Veil of Fire

I've been hearing ads on the radio for something called the "See Clearly Method", which is supposed to improve your vision (cure nearsightedness, astigmatism, and nearly everything else) without glasses, contacts, or laser surgery. I did a bit of perusing on their site (but not much, I'm in a rush) to find out they claim this method improves eyesight by strengthening the muscles around the eye.

I'm certainly not going to fork out the cash just to see if it works based on THAT claim, tho... does anyone here know more about it, or the theory behind it? Is it actually backed up by anything? If so, wouldn't optomitrists be out of business?

Toto

<a href="http://www.seeclearlymethod.com/" target="_blank">http://www.seeclearlymethod.com/</a>

It sounds like a variant on the Bates method. My experience with that is that it may work if your eyesight is not too bad to start off with, but you will be required to put a lot of effort into it for the results that you get. It's a lot easier to wear glasses, which is why optometrists are in no danger of going out of business.

The latest research that I have read links eyesight problems with sugar consumption (through the insulin reaction.)

On the other hand, they have a money back guarantee, and it may help keep your vision from deteriorating. If you try it, let us know.

braces_for_impact

When I was 7 I was found to be myopic and the optometrist we went to of course gave me glasses. But he also put me in sessions twice a week where I was to stare at funny signs, put flashing lightbulbs against my closed eyelids for several miutes, and do "near and far" excersises with my vision. It was claimed to strengthen my eye muscles to keep my prescription from becoming stronger and stronger. While I am only a single case and it is far from conclusive evidence, I have always suspected this doc of scamming my mother. My prescription practically doubled every year until I was 21 years old or so, and has finally stabilized now in my upper 20's. In my case, I can safely conclude these methods provided no help.

Toto

I think I remember some of those exercises, which didn't work for me either when I was a kid, but I have heard of others who claimed that they worked. The Bates method is based on relaxation of the eye muscles more than on strengthening them.

I found this <a href="http://www.allaboutvision.com/buysmart/see_clearly.htm" target="_blank">consumer review</a> of an older version of the See Clearly Method. (It looks like the price has come down quite a bit.) They cite one staff member (with a more serious problem than myopia) who got little benefit, and one consumer who did experience some improvement and was happy, although he still needed glasses. It describes the program as including some exercises, some Bates method relaxation, some accupressure, and some woo-woo New Age affirmations ("Visualize your inner lens becoming more flexible and the ciliary muscle more powerful. Visualize the eyeball transforming into a better shape.")

cloudyphiz

i'm sure these exercises can't hurt anything, but there's no way the price ("three easy monthly payments of $79.95 on your credit card") can be justified (imo). although, starting something like these exercises with a very young child could possibly be effective.

i'll ask one of the ophthalmologists at work tomorrow what they think of these guys.

-gary

cloudyphiz

"Visualize your inner lens becoming more flexible"

sorry for them, but this isn't going to happen. from birth the polymers in the crystallin lens begin to crosslink, and the result is that the lens becomes increasingly more rigid through one's life. eventually the lens will become so inelastic that the cilliary muscles will not be able to change it's shape enough to provide significant accommodation (the change in power required to maintain focus from far to near distances). this condition is known as presbyopia, and it's an inevitable side affect of the aging process... irregardless of how much you 'visualize it becoming flexible'.

and having strong cilliary muscles may delay the onset of presbyopia slightly, but probably not by very long.

-gary

Veil of Fire

"and some woo-woo New Age affirmations ("Visualize your inner lens becoming more flexible and the ciliary muscle more powerful. Visualize the eyeball transforming into a better shape.")"

Wow, they don't even get their New Age woo-woo straight. Visualizations work better if you don't know exactly what's supposed to happen (the theory being your BODY knows what's supposed to happen, so you just tell it what to do and not worry about micromanaging which muscles do what).

Arrowman

Oh, please. You don't expect an honest answer from a mainstream medical practitioner, do you? Everyone knows they're engaged in a massive conspiracy to protect their outmoded conventional methods.

liquid

In some circumstances, eye exercises can improve vision. For instance, optometrists put eye patches over good eyes for a while to strengthen lazy eyes. Some compensation can also be made for not directly muscular conditions, but not much. And of course, it won't affect lens defects in the slightest.

cloudyphiz

that's a whole different matter, one that involves training the brain where (and how) to point the eye properly. the patches don't affect the optics of the eye, or correct it's power, which is what this company is advertising.

-gary