Vision story

[Imagineblack]

I stopped wearing my glasses and contact lenses on Tuesday 26th May 2008. My prescription was -6 and -9 in contact lenses. I have not worn them since. My eyesight was very poor and I could not make out faces near me at all. Their features were a blur. Cars were a big blur. Everything hazy. My eyesight got better daily over a period of 2 weeks and then progress was slower. I got glimpses of perfect vision which encouraged me to keep going but they were very much flashes only. On 4th of June 2008 I got my snellen chart and I could see only 2/200. I got occasional flashes of 2/15.

Fast forward to today and I am consistently seeing 10/15 and 20/30. I can see 10/10 most times if I really want to and have seen 20/15 before. I see the chart letters a lot blacker and clearer now. My distance of clarity has significantly improved. I used to have to put items very near to myself in order to see them. Now I can see the details further away. I can sit at my computer at a normal distance with normal print. This is something I have only recently accomplished.

[clarknight]

This is great!

Make a list of what you did that helped the most.
Was it only no glasses and using the chart?
Many people get to 20/20 and clearer by only removing glasses and learning to shift on a object instead of squinting to see it.

[Imagineblack]

I didn't use weaker glasses or plus lens glasses. I read the original 1920's Bates book, stories from the Clinic and the better eyesight magazines.

What helped was a mixture.

At first central fixation helped me the most; ie seeing what you are looking at best rather than seeing on plane of vision like when one looks from spectacles. Also using imagination helped too.

Lately I have had huge jumps in vision by relaxation of my body particularly my shoulders, arms and hands where I tend to hold a lot tension and trying to maintain good relaxed posture as opposed to hunching up or slouching. I particularly noticed successful results relaxing and watching TV.

I am a big believer in increasing the distance that one sees best gradually like the child in the Bates book did with her school friends. This has been my best way to permanently improve my distance clarity. If one does not practice looking further with clarity the vision will not change.

I found also permanent improvement by practicing the big C shifting that Bates recommends. It made chart letters blacker for me.

Another key for me is to look at say a sign in distance but only look at bottom corner, blink and read as normal. Trying to see a point rather than a whole word.

Blinking I find essential in cases of blur. Or to simply look away. I don't think it helps for the brain to be reminded of its blur as it affects one's imagination and thus eye sight. Apart from perhaps when trying to see worse in order to avoid a particular strain.

[Imagineblack]

Oh and be patient with your eyes and try and keep them relaxed. The vision quite often clears up for you. Obviously don't try and force things. As others have said ..let vision come to you.

[clarknight]

Thanks, will pass this along.

[AACabbedMushingKiln]

Why not create a blog to help you and other people interested in this keep track of everything ?

[Imagineblack]

What do you mean by pass it along? ?

[AACabbedMushingKiln]

To help others ?

[Firelord777]

Please do tell us sir, I have reached a plateau and am trying to get past it.

Like you, I did progress quite rapidly at first

[Imagineblack]

I understand how difficult it is when a plateau is reached. I had my own for months, possibly years. I believe it might have stayed like that had I not taken action. At one point I'd given up thinking it wasn't going to get any better. I do believe practise is key. Challenging oneself is key to expanding vision ability. It's not going to just happen. Sure by pure relaxation yes. Personally my plateau broke when I decided I wasn't going to accept being so close to see everything. I decided to act normal. Sit normally, relaxed and then my miracle happened. I really recommend getting used to looking at bigger distances even if that means increasing type on your comp. when you get used to that, reduce the print. The secret is go gradually. One thing that slowed or stunted my progress was to be of the mindset of , well I can't see it so I must go closer. That doesn't work because there is no chance of practising or improving vision at a further distance.

[lou_deg]

Imagineblack, your successful recovery is remarkable. Did you figure this out alone....just by reading the Bates book, stories from the Clinic and better eyesight magazines, etc.?

I stopped wearing my glasses and contact lenses on Tuesday 26th May 2008. My prescription was -6 and -9 in contact lenses.

Please clarify. One eye was 3 diopters weaker than the other? That must have been difficult to deal with. How do you just stop wearing glasses with -9 diopters in 2008, don't you still need to drive, work, etc.?

What activities do you think caused the strain/tension that brought on your strong myopia? Did you have to stop doing those activities....or did you instead figure out how to eliminate the strain/tension while continuing those activities? -thanks, Lou

[Imagineblack]

Hi Lou, thanks for your comment. It made me happy. Well to answer your questions;

Yes, pretty much I did this all on my own. I'm very determined and was convinced that it worked. I saw for myself the truth of vision improvement as Bates described it when I put his words into practice. I read the books above mentioned. I did look at this site and thank God that David made this website because it is how I found out about it in the first place. David's comments about seeing as a normal person does and regarding the details with a conscious mind I found very helpful.

I did visit a vision teacher a week ago and she is helping me with my weaker right eye. That was the first and only time I have sought help.

My right eye definitely was 3 diopters weaker. It still is weaker and the vision I quote is for both eyes together. I'm working on improving my right eye at the moment since my left eye has taken on most of the vision role since I stopped glasses.

