[jerheinze]

> But, as far as I know, eyeball never shorten.

There are many anecdotal reports about people seeing shorter eyeballs as measured by an autorefractor while doing the reduced lens method, one example that I recall is this one from cliffgnu[1].

For LASIK the real thing that isn't communicated is that it doesn't address the root of the problem which is that the eyeball gets longer, it only works as if someone carved glasses on your cornea.

[1] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efsgkBHaTlI

[gdebel]

The problem is that you can't measure axial length with an autorefractometer. You need a biometer. The autoref will tell you the objective refraction of the patient (which is quite imprecise).

The eyeball gets longer with time in high (pathological) myopia. Serious surgeons will check that the myopia is stable (1-2 years) before doing a surgery. The eye doesn't, usually, gets longer in patients with moderated myopia. All the work, in refractive surgery, is in good patients selection. It is very unusual to observe a significant myopic regression in patients with a stabilized myopia after 21 years. Of course the eye is an organ, there is no absolute rule in the human body. However, patients which were correctly selected for surgery don't, usually, see their myopia coming back with time.

[SemanticStrengh]

Even for pathological patients, the solution is to reset their eye with e.g LASIK and to prevent growth via bilberry. It's non-prescription is one instance of the universal established deep mediocrity https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6296196/

[benibela]

Does it help to eat bilberries rather than the extract?

[SemanticStrengh]

I don't know but you have to understand that in general, extracts achieve effective concentrations that are impossible to achieve naturally. Moreover, a pill is easy to take consistently in the morning, while eating a bunch of billberries every morning is a chore. Consistency is key for the goal. I guess eating bilberries is better than nothing, you'd have to study the extract to infer how many bilberries per pill it represent.