And you’re not alone. According to the American Optometric Association, upwards of 8 out of 10 computer users report some type of eye strain at the computer. The problem is so prevalent it’s been given a name: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

The symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome include:

• eyes hurting or over-tired
• eyes burning or itching
• dry, or watery, eyes
• double vision
• blurry eyesight (either at the computer or in the distance)
• the need for glasses for the first time
• the need for stronger prescriptions
• headaches, neck, shoulder and back tension
• increased sensitivity to light

Using a computer does place a unique set of demands on your eyes. But it’s not inevitable for your eyes to hurt at the computer, or for you to experience eye strain at the computer, once you know how to use your eyes correctly for the task, and what to do at the first sign of tension or fatigue.

Saving your eyesight at the computer can be as simple as being aware of your vision in a new way. Knowing visual ergonomics and the simple keys to healthy computing should go a long way to alleviating the symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome.

Here are five keys to taking care of your eyes at the computer.

1. Fit you set up to you.

• Set up your computer so that you can look beyond the screen. If at all possible, don’t be in the corner, or face a wall.
• Sit directly in front of computer, not off to one side or the other.
• Sit 18-24 inches away from the screen
• Sit high enough so that your line of sight is level with or higher than the top of the screen
• Keep your wrists level with or below your elbows. Never bend your wrists up when typing
• Your knees should be below the level of your hips
• Place your feet on the floor. Use a footrest if your feet don’t reach the floor.

2. Look away from the screen regularly.

Focusing on an object far away, such as the water cooler down the hall or a tree outdoors, is a simple stretching exercise for eye muscles. Quickly shift your focus from near to far 3-4 times.

A brief look into the distance every 2 to 3 minutes prevents the build-up of visual stress and discomfort and keeps your eyes healthy and active.

These frequent micro-breaks offer much more relief to your eyes than an hourly break. A break every hour – however long it might be – does not provide all the relief and rest that your eyes need. Micro-breaks are more effective and beneficial.

Extended staring at a computer screen inevitably creates fatigue, tension and eye problems. Failing to take short vision breaks is one of the major factors leading to eye strain and eye problems for computer users.

Micro vision break tip: Look up and focus on the furthest object in the distance. Be aware of objects around you in your periphery. Take a deep breath. Relax as you exhale. Blink a couple of times. Shift your vision back to the screen and re-focus. (Three near-to-far shifts per break are recommended. This should take about 5 seconds.)

Mirror tip: If your computer is in a corner or if you work in a small space, place a small mirror on top of your monitor or on your desk. Use the mirror to give your eyes a distant view by looking through the mirror and focusing on objects that you see behind you.

3. Minimize glare on the screen.

You can detect a potential glare problem by turning on the lights in the room that you normally would use – before turning on your computer. If you see any images or reflections on the (turned-off) screen, you’ve got a glare problem.

To reduce or minimize glare, experiment by:

• Moving the screen to a better location, if possible
• Tilting the screen
• Moving objects that reflect onto the screen
• Covering windows to block sunlight
• Turning off or lowering offending lights
• Covering fluorescent lights with egg-crate baffles
• Turning your computer so the screen is perpendicular to overhead fluorescent lights.

It may be impossible to eliminate glare altogether, in which case you might consider using an anti-glare screen.

4. Use friendly lighting.

Bright fluorescent lights are a poor choice. Dimmer lights are better. Have a desk lamp for reading and doing other close work at your desk, but make sure it doesn’t reflect on the screen.

Most problems are caused by the quantity of the light (not by fluorescence itself). If possible, turn off every other fluorescent fixture and light your desk with a 100-watt bulb.

Standing lamps that direct light at the ceiling provide the best indirect light. If there is no dimmer available, a 3-way fixture is recommended so you can set the light at the most comfortable level.

You also need to light any original copy that you are working from. A desk lamp with an adjustable neck works well. Just make sure that this light doesn’t distract you or spill onto your screen.

Hard copy tip: Ideally, you want your copy on the same vertical plane as the screen. Working side to side is preferable to looking from the screen down to your copy and then back up again. Alternate moving the written material that you work from to the left and right of the screen during the day. The eye movements required to shift back and forth from left to right and from screen to copy help reduce visual stress and enhance your visual skills.

5. Blink more often.

Computer rooms are notoriously dry, and this may be one reason why your eyes hurt at the computer. Blinking is your body’s natural way of lubricating your eyes and preventing dry eyes. Normally the eye blinks 10-12 times a minute.

Most people do not blink regularly, especially when concentrating intently, or when under pressure. They keep their eyes wide open – fixed – and blinking decreases. Decreased blinking often causes redness, burning and itching of the eyes, particularly for those who use contact lenses.

