by Leo Anghart
Contact lenses
Many people use contact lenses every day for years. There have been great advances in the construction of lenses and new materials have been developed.
However, when wearing anything in the eyes you are increasing the friction between the lens material and the protective protein layer, which starts to wear off. This protein is important because it forms the first line of defense against organisms which can cause potentially blinding corneal ulcers. When you wear contact lenses some of this protective protein rub offs. This is unavoidable. The older the lenses are the more friction and consequent damage they cause. For example, a torn or chipped contact lens creates an abrasive edge that can scratch the cornea.
Contact lenses also permit less oxygen to get to the cornea. In other words the cornea is suffocating. Even well-maintained contact lenses continue to accommodate protein. As you clean the lenses the cleaning fluid breaks down this protein. However, some of the modified protein still remains on the lens. You begin to react to this “foreign protein” in much the same way as you would to a bee sting. The immune response causes small bumps to form on the underside of your eyelids. These bumps known as papillary hypertrophy increase sensitivity to contact lens wear.
Think of contact lenses only as a temporary solution while you train your eyes. Use them as a training device.
Bates and others have noted that some people who have had their lenses surgically removed can still see better than 20/40. In other words, a person with no lenses in his eyes could still drive a car legally. The legal limit for driving is 20/40 visual acuity.
There was a woman who attended my vision training workshop in Vienna who’d had an operation to remove her lenses as a child. In those days it was not possible to insert artificial lenses, so she had lived most of her life without any lenses. After the Vision Training workshop she found that she could read text printed in an 8-point font, and she could see the 20/30 line on the eye-chart from 3 meters. She was an inspiration to all of us and a reminder of how fixed our perceptions can be: no lens, no eyesight. Scientific facts tell us that the lens constitutes a maximum of 10 percent of the refractive power of the eye.
Theories about what causes myopia abound and there are many proposals for classifying the problem. Let’s make it simple and think of the causes of myopia as functional myopia and structural myopia.
Functional myopia occurs when you are using your eyes too much for near work, such as working at a computer all day. This near work requires you to do a lot of reading while keeping your focus more or less within half a meter. It goes back to Herman Chon’s (1866) observation that over-use of the eyes for near work is the main cause of myopia. Essentially, you are gradually training your eyes to focus only on near objects and neglecting to exercise your distance vision. For example, animals raised in a close environment develop myopia. There is solid scientific evidence that environment has an influence on eyesight.
William H. Bates (1915) suggested that myopia occurs because of mental strain. This actually makes sense when you think about how vision problems vary in different parts of the world. In areas where there is not such a great emphasis on reading and book learning, vision problems are virtually non-existent. Garner et al. (1988) examined 977 Melanesian schoolchildren between the ages of 6 and 17 on the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu. In two examinations conducted in 1985 and 1986 they found myopia greater than 0.25 diopters in only 1.3 percent (1985) and 2.9 percent (1986) of the children. In other words they all had good eyesight.
In contrast Lam and Goh (1991) found that the prevalence of myopia in Hong Kong schoolchildren was almost 30 percent at age 6 to 7 years, just under 60 percent at age 10 years and 74 percent at age 16 to 17 years.
In Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan children spend many hours every day doing school work which involves a lot of reading and near work.
Palming
Palming is the hallmark of the Bates Method. Dr. Bates realized that vision problems were mainly caused by mental strain, so he was always searching for ways to relax the eyes.
The effect of palming your eyes is that your vision becomes clearer. Sometimes you may see flashes of clear eyesight when you remove your hands. At other times it could take a few moments before the vision clears.
To palm, start by rubbing your hands together, as you would do on a cold day. This action warms your hands.
Then place the palms over your closed eyes in such a way that all light is blocked. It is easier if you cross the fingers over your forehead.
You enhance the relaxation response if you exhale as slowly as possible and imagine blackness inside your eyes. When you are completely relaxed you perceive a deep blackness – like black velvet.
If you see gray shadows or sparks of light, it indicates that you hold tension in your visual system.
Reading the Bates literature you get the impression that palming for extended periods is the best practice. I recommend that you palm for a maximum of one minute at a time and do it often, so your eyes remain as relaxed as possible.
The pressure of life on the pacific island of Vanuatu is very different from the pressure exerted on Chinese students. Firstly, learning to read and write the Chinese character script takes many hours of concentrated effort. Secondly, there is extensive preparation for the very strict examinations that are the foundation of the Taiwanese school system. By contrast, the children on Vanuatu are using their eyes to look at things at all distances, and are therefore more likely to be able to maintain their natural clear eyesight. Compare this to the children in Taiwan, who start the task of learning to read and write at 4 or 5 years of age. Writing 100 perfectly formed characters, all exactly the same size, requires a lot of concentration and predominantly focuses their eyes on their books. The children end up over-using their eyes at the near focus, which causes mental strain and subsequently the onset of myopia.
In all reported studies of myopia, none of them have found the condition at birth or present at a very early age in more than 1 to 2 percent of the population. In fact, 98 percent of all 5 and 6-year-olds have good eyesight. It is a fact that most of us start out with natural clear eyesight but by the time a child reaches the age of 15, the prevalence of myopia is something like 20 to 25 percent.
What happens during the first ten years of school? This period is very formative in physical and emotional as well as mental aspects. Psychological studies on the area of attention have found that if a student is requested to solve difficult or challenging mental problems, the focusing of the eyes tends to collapse towards the near point by as much as 60 percent. Imagine a 9-year-old in a math class struggling with fractions. All his friends understand them, but he just can’t get his mind to comprehend what they are all about. He tries to concentrate harder and probably begins to turn inward towards his feelings. Difficulties in school often come up as one of the root causes for vision problems in children.
The structural myopia theory suggests that genetic factors cause the eyeball to elongate and myopia to develop. Goldschmidt (1968) provides an extensive review of the literature on genetics in myopia. He concludes that genetic factors are important, but there are several types of myopia with different genetic patterns. Other researchers have found no basis for the genetic myopia theory.
As you know, the conventional approach is to fit anyone who is myopic with corrective minus lenses. This will appear to give you good vision as long as you wear the lenses. The lenses themselves do absolutely nothing to improve the condition; on the contrary, the experience most people have is that they will require stronger and stronger lenses. Unfortunately, the myopia becomes progressively worse.
Other approaches involve refractive surgery using laser beams to essentially carve the corrective lens into the surface of your cornea. Like all surgery this involves some risks especially when you consider that the cornea is only half a millimeter thick – roughly three pages of this book. Obviously there is not much room for error and the result is irreversible.
Myopia can vary from very mild (less than 2 diopters) to quite severe (more than 4 diopters). So we have to look at Vision Training strategies for each of three main degrees of severity. Obviously the lower the diopter required to correct the vision, the easier it is to train the eyes to function normally.
Colored eye-charts
Colors are focused at different points along the optic axis. For example, the color blue has a shorter focal length than red. Using an eye-chart that has a red background on one side and a green one on the other means that people with myopia will notice that the letters on the red side appear sharper. Research indicates that the total chromatic aberration interval (from red more distinct to green more distinct) is from 0.50 to 0.75 diopters.
We use different colored eye-charts to make it easier to see progress by working with a color contrast that suits the eyes.
14. Recovering Myopia of Less Than 2 Diopters
This is mild myopia that only interferes with detailed vision at a distance. You can recover from this fairly quickly by doing eye exercises and following this advice:
• Wear lenses only when absolutely necessary. You do not need glasses for reading and deskwork. Give your eyes a chance to adjust.
• Work with the eye-chart to see lower and lower lines, finally moving down to see the bottom line clearly.
• Develop the habit of moving your eyes from near to far objects.
• Sharpen your vision by swinging (see below).
How to practice with the eye-chart
The eye-chart (Snellen card) serves as a feedback device for you to monitor your progress. The objective is to be able to see as many lines down the chart as possible. Place the chart in a spot where there is good daylight. Measure out the exact distance of 3 meters and place markers at 1 meter intervals. Here are Dr. Bates’ recommendations for practicing with the eye-chart.
1. Place the eye-chart on a wall in good daylight.
2. Place yourself 3 meters from the chart and read as far as you can without effort. Alongside each line there are small letters indicating distance. Along the big letter “E” the figure is 20/400, so this size letter can be read at a distance of 400 feet (130 meters) if the vision is normal. The second to last line on the eye-chart can be read from a distance of 3 meters.
3. Now, let’s say you can read as far down as the fifth line. You will notice that the last letter on that line is an “N.” Now palm your eyes and remember the “N.” This mental picture will help you to see the letter directly below, which is a “D.” Continue this process down the chart.
4. If you stare at the last letter on the line you will notice that all the letters on that line will blur. It is beneficial to close your eyes briefly and shift to look at the first letter. Alternate blinking and shifting your attention from the first letter to the last letter. You will find you can read all the letters on that line by closing your eyes briefly for each letter.
The eye-chart exercise is especially useful when you have just 1 or 2 diopters of correction. With more than 5 diopters you can’t see the first letter of the chart.
The best distance to train with the eye-chart is the place where you can work with the lower half of the chart. As you get to see more and more lines you move away from the chart. Finally you will be able to see the 20/20 line from a distance of 3 meters.
Swinging
This is another exercise developed by Dr. Bates to relax the eyes and develop sharpness. There are several ways of doing the swing.
