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+--- Thread: very clear sight when I turn my head (/showthread.php?tid=1856)
very clear sight when I turn my head - Nini - 06-26-2011
I found out, that when I turn my head and look sidewards out of the corner of my eye (is 'canthus' the right word for it?) my vision becomes very clear and I can almost read the whole eye-chart.
Since then I always have to prevent myself from turning my head when I practice with the eye-chart and sometimes I'm not even aware of the head movement.
Is this an abnormality of my eyes?
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - arocarty - 06-26-2011
Hi Nini,
I would think this is pretty normal. I remember when I wore glasses, I could tilt them in any direction and see a much sharper image, because the angle increased the refractive power of the lenses. Myopes are notorious for tilting their heads up and looking through the very lower part of their eyes in an effort to see more clearly (add that to list of 'how do I recognize a myope'). Everyone has a different shape cornea, and, expecially with astigmatism, a person may be able to find an extreme visual angle which helps refract the light in a more positive direction, improving clarity.
Try moving your eyes very slowly back towards the primary position (straight ahead). Or in this case, turn your head back to looking directly at the chart. Are you able to maintain any of the clarity, even for a moment?
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - Nini - 06-26-2011
Hi arocarty
Thanks for your answer.
When I move my head slowly, the clarity vanishes; only when I keep on moving my head a bit faster, I can maintain a certain amount of clarity.
But I don't want to 'cheat' myself when I practice...
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - JMartinC4 - 07-05-2011
Nini Wrote:I found out, that when I turn my head and look sidewards out of the corner of my eye (is 'canthus' the right word for it?) my vision becomes very clear and I can almost read the whole eye-chart. Since then I always have to prevent myself from turning my head when I practice with the eye-chart and sometimes I'm not even aware of the head movement. Is this an abnormality of my eyes?
Nini Wrote:Hi arocarty Thanks for your answer. When I move my head slowly, the clarity vanishes; only when I keep on moving my head a bit faster, I can maintain a certain amount of clarity. But I don't want to 'cheat' myself when I practice...This is close to my experience as well. I think what is happening is that the Bates Methods (palming, long and short swing, etc.) gradually get the eyes working together better, so they are better pointed together on the same visual plane into the same distance, at the same time, and at the same object or area. That recoordination and resynchronization though doesn't flatten the corneas or smooth and repair the tear films. But turning the head actually does apply a little bit of extra pressure to the corneas via the eyelids etc., enough to slightly flatten the corneas and improve the tear film. That then enables the incoming angled light to hit the maculas/foveas and can result in clearer eyesight if the mind is looking for it. When I was a kid, my siblings and I would all laugh at how if we pushed/pulled back on the sides of our faces with our palms, stretching the lids against the eyes and looking like chinamen, our eyesight would improve a little.
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - Nini - 07-05-2011
JMartinC4 Wrote:stretching the lids against the eyes and looking like chinamen, our eyesight would improve a little.
Not only a little!
If I stretch my eyelids, i can 'improve' my vision to 100%.
I use this technique (of course a little bit more discretely, only stretching with one finger), when I want to read something without taking my glasses out of my bag.
When I was about 10 years old, my eyesight began to become blurry. I then didn't want to let anybody know - I hated the perspective that I would have to wear glasses. With the help of stretching my eyelids when it was really necessary to see something clearly - for example in school - I managed to hide it for quite some time. While watching TV, I always put my elbows on the table, my head on the palms of my hands, so that my fingers reached up to my eyes; so I could secretly stretch the eyelids without anybody noticing ....
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - JMartinC4 - 07-07-2011
JMartinC4 Wrote:This is close to my experience as well. I think what is happening is that the Bates Methods (palming, long and short swing, etc.) gradually get the eyes working together better, so they are better pointed together on the same visual plane into the same distance, at the same time, and at the same object or area. That recoordination and resynchronization though doesn't flatten the corneas or smooth and repair the tear films. But turning the head actually does apply a little bit of extra pressure to the corneas via the eyelids etc., enough to slightly flatten the corneas and improve the tear film. That then enables the incoming angled light to hit the maculas/foveas and can result in clearer eyesight if the mind is looking for it. When I was a kid, my siblings and I would all laugh at how if we pushed/pulled back on the sides of our faces with our palms, stretching the lids against the eyes and looking like chinamen, our eyesight would improve a little.
Nini Wrote:Yes, indeed, that was a regular practice of mine as well. I think another thing it doesn't improve on though is the over-dominance of one of the eyes. Ever since I started working on bringing my submissive, worse visioned left eye back into the game as an equal partner (but my better visioned right eye still slightly dominant), about six months ago, my eyesight and control of it has seen great improvements. Regarding the slant-eyed looking techniques, if I hold my face at what seems like an oblique angle to center (but I think is often actually centering and just feels uncentered), the clear eyesight occurs when I look sideways even without having to stretch the side skin/lids/orbits. Also, I don't think the 'speed of rotation' is as important as maintaining both eyes pointed together while moving and then stationary. Thanks for helping my clarify this line of insight!JMartinC4 Wrote:stretching the lids against the eyes and looking like chinamen, our eyesight would improve a little.Not only a little! If I stretch my eyelids, i can 'improve' my vision to 100%. I use this technique (of course a little bit more discretely, only stretching with one finger), when I want to read something without taking my glasses out of my bag. When I was about 10 years old, my eyesight began to become blurry. I then didn't want to let anybody know - I hated the perspective that I would have to wear glasses. With the help of stretching my eyelids when it was really necessary to see something clearly - for example in school - I managed to hide it for quite some time. While watching TV, I always put my elbows on the table, my head on the palms of my hands, so that my fingers reached up to my eyes; so I could secretly stretch the eyelids without anybody noticing ....