Blinking lubricates and cleanses the eyes, keeping them moist for clear vision and comfort. Blinking also helps relax the facial muscles and forehead, countering the tendency to furrow one’s brow and create tension.

Hydrate by drinking enough water. If absolutely necessary, use a natural eye drop. Similasan or PrimaVu are the recommended brands.

Blinking tip: Move only your eyelids – not your forehead, face or cheeks – when you blink. Make sure you close your eyes all the way without effort and that both the upper and lower lids touch gently. Blink lightly once every 3 to 5 seconds. Or, take 10-20 blinks in this way just as your eyes start to feel dry, tired or itchy.

These five tips should be enough to keep you from feeling eye strain at the computer. It could be very simple to not let your eyes hurt at the computer.

But sometimes these tips are not enough. The causes of the blurred vision and visual stress might go deeper. Make sure you have your eyes checked at least once a year, and make sure that you are using the correct prescription for computer use – it’s not always the same as your regular prescription.

The book Total Health at the Computer goes into more depth about healthy computing tips, choosing the right kind of glasses for computer use and quick routines that will stop your eyes from hurting at the computer.

For more information, visit www.bettervision.com.

And, if you can read the bottom line, your vision is perfect. If you can’t, you need glasses. Right?

Not necessarily!

Good vision is much more than just 20/20.

Even if your glasses or contacts give you 20/20, other deficiencies may still exist in your visual system that wouldn’t be caught during an eye test that only checked visual acuity (which line on the eye chart you can read).

These other visual problems might cause some of the following symptoms: double vision, headaches, tiredness, poor depth perception, difficulty concentrating while reading, eyestrain, burning, stinging, dry eyes, and more.

When these other deficiencies aren’t dealt with, they could eventually lead to problems with acuity. So a person could end up needing glasses (or stronger glasses) when the real causes of the problem are going uncorrected.

Using glasses that were prescribed after only a test for distance or near-point acuity could very likely lead to further visual stress. If there are other undetected visual problems that remain unaddressed, this could lead to prescriptions that get stronger and stronger, deteriorating vision and a general feeling of discomfort and fatigue. All of which could set the stage for even more serious eye problems to develop.

That’s why it is so important to get a complete and thorough examination from an eye doctor who understands the interconnectedness of all aspects of vision.

Eye doctors that are trained in a holistic understanding of vision are known as behavioral optometrists.

A behavioral optometrist believes that how you see is the result of how you have learned to use your eyes. He/she also believes that visual skills — including how clearly you can see — can be enhanced through exercise, relaxation and training. He/she has received specialized training and can give you a comprehensive examination that covers all the visual skills.

Of course, a behavioral optometrist, like a regular optometrist, can prescribe glasses and contacts. In addition, a behavioral optometrist can provide a program of training that improves overall visual functioning.

Here is a list of the vision checks and tests that a behavioral optometrist will most likely perform during the first visit:

1. Measure distance vision with an eye chart.
2. Determine how your eyes function at close range.
3. Measure the teamwork between your eyes and your brain.
4. See how smoothly your eyes move from point to point.
5. See how smoothly and easily your eyes follow a moving target.
6. See how easily each eye can shift focus from near to far.
7. Screen for medical conditions like glaucoma and cataracts.

Finding A Behavioral Optometrist

The Cambridge Institute for Better Vision maintains a nationwide Select Referral List of hundreds of behavioral optometrists. For help in finding one in your area, go to: www.bettervision.com.

Also, there are two professional organizations for behavioral optometrists: The College of Optometrists in Vision Development (www.covd.org) and the Optometric Extension Program Foundation (www.oep.org)

However you find a behavioral optometrist, the most important element is to find one who not only agrees with the holistic eye practices of the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision, but also uses them in some way in his or her practice.

When you have the name of someone, it is perfectly reasonable to phone the doctor and ask whether he or she does the complete series of tests described above.

Some behavioral optometrists also offer training sessions to correct any underlying visual deficiencies that might be found during the examination.

Many behavioral optometrists believe, as does the Cambridge Institute, that the use of an under-corrected prescription is better for the eyes.

Instead of reading the bottom line on the eye chart, with an under-corrected prescription you’ll see one or two lines higher. This under-corrected prescription will give you enough clarity for most activities (including driving), but it will leave “room” for your brain and eyes to still work together in the process of seeing. An under-corrected prescription may also prevent you from needing stronger and stronger glasses year after year.

If you are using a vision improvement system like The Program for Better Vision, your eyes can see better and better. In this case, the prescription that was under-corrected when you first got it, will eventually become too strong as your natural eyesight gets better.

