10-17-2009, 05:42 AM
Dear Prevention-minded friends,
Subject: An Excerpt of Dr. Bates wise review of prevention. (ca 1913) -- presented by Dr. Bates to professional group.
We should always go back and review what Dr. Bates said about preventing functional myopia. The goal is to clear your Snellen so you never are required to wear that wretched, over-prescribed minus lens.
Here Dr. Bates describes how to prevent "functional myopia", and the reaction of the people he helped.
=================
Mrs. X. visited the eye clinic of the Amity Dispensary one day last summer. Her
object was to investigate the cause of myopia in school children. She was first
shown the use of the retinoscope.
A boy, aged ten years, was sent by a school inspector to obtain glasses. He had
a vision of one fourth the normal.
With a concave 2.00 D. S., his vision was normal. Mrs. X. used the retinoscope
while the patient was trying to read the Snellen card, at ten feet, and found
him myopic.
The patient was urged to try to see better at the distance, to read the smaller
letters of the test card, and he did make very evident efforts to see better by
wrinkling the skin of the forehead, by partly closing the eyelids, by staring,
and by looking sidewise at the card, excentric fixation.
He became convinced that with all his efforts he not only did not improve his
sight but he made it much worse. He was then told that he would see better if he
looked at the card without making an effort. After a little encouragement he
obtained normal vision.
While he was reading the card with normal vision, Mrs. X. used the retinoscope,
which now indicated no myopia.
The time required to relieve this boy of functional mycpia was less than fifteen
minutes. To prevent a relapse the patient was given a Snellen card with
directions to read the small letters at more than ten feet with each eye daily.
Mrs. X. observed other and similar cases relieved.
We had a talk, the substance of which was that I should cure functional myopia
in school children after some well known and competent physicians had made the
diagnosis. She emphasized the importance of this plan to test the facts I
claimed.
Mrs. X. was wearing glasses, concave 1.00 D. nearly, with astigmatism,
prescribed by a competent ophthalmologist who had used a cycloplegic to relax
the accommodation.
Her vision with the glasses was nearly normal.
Without glasses her visin was about one third. She had myopia apparently with
the retinoscope, but spasm of the accommodation or functional myopia by the
direct method with the ophthalmoscope.
She was told that a cure without concave or other glasses was possible.
"How long will it take?" she asked.
"About five minutes," was my reply. She was asked to read the Snellen card at
ten feet and to note her ability to see. Then she was directed to read it by
making an effort and shown how to make an effort by partly closing the eyelids,
by staring, etc., in short, to imitate the efforts of the children she saw
treated.
She was convinced that the effort materially lowered the vision. It was
explained to her that her poor vision was caused by a continuous effort which
was unconscious.
The suggestion was then made that she read the letters on the distant card
without trying so hard. The vision improved immediately and became normal in a
short time. Her sight was now better without glasses than it had been before
with glasses. She was quite excited over the prompt relief.
A number of physicians have visited the same clinic, diagnosticated functional
myopia with the aid of the retinoscope, and observed its prompt relief by eye
training with the aid of the Snellen card.
The maximum amount of functional myopia under atropine cured by eye training
without glasses was 2.50 D.
CONCLUSIONS.
1. Functional myopia occurs frequently.
2. All normal eyes acquire functional myopia by improper efforts to see distant
objects.
3. School teachers, physicians, and others have relieved functional myopia by
eye training or education.
4. The Snellen test card is found to be the best distant object for training the
eye for the cure of functional myopia.
Subject: An Excerpt of Dr. Bates wise review of prevention. (ca 1913) -- presented by Dr. Bates to professional group.
We should always go back and review what Dr. Bates said about preventing functional myopia. The goal is to clear your Snellen so you never are required to wear that wretched, over-prescribed minus lens.
Here Dr. Bates describes how to prevent "functional myopia", and the reaction of the people he helped.
=================
Mrs. X. visited the eye clinic of the Amity Dispensary one day last summer. Her
object was to investigate the cause of myopia in school children. She was first
shown the use of the retinoscope.
A boy, aged ten years, was sent by a school inspector to obtain glasses. He had
a vision of one fourth the normal.
With a concave 2.00 D. S., his vision was normal. Mrs. X. used the retinoscope
while the patient was trying to read the Snellen card, at ten feet, and found
him myopic.
The patient was urged to try to see better at the distance, to read the smaller
letters of the test card, and he did make very evident efforts to see better by
wrinkling the skin of the forehead, by partly closing the eyelids, by staring,
and by looking sidewise at the card, excentric fixation.
He became convinced that with all his efforts he not only did not improve his
sight but he made it much worse. He was then told that he would see better if he
looked at the card without making an effort. After a little encouragement he
obtained normal vision.
While he was reading the card with normal vision, Mrs. X. used the retinoscope,
which now indicated no myopia.
The time required to relieve this boy of functional mycpia was less than fifteen
minutes. To prevent a relapse the patient was given a Snellen card with
directions to read the small letters at more than ten feet with each eye daily.
Mrs. X. observed other and similar cases relieved.
We had a talk, the substance of which was that I should cure functional myopia
in school children after some well known and competent physicians had made the
diagnosis. She emphasized the importance of this plan to test the facts I
claimed.
Mrs. X. was wearing glasses, concave 1.00 D. nearly, with astigmatism,
prescribed by a competent ophthalmologist who had used a cycloplegic to relax
the accommodation.
Her vision with the glasses was nearly normal.
Without glasses her visin was about one third. She had myopia apparently with
the retinoscope, but spasm of the accommodation or functional myopia by the
direct method with the ophthalmoscope.
She was told that a cure without concave or other glasses was possible.
"How long will it take?" she asked.
"About five minutes," was my reply. She was asked to read the Snellen card at
ten feet and to note her ability to see. Then she was directed to read it by
making an effort and shown how to make an effort by partly closing the eyelids,
by staring, etc., in short, to imitate the efforts of the children she saw
treated.
She was convinced that the effort materially lowered the vision. It was
explained to her that her poor vision was caused by a continuous effort which
was unconscious.
The suggestion was then made that she read the letters on the distant card
without trying so hard. The vision improved immediately and became normal in a
short time. Her sight was now better without glasses than it had been before
with glasses. She was quite excited over the prompt relief.
A number of physicians have visited the same clinic, diagnosticated functional
myopia with the aid of the retinoscope, and observed its prompt relief by eye
training with the aid of the Snellen card.
The maximum amount of functional myopia under atropine cured by eye training
without glasses was 2.50 D.
CONCLUSIONS.
1. Functional myopia occurs frequently.
2. All normal eyes acquire functional myopia by improper efforts to see distant
objects.
3. School teachers, physicians, and others have relieved functional myopia by
eye training or education.
4. The Snellen test card is found to be the best distant object for training the
eye for the cure of functional myopia.
