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There seems to be a general acceptance that we will lose sight with age, and little can be done to prevent it. Age-related far-sightedness (hyperopia) is the most common problem, with glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and cataracts also considered part of the aging process.
None of that is true. There are plenty of ways to slow or halt the degeneration of the eyes with just a bit of preventive or corrective medicine.
Having followed my own advice, I no longer need glasses for reading. Dr Jose Mendonca, a renowned dental surgeon and jaw specialist, was diagnosed with myopia (short-sightedness) and prescribed glasses since age 11, but he now flies a plane and reads with minimal corrective lenses. He’s continued to improve since 2018.
I suspect that all the so-called “age-related” eye problems are largely due to the lens stiffening due to deficiency in vitamin C (see box, right), which is why one of the key healers to these issues is vitamin C.
The business of sight requires huge amounts of energy. The job of the retina is to convert the stimulus of a photon landing on it into an electrical signal that the brain can work with.
The brain makes up 2 percent of our total body weight but consumes 20 percent of all the energy generated. The retina, relative to its weight, demands energy at a rate 10 times higher than the brain. No system can generate energy perfectly without some collateral damage.
These damaging units are free radicals. In chemical terms, free radicals have an unpaired electron. This makes them very “sticky” to other substances, and in sticking, they denature and damage those substances, causing degeneration.
Indeed, this is the mechanism that results in the three major eye diseases of cataract, glaucoma and macular degeneration. To mop up these free radicals we need an excellent antioxidant system.
