Fundamentals of Treatment
Lelouch Lamperouge
Fundamentals of Treatment
By W. H. Bates, M.D.
——
All errors of refraction and many other eye troubles are cured by
rest; but there are many ways of obtaining this rest, and all patients
cannot do it in the same way. Sometimes a long succession of patients
are helped by the same method, and then will come one who does not
respond to it at all.
Closing the Eyes.—The simplest way to rest the eyes is to close
them for a longer or shorter period and think about something
agreeable. This is always the first thing that I tell patients to do,
and there are very few who are not benefited by it temporarily.
Palming.—A still greater degree of rest can be obtained by closing
and covering the eyes so as to exclude all the light. The mere
exclusion of the impressions of sight is often sufficient to produce a
large measure of relaxation. In other cases the strain is increased.
As a rule, successful palming involves a knowledge of various other
means of obtaining relaxation. The mere covering and closing of the
eyes is useless unless at the same time mental rest is obtained. When
a patient palms perfectly he sees a field so black that it is
impossible to remember, imagine, or see, anything blacker, and when
able to do this he is cured. It should be borne in mind, however, that
the patient's judgment of what is a perfect black is not to be
depended upon.
Central Fixation.—When the vision is normal the eye sees one part
of everything it looks at best and every other part worse in
proportion as it is removed from the point of maximum vision. When the
vision is imperfect it is invariably found that the eye is trying to
see a considerable part of its field of vision equally well at one
time. This is a great strain upon the eye and mind, as anyone whose
sight is approximately normal can demonstrate by trying to see an
appreciable area all alike at one time. At the near-point the attempt
to see an area even a quarter of an inch in diameter in this way will
produce discomfort and pain. Anything which rests the eye tends to
restore the normal power of central fixation. It can also be regained
by conscious practice, and this is sometimes the quickest and easiest
way to improve the sight. When the patient becomes conscious that he
sees one part of his field of vision better than the rest, it usually
becomes possible for him to reduce the area seen best. If he looks
from the bottom of the 200 letter to the top, for instance, and sees
the part not directly regarded worse than the part fixed, he may
become able to do the same with the next line of letters, and thus he
may become able to go down the card until he can look from the top to
the bottom of the letters on the bottom line and see the part not
directly regarded worse. On the principle that a burnt child dreads
the fire, it is a great help to most patients to consciously increase
the degree of their eccentric fixation. For when they have produced
discomfort or pain by consciously trying to see a large letter, or a
whole line of letters, all alike at one time, they unconsciously try
to avoid the lower degree of eccentric fixation which has become
habitual to them. Most patients, when they have become able to reduce
the area of their field of maximum vision, are conscious of a feeling
of great relief in the eyes and head and even in the whole body. Since
small objects cannot be seen without central fixation, the reading of
fine print, when it can be done, is one of the best of visual
exercises, and the dimmer the light in which it can be read and the
closer to the eye it can be held the better.
Shifting and Swinging.—The eye with normal vision never regards a
point for more than a fraction of a second, but shifts rapidly from
one part of its field to another, thus producing a slight apparent
movement, or "swing", of all objects regarded. The eye with imperfect
sight always tries to hold its points of fixation, just as it tries to
see with maximum vision a larger area at once than nature intended it
to see. This habit can be corrected by consciously imitating the
unconscious shifting of the normal eye and realizing the swing
produced by this movement. At first a very long shift may be
necessary, as from one end of a line of letters to another, in order
to produce a swing; but sometimes even this is not sufficient. In such
cases patients are asked to hold one hand before the face while moving
the head and eyes rapidly from side to side, when they seldom fail to
observe an apparent movement of the hand. Some patients are under such
a strain, however, that it may be weeks before they are able to do
this. After the apparent movement of the hand has been observed
patients become able to realize the swing resulting from slighter
movements of the eye, until they are able to look from one side to
another of a letter of diamond type and observe that it seems to move
in a direction contrary to the movement of the eye. A mental picture
of a letter can be observed to swing precisely as can a letter on the
test card, and, as a rule, mental shifting and swinging are easier at
first than visual. The realization of the visual swing can, therefore,
be cultivated by the aid of the mental. It is also an advantage to
have the patient try to look continually at some letter or part of a
letter, and note that it quickly becomes blurred or disappears. When
he thus demonstrates that staring lowers the vision he becomes better
able to avoid it. When visual or mental swinging is successful,
everything one thinks of appears to have a slight swing. This I have
called the "universal swing". Most patients get the universal swing
very easily. Others have great difficulty. The latter class is hard to
cure.
