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The See Clearly Method: Does It Work
Eye exercises such as the See Clearly Method claim to liberate people from their need for corrective lenses, but does it work for everyone? See Clearly has serious detractors. In November of 2006 a district court in Iowa halted all sales of its vision kits, and ordered the company to put $200,000 into a restitution fund to partially reimburse the thousands of customers who had paid $350 each for their vision improvement kits. Iowa's attorney general stated that See Clearly had made dramatic claims for its product that could not be substantiated, but the company later responded that the attorney general had been paid off by the American Optometric Association with a campaign contribution or a bribe to pull off a proxy attack. The company that owned See Clearly then made its method available to the public for free under a new name, the Power Vision Program of eye strengthening exercises. The website at first said that it was put up after a generous grant from a private donor, and also provided a long list of scientific studies confirming the method. The new site states: "The American Vision Institute was founded in 1979 and is privately funded, so we're not trying to sell you anything. All we ask is that you spread the word by telling your friends and coworkers. Thank you." If you download the files (which actually are provided for free) from the American Vision Institute you will first find a 50-page ebook that gives you a complete overview of the program and that tells you to be sure to have a doctor's exam to make sure you do not have any chronic eye diseases that cannot be treated by their method. Then the ebook explains their method of vision correction in three daily exercises: With the warning that if you feel any sharp pain or experience any loss of vision you must immediately stop. These three kinds of exercises can be performed anywhere in just 21 minutes a day and are purported to correct mild visual impairment entirely, relieve the need for corrective lenses for serious cases of nearsightedness, and to help stabilize (although not cure) cataracts, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. The price is definitely right, but does this success to the See Clearly Method really work? The price is definitely right, but does this success to the See Clearly Method really work?
There is no doubt that the Power Vision Program and similar exercises can help your eyes focus more effectively, and give you the kind of vision needed to play sports. There is also no doubt that the Power Vision Program and similar exercises cannot correct malformations of the lens causing astigmatism or that they do more than give you "power squinting" ability to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness. As for the claim that the exercises will help stabilize glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration, for cataracts, macular degeneration, and chronic glaucoma they won't hurt, but extra pressure on the eye can actually be dangerous in acute glaucoma (although the pain would stop you from continuing the exercise). The program likewise has no benefit for diabetic retinopathy. What eye exercises can definitely do for you is to give you just a little more visual acuity by increasing the ease at which you can squint. If your vision is almost OK otherwise, the See Clearly Method, the Power Vision Program, and similar exercises really can help you avoid having to get stronger lenses or in some cases, having to wear eyeglasses at all. If you match your expectations to what these kinds of programs actually can deliver, then they can be a useful tool of maintaining ocular health. |