The simple sway
1. Stand with your feet slightly apart so you are firmly grounded. Place your awareness on the eye-chart and find a line where you can distinguish the letters but cannot see them clearly.
2. Begin to sway your body from side to side. Allow your eyes to sweep across the line back and forth three or four times. Close your eyes and stop swaying.
3. When you feel centered, open your eyes and find one letter on the line. Look at the top part of the letter and then look at the bottom part of the letter. Allow an opening to take place. You will notice a sharpening of the letters and possibly the entire line.
The long swing
With the long swing you are turning your body at the waist, moving in a 180° sweep. You allow your eyes to slowly trace objects in the environment. In the beginning work rather slowly. Speed is not important – simply practice in the way that is most relaxing. Do the long swing at different distances in space. You will notice that things begin to become clearer.
The eye swing
This swing is performed only with the eyes. Look at a word or short sentence and sweep across from beginning to end several times. Briefly close your eyes and then look back at the word. You will discover that it is now clear.
Centuries ago the Japanese Samurai discovered that during archery training the warriors who visually followed the path of the arrow to their target experienced an improvement in their visual skills. Even those who had normal eyesight found a significant improvement in their ability to see. The Japanese master might say to his students, “Look at the tree, then look at a single branch, then look at a single leaf, then look at the veins in the leaf, and finally look at the tip of one leaf.” In essence, this variation of focus provides a key to natural clear eyesight.
15. Recovering Myopia from between 2 to 3 Diopters
This is the mid-range of myopia. At 2 diopters you have clear vision out to about 50 cm. You will be comfortable reading and doing close work without glasses. For computer work you might need to pull the monitor a bit closer to you so the screen falls within your visual range.
At 3 diopters your vision extends out to only about 35 cm. This is fine for reading but for working with a computer it might be too close for comfort. Your prime objective will be to regain 1 or 2 diopters so that you can work comfortably.
There a number of exercises for correcting between 2 and 3 diopters of myopia:
1. Use the string exercise to move your far point of clear vision out. You only have about 15 cm to go before you get to 2 diopters.
2. Use the chart-shifting exercise to practice shifting from near focus to far focus. Start with the larger text and then go to the smaller text block when you have gained some experience.
3. When you get closer to 2 diopters begin to do some exercises with the eye-chart. You will probably find that you are somewhere on the lower half of the chart.
4. Practice the swinging exercises described above and do the domino exercise described on page 116.
Chart-shifting exercise
The purpose of this exercise is to train the ability to shift focus between near and far. It develops accurate saccadic fixation and spatial location by shifting from a hand-held chart to a wall-mounted chart.
1. Place yourself just far enough away from the chart so that it is a bit of a challenge to see clearly.
2. Holding a small eye-chart in your hands, read three letters aloud in your mind. Then blink as you shift and read the next three letters from the wall chart, and say them out loud.
3. You have the option to alter the way you read the letters. For example, you can start from left to right as in normal reading. As an alternative, you can also read the letters going up and down in columns. Or you can start from the end and go back towards the beginning. Finally, you can select three letters at random and find the next three letters on either the wall chart or the hand-held chart. The ultimate challenge would be to spell names by reading each letter alternately from the wall chart and the hand-held chart. The important thing is to keep your mind interested and have fun with the exercise.
4. To enhance the focusing powers of your eyes move both towards and away from the wall chart while attempting to see the letters clearly at the maximum distance possible. Do the same thing with the chart you are holding in your hands. To improve near-sight move the charts further away. For far-sight and presbyopia move the charts closer and closer.
5. Do this exercise for a few minutes, then rest your eye
s by palming. The aim is to accomplish the shifting process as quickly and accurately as possible. Exercise for a maximum of 5 minutes each time. Keep in mind, however, that it is beneficial to do this exercise frequently.
The same action described in this exercise can also be done in other environments at school or at work. Switching from one focus to another, combined with a slight challenge in terms of moving the blur zone further away, is a very useful exercise particularly when you are in the mid-range of myopia. You can also combine this exercise with tromboning (moving closer and further away – see page 164) while you are attempting to keep the image sharp.
You can download this chart from www.vision-training.com/en/Download/Download.html
The domino exercise
This is the “swinging” exercise introduced by Aldous Huxley in his book, The Art of Seeing (1943). The purpose of this exercise is to improve the sharpness of the eyesight by getting the eyes to learn to relax. The marked contrast between the white dots and the black domino makes it easy to get good results. I have found this exercise to be very useful for extending clear vision for those with less than 2 or 3 diopters of short sight.
1. Start by palming your eyes for 1 minute.
2. Find the distance from the illustration where you can see the domino pattern clearly. Step a little further back, so that the dominoes become soft. Not blurry, just soft.