Memory.—When the sight is normal the mind is always perfectly at
rest, and when the memory is perfect the mind is also at rest.
Therefore it is possible to improve the sight by the use of the
memory. Anything that the patient finds it agreeable to remember is a
rest to the mind, but for purposes of practice a small black object,
such as a period or a letter of diamond type, is usually most
convenient. The most favorable condition for the exercise of the
memory is, usually, with the eyes closed and covered, but by practice
it becomes possible to remember equally well with the eyes open. When
patients are able, with their eyes closed and covered, to remember
perfectly a letter of diamond type, it appears, just as it would if
they were looking at it with the bodily eyes, to have a slight
movement, while the openings appear whiter than the rest of the
background. If they are not able to remember it, they are told to
shift consciously from one side of the letter to another and to
consciously imagine the opening whiter than the rest of the
background. When they do this, the letter usually appears to move in a
direction contrary to that of the imagined movement of the eye, and
they are able to remember it indefinitely. If, on the contrary, they
try to fix the attention on one part of the letter, or to think of two
or more parts at one time, it soon disappears, demonstrating that it
is impossible to think of two or more points perfectly at one time,
just as it is impossible to look at a point continuously, or to see
two points perfectly at the same time. Persons with no visual memory
are always under a great strain and often suffer from pain and fatigue
with no apparent cause. As soon as they become able to form mental
pictures, either with the eyes closed or open, their pain and fatigue
are relieved.
Imagination.—Imagination is closely allied to memory, for we can
imagine only as well as we remember, and in the treatment of imperfect
sight the two can scarcely be separated. Vision is largely a matter of
imagination and memory. And since both imagination and memory are
impossible without perfect relaxation, the cultivation of these
faculties not only improves the interpretation of the pictures on the
retina, but improves the pictures themselves. When you imagine that
you see a letter on the test card you actually do see it, because it
is impossible to relax and imagine the letter perfectly and, at the
same time, strain and see it imperfectly. The following method of
using the imagination has produced quick results in many cases. The
patient is asked to look at the largest letter on the test card at the
near-point, and is usually able to observe that a small area, about a
square inch, appears blacker than the rest, and that when the part of
the letter seen worst is covered, part of the exposed area seems
blacker than the remainder. When the part seen worst is again covered,
the area of maximum blackness is still further reduced. When the part
seen best has been reduced to about the size of a letter on the bottom
line, the patient is asked to imagine that such a letter occupies this
area and is blacker than the rest of the letter. Then he is asked to
look at a letter on the bottom line and imagine that it is blacker
than the largest letter. Many are able to do this, and at once become
able to see the letters on the bottom line.
Flashing.—Since it is effort that spoils the sight, many persons
with imperfect sight are able, after a period of rest, to look at an
object for a fraction of a second. If the eyes are closed before the
habit of strain reasserts itself permanent relaxation is sometimes
very quickly obtained. This practice I have called "flashing", and
many persons are helped by it who are unable to improve their sight by
other means. The eyes are rested for a few minutes, by closing or
palming, and then a letter on the test card, or a letter of diamond
type, if the trouble is with near vision, is regarded for a fraction
of a second. Then the eyes are immediately closed and the process
repeated.
Reading Familiar Letters.—The eye always strains to see unfamiliar
objects, and is always relaxed to a greater or less degree by looking
at familiar objects. Therefore the reading every day of small familiar
letters at the greatest distance at which they can be seen is a rest
to the eye, and is sufficient to cure children under twelve who have
not worn glasses, as well as some older children, and adults with
minor defects of vision.
In the treatment of imperfect sight these fundamental principles
are to a great extent interdependent. They cannot be separated as in
the above article. It is impossible, for instance, to produce the
illusion of a swing unless one possesses a certain degree of central
fixation. That is, one must be able to shift from one point to another
and see the point shifted from less distinctly than the one directly
regarded. Successful palming is impossible without mental shifting and
swinging, and the use of the memory and imagination.
——
Fundamentals of Treatment
Better Eyesight
A monthly magazine devoted to the prevention and cure of imperfect
sight without glasses
Copyright, 1921, by the Central Fixation Publishing Company
Editor—W. H. Bates, M.D.
Publisher—Central Fixation Publishing Co.
$2.00 per year, 20 cents per copy
300 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Vol. IV - June, 1921 - No. 6
——
[...]
Neil Brooks
> Lasik:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGTWdDH01SM
>
> Enjoy,
Idiot:
Otis Brown.
Good luck.