Treating Weak Vision

The Conventional Treatment of Weak Vision

To correct weak vision or refractive error (light not properly refracted on the retina of the eye), the conventional treatment by ophthalmologists and opticians is to make use of corrective lenses (eyeglasses or contacts) with proper prescriptions to enable the light from a close or distant object to refract accurately on the retina.

The conventional treatment serves two purposes:

To make the eye see more clearly

To prevent further eyestrain through clearer vision

These are the sole reasons for the professionals to provide eyeglasses and contacts: to provide better vision, and to prevent more eyestrain.

The conventional treatment is based on the belief that weak vision is due to incorrect refraction on the retina because of the distorted eye lens; therefore, to correct the impaired vision, corrective lenses are used to correct the refraction from the distorted lens.

Dr. William Bates’ Treatment of Weak Vision

Dr. William Bates (1860-1931), an American physician, who recommended an alternative therapy (known as the Bates Method) aimed at improving eyesight naturally. Dr. Bates completely disagreed with the conventional theory of distorted lens. According to Dr. Bates, the conventional treatment is WRONG because the eye is constantly changing, so much so that the eye prescriptions (which are constant) in corrective lenses may not help the patients in certain conditions; quite the contrary, they unduly increase their eyestrain. That is to say, if the eye is forced to see in different eye conditions with the same corrective lenses, the eye will have to strain itself to see in different conditions, and thus causing further eyestrain that damages vision.

Dr. Bates’ explanation was that what might fit the eye (i.e. the prescriptions) at one moment might not be appropriate at another moment, given that the conditions of the eye are constantly changing. In addition, because the eye is capable of adapting and adjusting to different conditions (eye accommodation), wearing corrective lenses will deprive the eye of such accommodation, and thus leading to further vision deterioration. That was the reason for his objection to wearing corrective lenses.

Dr. Bates’ treatment was based on the belief that the incorrect refraction on the retina is due to weak and unrelaxed eye muscles, which cause distorted shape in the eyeball, resulting in the refraction falling in front of or behind the retina, instead of directly on the retina.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau