are operated every day all over the world. I think the greatest enemy of mankind is the ignorance. We must know the truth.

In near future, the average life span of the human lens must become 100 years.

             Cataracts were the great cold case.

Materials and Methods

   Materials: Literature of Predecessors. Methods: The author's thinking.