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+--- Thread: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? (/showthread.php?tid=801)
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - HareOm - 05-16-2008
driving requires keen perception,
this is self-evident to everyone
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Kazekage - 05-16-2008
STOP MAKING EXCUSES TO DISCARD GLASSES, PEOPLE!
IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT CURING EYESIGHT THEN YOU WILL TEMPORARILY GIVE UP DRIVING AND DIFFICULT WORK, EVEN IF THAT MEANS YOU LOSE A BIT OF MONEY BY NOT WORKING.
REMEMBER, ONCE YOU CURE YOUR EYESIGHT YOU CAN GET A MUCH HIGHER POSITION ANYWAY AND EARN MORE MONEY BECAUSE YOU WILL WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY.
BY NO MEANS IS ANYONE SUGGESTING THAT YOU DRIVE OR OPERATE WITHOUT USING GLASSES - WE ARE SAYING (TEMPORARILY) NOT TO DO IT AT ALL, IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES.
AS IT HAS ALREADY BEEN SAID BY OLEG K., ONE SHOULD NOT MAKE EXCUSES TO WEAR THEIR GLASSES BUT HAVE INGENUITY TO FIND WAYS NOT TO WEAR THEM.
THE STANDARD REQUIRED TO PASS DMV IS 20/40! THIS IS HALF NORMAL VISION! IF YOU ARE DILLIGENT IN PRACTICE YOU CAN EASILY REACH THIS ACUITY VERY QUICKLY! SO DON'T BE DISCOURAGED!
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but the reality of this situation is that no one can make significant improvements if they still wear lenses on their faces. This is a fact, I'm not saying it just to discourage or un-motivate anyone. I am stating a very simple truth that has been found many times by Dr.Bates who worked with literally thousands of patients. Who do you think is more experienced and capable of knowing what is best? You, the myopic person, or he, who has cured thousands with great success?
AND I AGREE COMPLETELY WITH OLEG. K THAT THIS WHOLE SUBJECT OF GLASSES IS EXTREMELY BORING AND DULL. LET'S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT, PLEASE! ;D
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - petey - 05-16-2008
Thanks for the replies.
The purpose of this post is to hear from myopic (or previously myopic) persons their first-hand experience, not their interpretation/understanding of what Bates said. I personally don't think the topic is boring nor dull. Anyone who reads the Bates book will start asking the very same question. Anyone who reads the 'other' books will believe using reduced prescription glasses is fine.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Bifocal - 05-21-2008
Hello Petey,
In answering your question. It all depends on several factors.
1. Type of vision problem,(myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, or a combination of these )
2. How well you feel that you can see without your glasses.
3. How sharp your vision is with your glasses
4. How motivated you are for improvement.
5. How much discomfort you have going without glasses
Please read my posts under Farsightedness. To sum it up, I totally eliminated my hyperopia ( farsightedness ) by actually wearing minus glasses along with doing Bates methods.Only problem is that I went a bit to far, and became moderately nearsighted. I believe that I can eliminate that also by using weaker lenses.If I can't, my glasses for myopia are certainly weaker, and vision with them much better than I ever had with my hyperopic lenses.
If you are myopic to begin with you could go with a reduced prescription, and then into plus glasses. All depends on how strong your current lenses are, and how long you have been wearing them. Also how well you see with them.
The cillary muscle that controls the focasing of the lense of the eye, is too strong in the myopic eye, and too weak in the hyperopic eye. A minus lense acts as a stimulant , and a plus lense acts as a seditive to these muscles.
So you want to stimulate the weak , or farsighted eye, sedate the myopic eye. Just the oposite of what the optometrist would do.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Oleg K. - 05-23-2008
Just need to note that everything that Bifocal just said is bullshit and opposite to Bates method.
Lens is not a factor of accommodation, and the ciliary muscle is never too weak or too strong. This is the kind of bullshit optometrists like to waffle.
It is clear that glasses always cause strain, no matter plus or minus. By wearing "opposite" glasses you do not learn to relax your mind and eyes, but instead develop the opposite kind of strain in addition to the strain you already have. If you are myopic and wear plus glasses, chances are that you end up being still myopic at the far distance but also farsighted at the close distance. Look, Bifocal has just confirmed this. One would also expect an increase of intra ocular tension because all six muscles become strained and the poor eye does not have room to deform. No wonder Dr. Bates never recommended wearing opposite glasses (although this idea was certainly known to him) and reduced glasses neither. He has always insisted that any glasses should be discarded at the beginning of treatment.
You will fool no one by wearing any glasses. Relaxation is all you need.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Cubster - 05-23-2008
"Give up driving and give up your job."??? Come on! What kind of a planet are you living on, Kazekage? Try living in the real world, where most of us would be all too happy to give up our jobs but unfortunately CAN'T due to things called mortgages, and bills.
Anyhow, I still find this topic interesting- different points of view are always welcome I think. But I have one final thing to say. Here, I quote from Bates' book (page 46 if you're interested)... *clears throat*...
"... glasses should be discarded at the beginning of treatment. When this cannot be done without too great discomfort, or when a person has to continue his work during the treatment and cannot do so without glasses, their use must be permitted for a time - but this always delays improvement."
