My Experience with Central Fixation

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My Experience with Central Fixation
By Dr. Doris J. Bowlby
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The correction of imperfect sight without the use of glasses, as
taught by Dr. Bates, first came under my observation on January 1 of
this year when Dr. Etha Marion Jones, of St. Petersburg, Fla., called
my attention to the method. It appealed to me as being both simple and
rational, and I began at once to study and later to practice it. Since
that time I have taken glasses off about fifty patients, varying in
age from ten to eighty years. Among them have been cases of squint,
glaucoma, iritis, retinitis, double progressive myopia and muscae
volitantes (floating specks). Many had worn glasses for years. Yet I
had great success with all of them. The following are specimens of
other equally interesting cases that might be cited:
Frank, aged ten, came to my office on September 1, 1921, for
examination. He had been wearing glasses since he was four years old
for what was supposed to be congenital myopia, and was then wearing
the following:
Right eye, concave, 15.75 D. S., combined with concave 4.00 D. C.,
axis 15; left eye, concave 15.75 D. S., combined with concave 4.00 D.
C., axis 165.
With his left eye he could see only the 200 letter at one foot
(1/200), and with his right he had only light perception. His parents
hesitated about putting him in my care, as it seemed incredible that
he could ever be cured, but both were finally persuaded to snatch at
what must have appeared to them a forlorn hope. The boy himself was
unwilling to discard his glasses at first; but after the second
treatment, when the vision of the left eye improved to 3/30 and that
of the right to 3/40, he hesitatingly consented to go home without
their aid. After his third treatment he felt safe in going anywhere
without them. As he lives twenty-five miles from my office, I could
see him only twice a week, but after every treatment the improvement
was so marked that now, after two months, his right vision is as good
as his left, both being 11/30 for the Snellen test card, while he
reads diamond type at six inches and the larger type of his school
books at eight inches. I feel sure that he will soon be reading 20/20.
He looks and acts like a different boy, and is, naturally, a very
happy one. The case has attracted much attention in the village where
he lives.
On September 9, a young girl of eighteen came to me because of the
intense pain which she was suffering in her eyes and head. She had not
been able to go to school, or use her eyes in any way, for over a
year, and during this time had been to three specialists. Her lenses
had been changed a number of times, she had dark glasses to wear
whenever she went into the light, and for eight months she had spent
most of her time in dark rooms. Her sight had been perfect, so far as
she knew, until she had had measles four years previously. During this
illness she had read and studied, and afterward her eyes were red and
weak. Two years ago she noticed that she could not see writing on the
blackboard, and in a few days an eruption appeared on the eyelids and
side of the face. Later she had an infected sinus, and also infected
tonsils, tonsillectomy and an operation upon the nose having been
performed eighteen months previously. No doubt the foci of infection
which had existed for at least a year had something to do with her
trouble. When she came to me she was suffering from conjunctival
congestion, with exudation of purulent material, and there was some
hardening of the eyeballs. Her left vision was 7/30 and her right
vision 7/50, and she was wearing:
Right eye, convex 1.00 D. S., combined with convex 1.00 D. C.,
axis 100; left eye, convex 1.00 D. S., combined with convex 1.25 D.
C., axis 80.
The patient came for treatment every day and has been very
faithful in her palming and other exercises. After the third treatment
all pain left her and she left her glasses with me. By October 1 she
was able to return to school. She now reads the lowest line of the
test card at twenty feet (20/10), and reads diamond type at ten
inches. The retinoscope shows no error of refraction in either eye,
and the strained look about her eyes and in her face has given way to
one of relaxation.
135 Jefferson Street, Brookville, Pa.
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Better Eyesight
A monthly magazine devoted to the prevention and cure of imperfect
sight without glasses
Vol. VI - January, 1922 - No. 1
Editor—W. H. Bates, M.D.
Publisher—Central Fixation Publishing Company
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