Natural vision correction

Natural vision correction is the notion that poor vision (such as astigmatism or myopia) can be cured or compensated for "naturally." This is often paired with the belief that eyeglasses are unnecessary and that eyeglasses and eye tests can cause substantial damage.

Against allopathy
Alternative medicine
Clinically unproven
v - t - e

Yes, eyeglasses denialism is actually a thing.

Science says…

Bad glasses can mess up your vision—you'll notice this, it won't be a surprise—but good glasses correct it without ill effects.

Lots of time spent inside during childhood can actually leave you nearsighted. So get your kids out more.[1] Nearsightedness is more than just an annoyance; because of the associated eye deformation, it also "increases the risk of retinal detachment, cataracts, glaucoma and even blindness."[1]

Natural vision correction methods
  • Pinhole glassesFile:Wikipedia's W.svg work by focusing light using pinholes, rather than lenses, similar to a pinhole camera. They do work to correct vision (though not as well as lenses) — but woo merchants claim that they can permanently repair your vision. The FTC has banned such claims in the US since 1993,[2] but manufacturers have continued to make such claims where they think they can get away with them.[3]
  • The Bates eye method is an old piece of woo from the early 20th century. Opthalmologists are pained that this terrible idea which doesn't work just won't die.
  • Biofeedback methods are sometimes used. A machine[4] reads the accommodation (focal distance) of the lens in your eye in real time, and turns this into beeping tones — the lower-pitched the tone and slower the beep, the longer the focal distance. Then the patient stares at a projection of a distant object while this is going on and tries to make the tone get lower through force of will, or relaxation, or some such. The patient can go through many sessions hoping for improvement that never happens. Sometimes the patient achieves a "breakthrough" by partly closing his eyes, which fools the focal-distance sensor into thinking your lens is much less convex than it actually is.
  • Joseph Mercola sells a "Secrets of Regaining Your Vision Naturally" programme.[5][6][7]
  • There are, of course, those who offer to fix your eyes with supplements[8] … or homeopathy.[9]

Unassisted changes in vision

Many short-sighted people experience an improvement in their vision in their forties. This is their myopia interacting with presbyopiaFile:Wikipedia's W.svg, which is the progressive weakening of the ability to focus. The happy period lasts a few years, then it's varifocals time!

gollark: So many turns recently.
gollark: Maybe fewer views is *better*. Who knows.
gollark: ND experiments have gone brocculously lately.
gollark: We've already hit the view cap, it seems.
gollark: I can do about four views/second, which should probably be enough since this stuff is generally capped by UVs.

References
  1. The myopia boom: Short-sightedness is reaching epidemic proportions. Some scientists think they have found a reason why by Elie Dolgin (18 March 2015) Nature
  2. http://www.casewatch.org/ftc/news/1993/natural-vision.shtml
  3. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-truth-about-pinhole-glasses-1253113.html
  4. Such as the Accommotrac® Vision Trainer
  5. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/05/09/avoid-an-emergency-room-visit-by-correcting-your-vision-naturally.aspx
  6. Not the Ducks! – Oculus Reparo (A Million Gods)
  7. Not the Ducks! – You Don't Need Glasses (A Million Gods)
  8. http://www.daveshealingnotes.com/ailments/far-sighted-eye-natural-remedies.html
  9. http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/four-cases-of-cataract-cured-homeopathically/
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