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - Nancy - 07-07-2011
Dr. Bates called this seeing better where you are not looking "eccentric fixation". I remember one account of a woman who had to look a few feet to the side of the eye chart to see it clearly. He coaxed her vision closer and closer to the center of where she was looking to start improving her sight (and headaches, if I remember correctly). This seems to me an extreme case growing out of the bad visual habit of trying to see everything at once. Re-training myself to only look at one small point at a time isn't automatic for me yet, I think because the wrong way of looking is still so familiar, but I'm noticing faster when I'm doing it wrong. Baby steps: I stop myself a few times a day to check "Where am I looking now?".
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - JMartinC4 - 07-07-2011
Okay, I went out and tested some of this on the sidewalk this afternoon, sunny day, 85 degrees, around 3PM, NW WashDC. Walking north at a normal pace. I kept my face turned 45 degrees to the right looking across the street. Result: Increased clarity, ranging from 20/30 to 20/20, and then without turning the face, shifted my gaze toward the center, and then gradually ratcheted the face back towards center also, again with Increased clarity, ranging from 20/30 to 20/20. I then did the same thing - as the light/gut reaction moved me - letting my left eye lead my face to turn to the left 45 degrees, and held that position as I walked, and ratcheting back again, with the same results.
I then did the same procedure while driving back along the same route, traveling south this time, around 3:15PM. Same good results.
If you look at Dr. Bates' photo which David has on the home page of iblindness.org, you will see that he is holding his face at an angle and looking sideways. But he was not myopic. I have seen the same posture/pose/positioning used elsewhere by other NVI proponents, including a photo of David himself outdoors with a hat on at a river. It is apparently a common method not very well discussed.
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - Nini - 07-08-2011
Nancy Wrote:Dr. Bates called this seeing better where you are not looking "eccentric fixation".
This is true for my weaker (almost 4 diopters) eye - which has been fixed in a deformed shape with a buckle (to prevent the retina from another detachment).
When I look at the line of 5 letters ( <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/oph/ped/IVAC/IVAC.html">http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/oph/ped/IVAC/IVAC.html</a><!-- m --> ) and try to read the first one, the last letter will become very clear, wheras I hardly manage to read the first one.
The clear sight when I turn my head is different. This concerns my better eye and I see best in exactly the direction where I look - but not straight foreward, instead looking out of the corner of the eye, the face slightly turned (as Martin describes it), focussing the eye-chart.
Maybe the reason (or one of the reasons) for the better eyesight is the fact, that the eyebell is not of a completely round shape, maybe the diameter is a bit shorter in that place, an therefore less short-sighted.
Perhaps I can really use this for practice, as Arocarty suggested and Martin tested sucessfully; its not 'cheating' after all, but a chance for improvement...
Re: very clear sight when I turn my head - JMartinC4 - 07-08-2011
Nini Wrote:Okay, today I have been 'conducting' further 'tests' of this 'method' of left-right equal dominance sidelong-looking while stationary and while moving forward, and am experiencing even better results than yesterday. Same environmental conditions. Earlier timeframe (9AM - 2PM). Slightly different route(s). All prior posts are still at play and in effect. But this improved method may be 'launching' me into another near-final phase or stage of clear normal eyesight (re)development. It's exciting. That's how good it is. I expect to join jiminos and Bob and others who have posted their success stories here. My two or three year timetable prediction/projection is still good. But without this website forum and interactions with all posters here, I doubt I could have stayed on track or made the inroads and insights necessary.Nancy Wrote:Dr. Bates called this seeing better where you are not looking "eccentric fixation".This is true for my weaker (almost 4 diopters) eye - which has been fixed in a deformed shape with a buckle (to prevent the retina from another detachment). When I look at the line of 5 letters ( <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/oph/ped/IVAC/IVAC.html">http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/oph/ped/IVAC/IVAC.html</a><!-- m --> ) and try to read the first one, the last letter will become very clear, wheras I hardly manage to read the first one.
The clear sight when I turn my head is different. This concerns my better eye and I see best in exactly the direction where I look - but not straight foreward, instead looking out of the corner of the eye, the face slightly turned (as Martin describes it), focussing the eye-chart. Maybe the reason (or one of the reasons) for the better eyesight is the fact, that the eyebell is not of a completely round shape, maybe the diameter is a bit shorter in that place, an therefore less short-sighted. Perhaps I can really use this for practice, as Arocarty suggested and Martin tested sucessfully; its not 'cheating' after all, but a chance for improvement...