From the blog of an OptometristHe wrote:
The Bates Method Again
Hydra and others on Yahoo Answers are advocating the Bates Method for improving your eyesight "naturally", so I'm going to revisit this topic.
Its crap, people. I don't know how else to describe it. Its old, bad science from 87 years ago (1st published in 1920), and it even suggests doing some downright DANGEROUS things for "therapy" such as staring directly at the sun! The Bates Method has been clinically debunked many times. It does not cure anything, and *could* even CAUSE permanent blindness, were anyone to stare at the sun ("sunning") or attempt to "cure" their glaucoma with "palming".
This is my blog, so I can call the Bates Method for what it is w/o being accused of "defamation", like I have been on Yahoo Answers (by Hydra). The Bates Method is total crap, debunked multiple times, written 87 years ago by a man who most AT THE TIME considered to be a quack. I certainly consider that to be the case in 2007.
He also wrote:
See Clearly MethodI get questions about this all the time, and I found a good link about it:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRel ... quack.htmlBasically the "See Clearly Method" is a form of the Bates Method, which has been scientifically debunked many times over since it was written by Dr. Bates in the early 20th century. Keep in mind that the methods suggested, such as "sunning" and "palming" were invented in the time when the world's leading researchers assumed that the human eye perceived things by PROJECTING light onto them like a flashlight. We of course now know that the eye RECEIVES light and does not project it. We also have now known for at least 70 years now that the Bates Method, the See Clearly Method, and pretty much everything from the website
http://www.myopia.org is all complete nonsense and pretty much worthless in a clinical sense. There is no worldwide conspiracy among eye doctors to keep everyone nearsighted and therefore obtain job security, as the author of myopia.org directly states.