gollum
 
Reply Sat 27 Mar, 2004 08:14 am
A firm comprised of optometrists is selling a method of exercising the muscles in your eyes to improve your eyesight. It claims to help with nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presybyopia.

The firm is Vision Improvement Technologies. The product is See Clearly Method.

It sounds like snake oil to me. I am thinking of reporting it to the governmental entity responsible for protection of the public in such matters.

My question is, is the firm making false claims? Can one improve ones vision through exercise?
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Type: Discussion • Score: 4 • Views: 2,040 • Replies: 11
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Piffka
 
  1  
Reply Sat 27 Mar, 2004 08:54 am
You asked whether exercises could improve your vision. Have you ever seen a Tibetan Eye Chart? Mine is similar to the one pictured below... 9 inches high and seven inches across with a red spot in the middle. Using it certainly does feel like it exercises your eyes. Whether it helps my vision is debatable -- I have great far vision (wonderful for bird-watching) but I need glasses for reading. Cool

http://www.brotherhoodoflife.com/tibthe.jpg

Here are the instructions on the back of my chart:
Quote:
Move the eyes slowly clockwise following the outer edge of each arm of the figures, including the black spots, until the point of beginning is reached. Then repeat the same action in a counter clockwise direction.

After each cycle, blink and relax the eyes and then do 3-5 minutes of Palming. Repeat being careful to avoid eyestrain. Remember to breathe deeply & rhythmically. Try to do your exercises in natural sunlight.

Six muscles on the outside of the eyeball control its shape; four reaching fron front to back that flatten the eye, the other two belt it around the middle and squeeze it longwise from front to back. When the eyes are relaxed, these six muscles are flexible and cooperate automatically, adjusting the focal length so eyes may see both near and far.

Just as dependence on crutches weakens leg muscles, so does dependence on glasses weaken eye muscles by relieving them of responsibility.

(Palming -- put left hand over left eye, right over right, trying to achieve a perfect fit so that the hollow of the hand makes a slight vacuum pressure on the eyeball. Try to rest the elbows in your lap or a tabletop.)

<Piffka notes -- Pin the chart to a wall, middle circle at nose height.>


There are a few places that seem to sell these on the internet... mine cost $1, but that was a couple of decades ago. I suspect that these will still be much, much cheaper than what the optometrists are selling.
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Ceili
 
  1  
Reply Sat 27 Mar, 2004 11:11 am
I know it's very common in children to make them wear a patch over the 'good' eye, in order to strengthen a weaker eye.

Piffka's diagram make sense. The eye is a muscle and it can weaken.
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Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Sat 27 Mar, 2004 11:16 am
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/5902/tibetan.html

http://www.geocities.com/dolphinhill/tibetan2.htm

Verry interesting. I think that the links have larger charts that can be printed. As a result of a recent vitrectomy my left eye has the ability to only be correctable to 20/30 with glasses. I am going to give it a try. Thanks!
0 Replies
 
Piffka
 
  1  
Reply Sat 27 Mar, 2004 11:54 am
I hope that you enjoy trying it out, Phoenix. I used to be quite methodical about using this exercise morning and evening but I haven't done that for years. I should restart my regimen and see if I notice an improvement. Lately, I have been leaving off my glasses just to remind myself that I don't need them all the time. It is funny how much better I see in natural sunlight.

I feel like I should mention this. I noticed that the chart I posted is slightly different from the ones you found -- it has rectangular vs trianglular points on the larger figures. I also now see that the one I posted is upside down from the chart I have: the longest figure (4 and 5/8th inches) is at the top not the bottom. The bottom figure is an inch shorter which seems very strange to me. All these years and I'd assumed that the chart was fully symmetrical until now!

Whether any of that makes a difference, I don't know, but the squared off posts would make you slow down a bit more. You'll find that when you move your eyes along the long, slender posts, you have to be extremely careful not to get eyestrain. Your eyes will want to zip up and back! I was told when I bought mine that it's good to try to make the whole exercise smooth with nice rounded loops around the dots.
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Miller
 
  1  
Reply Sun 28 Mar, 2004 05:34 am
Phoenix32890 wrote:
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/5902/tibetan.html

http://www.geocities.com/dolphinhill/tibetan2.htm

Verry interesting. I think that the links have larger charts that can be printed. As a result of a recent vitrectomy my left eye has the ability to only be correctable to 20/30 with glasses. I am going to give it a try. Thanks!


Could you explain for us, what transpired during your vitrectomy? Cool
0 Replies
 
Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Sun 28 Mar, 2004 06:00 am
A couple of years ago, I had had a cataract operation. It was one of those no-stitch operations where the doc mekes a tiny incision, places a folded lens into the eye, which then opens up, (Sorta like a toggle bolt Laughing ) One of the lenses slipped, and I was seeing double.

I went to a retina specialist, who does vitrectomies. He had to make a large cut around my iris. The cut looked like a semicircle across the top of the iris, with two small horizontal cuts going away from the semicitcle, at the two tips of the semicircle. (Think of the letter "omega"). Some of the vitreous had to be removed, and a saline solution (I believe) put in. The doc then removed the lens, and replaced it with a larger one. The incision was then stitched.

This operation was less serious that the type of vitrectomy where the retina is involved. In those cases, a lot more vitreous is removed, the fluid is replaced with oil. In that operation, the patient has to remain in a heads down position for quite a while, until the oil is gone, and is replaced by the person's own vitreous.

One of the problems with a vitrectomy, is because of the amount of stitching that is involved, the shape of the eye changes, and astigmatism results. At the time, my doctor told me that if my eyesight improved, he would leave the stitches in. If not, he would remove them.

After 3 months my vision in the operated eye was 20/100. He removed the stitches. Now my vision is about 20/50. With glasses, it improved to 20/30. It can't get any better than that, but the other eye apparently takes over, and my vision is fine.
0 Replies
 
Piffka
 
  1  
Reply Sun 28 Mar, 2004 08:35 am
I am amazed at these operations of the eye -- it seems like it would be an operation on a small balloon.

But yours does sound like a long, long recovery, Phx. What did you do during that time?

You said that if your eyesight improved he would leave the stitches in, but it didn't so he took them out AND THEN your eyesight improved. Was that expected by him? Seems odd. Odd, but GOOD. It sounds as though you were able to regenerate your sight on your own.
0 Replies
 
Portal Star
 
  1  
Reply Sun 28 Mar, 2004 12:02 pm
I'm an artist and my eyes often hurt terribly after a long day. I always thought this was bad for my eyes, but who knows, maybe I have strong eye muscles Confused .
0 Replies
 
Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Sun 28 Mar, 2004 01:04 pm
Piffka- When the lens had slipped at first, I had to drive with the bad eye closed. Needless to say, I drove as little as possible.

After the operation, my eyesight was quite blurry in the operated eye. I found though, that the other eye took over, and I was able to function fairly well.

Yes, the doctor had told me that often simply removing the stitches will improve vision. I noticed it immediately after the stitches were taken out. When I walked into the examining room I could not read the diplomas on the doctors's wall. Right after they were removed, I could.
0 Replies
 
caprice
 
  1  
Reply Sun 28 Mar, 2004 01:16 pm
gollum: While it sounds like snake oil to me too, I know my brother became involved with some eye exercise program a guy out on the B.C. coast (Canada) was hawking several years back. To this day he doesn't wear glasses. I can't remember what his vision problems were...he used to have to wear glasses for reading and driving. If you like I can ask him more about it.
0 Replies
 
coluber2001
 
  1  
Reply Tue 16 Jan, 2018 12:20 pm
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0 Replies
 
 

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