Can You See Clearly Now?

[10/28/05] I received a spam for the product called The See Clearly Method which claims to be able to improve your eyesight.

Does it work? It is unclear, but the fact that it was spam may be a clue.

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Q. I am 51 and have recently noticed that newspaper print is getting harder to read. To forestall the need for reading glasses, should I give my eyes a daily workout by reading the paper without glasses, or will reading small print make the problem worse?

A. Neither course of action will make a difference in the long run, and in the short run, “an unnecessary workout by reading the paper without glasses will only lead to blurriness, headaches and frustration,” said Dr. Christopher E. Starr, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical College. Your difficulty is almost certainly presbyopia, a condition that appears at middle age and is caused by a progressive loss of flexibility in the lens, making it harder and harder for the lens to change shape to focus clearly on objects at different distances.

The difficulty is most noticeable when trying to view small targets like printed text.

“Presbyopia is purely related to increasing age and there are no exercises that can prevent it or slow it down,” Dr. Starr said in an e-mail message.

“Wearing the correct eyeglass prescription will allow you to read comfortably at a normal distance and will not weaken the eye or cause the presbyopia to progress further.”

keywords: vision, eyesight, eyeglasses

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[11/1/10] Kind of reminds me of the Bates method and the book Better Eyesight Without Glasses (which I bought years and years ago) which gets four stars at Amazon.

Even more interesting is the book Relearning to See. What makes it interesting is the author's name: Thomas Quackenbush.

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[11/1/10] And now, Eye Yoga.

*** [7/22/12 via frwr_news]

Eyes Relaxing and Focusing – is designed to protect computer users' eyesight, especially that of those who spend in front of the monitor more than one hour a day. While occupied with various programs, games, designing or programming, users often lose the sense of time, especially if the process is absorbing. After some period, you must make a pause to let your eyes rest. This product will allow you to train your eyesight during the break by means of particularly designed images that will appear on the screen. All you have to do is watch these images..

[I tried it and it doesn't seem to make my eyes relax.  But maybe that's not the point..]

[9/6/16] According to this, "thousands of people have improved their vision using this unique method."  I'm skeptical, but you never know..  Interesting eye exercises anyway.