When I stopped glasses I gave up driving so I wouldn't be compromised in my vision improvement. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. Also I had a couple of months holiday from art school and so I got busy trying to improve before I went back. I coped by painting smaller pictures close up. However it was very difficult when I needed to saw wood occasionally to make my pictures as you can imagine. Fortunately I only had to do this a few times. I got help if I needed and just took a lot of time over it being extremely careful. Other difficulties were I couldn't recognise people unless they were close so I just got on with my work and let people come to me. My children helped me with shopping reading prices and signs if needed. Other times I would just do it myself but would ask shop assistants where things were. I had to do my dissertation but just made the print big on my lap top and had it close to me. I wouldn't recommend that now tho. Def keep distance with biggest print if you need it.

Activities I believe caused the original strain was staring into space and also pretending I was a cat with cat staring eyes. I also read an extreme amount, sometimes by the street light outside my bedroom when I was meant to be sleeping. I didn't start out with a big prescription though. My spectacle prescription seemed to go up 2 diopters every two years. I ended up with about -11 in right eye. I believe my optician over prescribed every time. That I believe caused my strong myopia. All those stronger lenses. Also I used to squint at blackboard which is tempting but makes things worse. If only I'd known to just rest my eyes; close them for a bit.

[Imagineblack]

Just thought people might be interested in my progressive myopia prescriptions over the years. I would love to know other people's too. I got this info from my old opticians the other day. Anyway,

Receptionist said I would have probably started at -1.5. She said that is the case for most progressive myopics. I don't know actual amount because they moved shop around the time I joined and so hasn't kept those records.

Got glasses age 9 in 1986: wore them continuously despite the fact I could read better without them. Optician said I must read with them on and so my mother also insisted.

Note: these are all spectacle prescriptions.

1988: age 11: -2left/ -6right

1990: age 13: -4left/-7right

1992: age 15: -5left/-7.75right

1993: age 16: -6left/-9.25right

1994: age 17: -6.25left/-10right

1995: age 18: -6.50left/-10.75right

1997: age 20: -7left/-10.50right

1999: age 22: -8.25/-11

Is it just me or did my optician get a kick out giving me super strong lenses!

[Nancy]

Imagineblack, I want to add my thanks for you posting your experience, and your success. Hearing from someone who's really done it carries a lot more weight than some words in a book. I agree about asking for help and doing without glasses. I travel for conferences and training every month or so, formerly with a fellow classmate who I could count on to read the gate information in the airports. Now I'm on my own as she's dropped out, and have had to ask for help once or twice to read a monitor I couldn't make out, but I did not feel badly about this. This is on my mind because I'll be traveling again in 2 days, taking 3 planes to get somewhere I need to, fortunately getting a ride to the airport. I think sometimes "the perfect is the enemy of the good" in vision improvement: people are so used to their strong correction that they think they "can't see a thing" when things are just a little bit blurry! So they reach for glasses instead of giving the image time to clear. Thanks again.

[Firelord777]

I understand how difficult it is when a plateau is reached. I had my own for months, possibly years. I believe it might have stayed like that had I not taken action. At one point I'd given up thinking it wasn't going to get any better. I do believe practise is key. Challenging oneself is key to expanding vision ability. It's not going to just happen. Sure by pure relaxation yes. Personally my plateau broke when I decided I wasn't going to accept being so close to see everything. I decided to act normal. Sit normally, relaxed and then my miracle happened. I really recommend getting used to looking at bigger distances even if that means increasing type on your comp. when you get used to that, reduce the print. The secret is go gradually. One thing that slowed or stunted my progress was to be of the mindset of , well I can't see it so I must go closer. That doesn't work because there is no chance of practising or improving vision at a further distance.

Thanks for the insight man, I probably had my plateau for a little over an year now, I did sometimes think that I had already reached the end of the road, but being stubborn, well...

So, basically it is to act normal? Like a normal person with normal sight? I recently have tried that, keeping my posture straight and my head held high. I haven't seen any improvement, but sure feels better

I hate how opticians always tell you the thing that harms you the most. My highest prescription was -4 D in both eyes, no astigmatism or anything else. I think compared to others, it shouldn't be that hard to work with.

2 weeks ago, I went the the "eye doctor" to get a checkup, which I haven't done since 2 years ago. The result? I am now apparently -3.25. Like you, it felt VERY over corrected. I had a little fight with her and managed to convince her to bring it down to -2.75. She kept telling me how "there is no cure for myopia" and how she has a little program for people with rare focusing problems, but not for myopia.

Practically anything she couldn't sell she wouldn't tell me about it. My parents were there, and she told them that I have seemed to "stabilize" a bit because now I went from -4 to -3.25, but that I won't fully stabilize until age 25.

She was pretty much full of BS. She demanded like 5 times I ALWAYS wear my glasses, and to get used to them for even reading. I was flat out offended by her stupidity, how can she not see that she has contradicted herself? Restricting use of eye glasses and I go down from -4 to -3, but then she says "No, that is bad for your eyes, you must have them on ALL the time". Umm, look here you evil dumbo, how do you think I got to -4 D in the first place?

She even went as far as to say that glasses are the "only cure for myopia". BS!

At least ill have under corrected and ill try and work with that

Cheers