There. I rest my case. Even the man himself acknowledges that sometimes glasses cannot just be thrown away at least to begin with.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Oleg K. - 05-23-2008
No, Cubster, the right final thing for you to say would be: "So I have to say goodbye to Bates method and this community, because I have to keep wearing my glasses, hoping that some day in the future I will come back determined enough and actually try the method". We will understand and bless you.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - sorrisiblue - 05-28-2008
Hi,
Interesting book reference Cubster, and I'm glad to see that there are some people around on this forum who will still wear glasses to drive and operate heavy machinery! I have much the same opinion as you do: we live in a much different society than 100 years ago. Many of us can't afford to quit our jobs that require glasses to work and glasses to get there. Bates is still right about the cure, and the cure still works for people who wear glasses.
Petey - yes, I have improved my eyesight so far from 5/200 to 10/40. I wear glasses about 8 hours a day. (reduced prescription but have figured out that the actual prescription doesn't really matter and everyone's experience with this is different). My sister started with a similar visual accuity and has actually improved her eyesight even more than mine in a shorter time! I would say the best thing one can do is be surrounded by positive people, and find a group of people to go on this journey together with. We have both learned a lot during discussions of each other's experiences that are just impossible to relate online or written form. There must be people that you work with or friends/family that might try it with you if you're interested? It's not an easy journey, perhaps that's why some people on this forum write such flammatory remarks on the subject? There are many times that I wonder, why try? This will take so long, etc. Then I remember what it was like when I first went without my glasses and felt blind. Now I feel independent from my glasses even when I wear them because I know that if I absolutely had to, I could do without. My eyesight has improved enough that I can ride a bike and do most household activities without glasses. When I'm outside without glasses and I suddenly have perfectly clear vision for even a moment it makes it all worth it.
S
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - clarknight - 05-28-2008
Ask natural vision improvement teacherThomas Quackenbush; http://www.NaturalVisionCenter.com
When i took a class from him 10 years ago he showed us his old drivers lisense showing a picture of him wearing very strong thick eyeglasses.
At the time he was teaching he did not need eyeglasses.
He cured his vision with the Bates method and took a class from Janet Goodrich a very famous natural vision improvement teacher.
Her daugther now runs the school; http://janetgoodrichmethod.com
Mr Quackenbushs daytime close and far vision was cured and he was improving his night vision for driving and wore weak eyeglasses only when driving at night and stated that night vision is usuallly the last to improve and his continued to improve.
He wore the glasses as little as possible.
He had gone through natural treatments that cured his walking defect (he used to wear braces on his legs) and other health problems.
Problems that medical doctors could not cure for years were cured by natural methods.
I think this is how he became interested in natural eyesight improvement.
He may have first experienced some vision improvment when being cured of the other health problems.
He also had extreme neck tension which was relaxed by natural vision improvement methods.
Neck tension (often caused by eyeglasses, stress, poor vision habits; staring, squinting, incorrect posture, dehydration) is a major cause of eye muscle tension, impaired eye mopvement, and blur.
See http://cleareyesight.info for new chapter on wearing reduced lenses (only when necessary!!) and more website links that may help you.
I get critcism from people claiming that my web site and teaching are not the true Bates method.
Everything on the site is derived from the Bates method and includes modern natural eyesight improvment methods that do improve the clarity of vision.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - marlon - 06-02-2008
I'm 100% against wearing glasses while practicing Bates, however I believe Dr. Bates said cure will be DELAYED for people who cannot totally discard their glasses, but then he also said "Persons who are unable to
do without glasses for all purposes are not likely to be able to cure themselves."
I'm confused. ???
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Daniel - 06-02-2008
The key words are "cure themselves". That is taken from the chapter entitled Home Treatment. There is no contradiction. When he talked about the cure being delayed by the continued use of glasses, he was talking about people who were getting personal help from himself or someone else who understood and could benefit from the method. Of course, you can question how many current "Bates teachers" the latter statement applies to.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - David - 06-02-2008
I think the statement about it being delayed was written years later, too. Also there's a difference between "not likely to be able" and "not able". For that matter, I'd say the average person on this forum is not likely to succeed - most people seem so give up after about 2 weeks, and even those that stick with it can find it to be tricky and frustrating, regardless of glasses.
Dave
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Daniel - 06-02-2008
Actually those statements are both in Perfect Sight Without Glasses. Chapters 9 and 24. Maybe Bates should have put them in the same place to avoid confusion, but the meaning still seems fairly clear. He also wrote that "It is absolutely necessary that the glasses be discarded" and "no half-way measures can be tolerated, if a cure is desired" in regards to home treatment, suggesting that he really didn't believe it was possible to do it on your own while still ever wearing glasses.
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - itsme - 06-02-2008
Yes, Petey I did. I wore reduced contacts and eyeglasses at 20/40 . I believe a big part can be attributed to wearing +2 reading glasses while on the computer while at work and while reading a book. When I took the reading glasses off for my breaks I always noticed sharper vision in looking far and my eyes were never tired but relaxed. This helped me to keep
doing it because I saw immediate results.. I also did Vision for Life on a part time basis but always did my palming. In a year and a half I reduced my prescription by 1.5 diopeters and the astig in my left eye is gone. AND also in the last 6 months I was not able to do ANYTHING because of an injury and it
didn't get worse, which REALLY surprised me..
Re: Can vision be improved if glassses are continued to be worn? - Bifocal - 06-05-2008
For anyone who feels that they need to wear glasses rather than throw them away, I might suggest reading , Dr. Friedman's Vision Training Program, ISBN 0-553-22599-5. His program is patterned after Bates, but has many excercises to do while wearing your glasses.There is an extensive section on determining your visual style,an a self assessment to help direct you to the proper exercises for your particular case.