Pinhole glasses are something of a phenomenon. They allow anyone with blurry vision to see clearly – instantly – without the need for corrective lenses. Sounds a bit miraculous, doesn’t it? If that’s not enough, there is lots of anecdotal evidence to show that pinhole eyeglasses can improve your vision naturally in just a few minutes each day…
You can test the concept right now. Make a fist and put it up to one eye, with the other eye closed. Open your fist a tiny bit, just enough to create a small hole to peep through. Amazingly, you can now see clearly!
How do Pinhole Glasses Work?
Pinhole glasses are a natural form of vision correction, that can never harm your eyesight (unlike prescription lenses, which are scientifically documented to make your vision worse over time!)
Contrary to their name, pinhole eyeglasses are not made of glass or corrective lenses. They are simply black plastic (or metal) with holes punched through where the lens would normally be. So, how do pinhole glasses work?
The beauty of pinhole eyeglasses is that they enable a much narrower beam of light to enter the eye. This instantly allows the eye muscles to relax and focus the small beam of light more clearly onto the retina:
1. Myopia / Nearsightedness – Light rays enter the eye and land too far in front of the retina, causing distant objects to appear blurry.
2. Hyperopia / Farsightedness – Light rays enter the eye and land too far behind the retina, causing close up objects to appear blurry.
3. Pinhole Glasses – Fewer light rays enter the narrow pinhole and focus in parallel beams perfectly on the retina, causing all objects to appear in focus.
What are Pinhole Glasses For?
Here are two good reasons to start wearing pinhole eyeglasses today:
1. Prevent Computer Vision Syndrome – if you use computers a lot you will recognize the signs: eye strain, dry eyes, fatigue, headache, blurry vision and double vision. This is all down to intense near point stress. Computer glasses can reduce the glare from the monitor, help relax the eyes, increase depth of field, and increase your natural focusing power (also known as accommodation).
2. Improve Your Vision – when I wear pinhole eyeglasses, I can literally see my eyes re-focusing 2 or 3 times per second. This is great accommodation training for your core eye muscles. Other users report that wearing pinhole glasses for just 15 minutes a day can noticeably improve your vision in 4 weeks. If you have farsightedness, you may benefit from reading and writing with pinholes on, while nearsighted people may benefit from sitting back and watching TV.
The Advantages of Pinhole Glasses
There are so many advantages to pinhole eye glasses. I believe everyone who has myopia, hyperopia, aging vision or astigmatism should own a pair. Here’s why:
Pinhole eyeglasses are cheap. If you have mild myopia, you can buy pinhole glasses for occasional TV viewing instead of buying pricey corrective lenses which only make your eyesight worse.
You don’t need to upgrade your pinhole eyeglasses as your vision changes, since they apply to all extremes of refractive errors. In comparison, normal corrective glasses usually have to be updated every year or two as your vision worsens.
For occasional use, pinhole eye glasses are better than off-the-shelf corrective lenses for aging vision. These reading glasses can be inappropriate for many people since they have the same prescription in each eye. Pinhole glasses can address different refractive errors.
If you suffer from Computer Vision Syndrome, computer glasses will reduce the bright glare from the computer screen, helping the eyes to relax and focus better. If you spend a lot of time at the computer and are worried about your near point vision, pinholes can help.
People who have had laser eye surgery often find their night vision gets permanently damaged. To reduce the glare and halo effect, they turn up the lights to make the pupil shrink and take in less light. Pinhole glasses create this effect naturally without straining your eyes.
Perhaps most importantly, many people have reported dramatic natural vision improvement from wearing pinhole eyeglasses. They can help the eyes relax and this may enable you to see better naturally – as opposed to corrective lenses which make the eyes lazy and vision worse over time.
Wearing Pinhole Glasses
Most people get used to wearing pinholes in minutes. You may experience the honeycomb effect at first (being aware of the holes) but this will soon disappear and you will only be aware of a thin veil effect. You will also be able to enjoy clear vision instantly without the damaging effect of corrective lenses.
However, if you have severe nearsightedness (over -6.00 diopters) the honeycomb effect may not go away, so pinhole glasses aren’t right for you. Pinhole eyeglasses are also ideal for children with progressive myopia and those with special visual needs who rely too heavily on their peripheral vision. Again, this is a much cheaper option than glasses, and kids find pinholes much more fun.
Please note: you should never wear pinhole glasses when driving as they limit your peripheral vision which makes it harder to spot hazards.