The See Clearly Method

[suziek]

Mariette Hartley is doing a commercial on the radio about a program called “The See Clearly Method” and she claims that you can improve your vision. She even implies that you may no longer need glasses. I have heard of doing eye exercises to improve vision, but I wonder if this is just a scam. I always liked her. She looks so honest. How could exercise change the shape of the cornea? Does anyone know anything about this method?

[kanicbird]

from a Dr. selling lasic on a talk show:
the see clearly method does provide some temp improvment, but it is lost when you discontinue the exercise.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

You do know that Mariette Hartley is an actress? And that she’s being paid to endorse this product?

http://www.seeclearlysolutions.com/

A Google check under “eye exercises improve vision” turned up the following very interesting website.

http://www.netasia.net/users/truehealth/Eye%20Exercises.htm

In 1891, a prominent New York physician believed he had found a cure for nearsightedness. Instead of prescribing eyeglasses, he advocated the use of eye exercises and taught patients how to do them. That man was Dr. William Horatio Bates and his flawed system is still being used today.

Doctors say most vision problems are caused by the improper bending of light rays by the lens of the eye. The lens normally changes shape to bend light at an angle that will strike the retina and bring objects into focus.

Once the lens loses this ability, refractive errors occur. In nearsightedness, for instance, light rays that enter the eye fall short of the retina, causing the patient to see nearby objects only. In farsightedness, the opposite happens. Light rays go beyond the retina, putting far objects in focus.

However, Bates ignored these facts and pursued his own peculiar notions. He claimed that the lens never changes shape and most eye defects are caused by stress or a “wrong thought” which can tighten eye muscles. To relieve tension and improve vision, he invented a series of eye exercises which he claimed could cure nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, cataracts, and glaucoma.

Eye exercises, of course, have their proper place in medicine. In The Well-Informed Patient’s Guide to Cataract and Other Eye Surgery, Dr. Mark Speaker of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and Karyn Fieden said these may help those with strabismus or cross-eyes. Dr. Peter Gott writing in Better Health & Diet published by the World Almanac, said exercises may be useful if poor vision is caused by a weakness or imbalance of the eye muscles.

But in most cases, the problem is due to abnormalities of the eye itself. This is comon in eye disorders like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Eye exercises are useless here as well as in glaucoma and cataracts which are not caused by stress but other factors.

So whether the See Clearly Method works or not depends on what kind of poor vision you have.

[suziek]

I know she’s an actress, but I guess I was hoping that not all actors had lost all their integrity. Usually I just ignore all the commercials touting ridiculous claims for weight loss, increasing sex drive, ad infinitum, but Mariette Hartley?! I guess now I’m completely jaded. Thank you for the great information however.

[suziek]

I know she’s an actress, but I guess I was hoping that not all actors had lost all their integrity. Usually I just ignore all the commercials touting ridiculous claims for weight loss, increasing sex drive, ad infinitum. They fall in the category of my mother calling me up the other day and telling me to put a bar of soap under my calf to stop leg cramps at night. But Mariette Hartley?! I guess now I’m completely jaded. Thank you for the great information however.

[gigi]

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=55629

[LateComer]

Just an aside:

I met Ms. Hartley a few years ago. I was working in a lab at the University of Pittsburgh that did Suicide Research. She, I understand, does charity work involving suicide prevention. She visited the lab and got a tour. I demonstrated to her what my job entailed (pretty pictures).

She seemed nice enough. Maybe she really thinks this helped her eyes. Who knows.

Loved her on Star Trek.

[Tsugumo]

My dad had bad vision for a while (comes with old age, I guess), and he started doing exercises where he’d cover one eye (with an eyepatch or his hand) and read the newspaper and junk from as far away as he could, and did it with both eyes all the time, etc. He says it’s improved his eyesight a ton and now he can read license plates on cars in driveways across the street (which I can barely do, even with my contact lenses in).

Granted, there’s no way to tell if it actually helped his vision or not because he’s the only one who can see through his eyes, but he’s not the joking type who’d try to “fool” me with his “magic eye exercises” (which isn’t really that brilliant a joke anyway, heh), and doesn’t really mention them except once in a while, but he does them all the time.

Anyway, I honestly don’t know anything about it and I’m not saying it works…for all I know he’s going crazy, heh…That’s just my anecdote.

• Tsugumo