Then it’s time to see the behavioral optometrist again, but this time to get a weaker pair of glasses!

Many people – perhaps even you – are skeptical that it’s possible to see better without glasses or contacts. Much of this skepticism is rooted in misunderstanding. There are five commonly held beliefs that lead people to think that eyesight cannot be improved.

That’s why I call them myths – they’re not truthful, and they don’t accurately represent what’s going on in your eyes. Simply dispelling these myths won’t improve your vision, but once you change your mind about your eyes you’ll be willing to put the full power of The Program for Better Vision to work for you.

Eye Muscles Weak?

Right at the top of the list of the 5 Vision Myths is the one that says that poor vision is caused by weak eye muscles. Somehow, this myth goes, eye muscles get weak and the weaker they get, the stronger your glasses – and the worse your vision. In fact, the opposite is actually true:

Whether you have perfect vision or lousy sight, your eye muscles are plenty strong enough for you to see clearly.

As noted eye doctor, Dr Richard Kavner says in his groundbreaking book, Total Vision, “we know that each eye muscle has at least 50 to 100 times the strength it needs.” There are six muscles that surround and move your eyes. They move your eyes up, down, to the right and to the left. When you look at something up close they turn the eyes in (converge) and when you look at a distant object they turn the eyes out (diverge).

Or Tense, Stiff and Rigid?

Tension in these muscles causes eye movements to become more rigid and less flexible, preventing them from moving in a natural, fluid manner. Instead, their movements become stiff, tense and restricted. Over time, this tension, rigidity and inflexibility build up and limiting visual patterns and habits get established, effecting how clearly you can see.

But the primary source of the problem is the underlying patterns and habits – how the eye muscles are used over time. The eyes – just like any other part of your body – can be retrained to function with new, more effective patterns. As this retraining occurs, the eye muscles become more flexible, they gain better tone and they work together in a more fluid, coordinated manner. Want to experience some of the tension that’s in your eye muscles – and start to let it go?

TRY THIS NOW

Here’s an ancient yoga exercise that you’ll also find in The Program for Better Vision:

1. Close your eyes, relax your eyelids, forehead and face. Keep your neck and head still. Breathe easily and regularly.
   
2. Imagine you’re facing a clock, with your nose at its center. As you stretch your eyes all the way up, you can just barely see the number 12 at the top of this imaginary clock. (Remember, your eyes are closed.)
   
3. Starting at the number 12, rotate your eyes clockwise in a circular motion, around the clock. Stretch your eyes as you rotate them, but don’t strain or force the movements.
   
4. Repeat for 10-20 clockwise circles.
   
5. Change direction and make 10-20 circles in a counter-clockwise direction.
   

Most people carry at least some tension and rigidity in these muscles. Here’s how you can tell:

1. Your eyes unconsciously jump out of your control.
   
2. Sections of the rotation where the movements feel stiffer, more tense or stuck.
   
3. Holding your breath is a sign of tension. Remember to breathe!
   

Where in the movements did your muscles tense up? When did they jump out of control? What parts of the movements were not smooth? With practice, you’ll be able to make all parts of the circular movement smooth and easy.

Eye Stretches is an ancient yoga exercise, so you may have heard of it already. By itself, it won’t give you perfect vision, but it definitely has its place in a total system of vision improvement. That’s why it’s one of 24 different exercises, techniques and processes that you’ll find in The Program for Better Vision. In addition to the basic Eye Stretches, in The Program for Better Vision you’ll also learn powerful variations and ways to use it to attack specific problems, like nearsightedness and astigmatism.

Martin Sussman, president and founder of the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision and developer of the world’s #1 Best-selling Program for Better Vision, is also co-author of Total Health at the Computer. Mr. Sussman is a firm believer that different vision problems require different solutions. You can see everything he believes is helpful to the eyes by visiting www.bettervision.com

Ronald Crick and Maurice Tuck from the International Glaucoma Association, based in London, say that several routine tests such as tonometry and perimetry would take just six minutes to complete, and could detect most cases in the early stages (BMJ, March 4, 1995).

Heart drugs win the day

Just when medicine thought magnesium was going to be the safe, inexpensive and effective treatment for people with heart problems, new research has come out showing that drugs are still the way forward. The drug captopril was found to be particularly beneficial.

It’s worth noting that the pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb funded the £6m research study, and just happens to be the manufacturer of captopril.

The findings fly in the face of several earlier research studies, which seemed to suggest a major breakthrough in heart treatment. A first study of 200 heart patients showed that magnesium, given intravenously, reduced the numbers of deaths. The findings were confirmed in a larger study of 2,216 patients, when it was found that magnesium reduced the death rate among patients by 24 per cent.

The new study, covering 58,000 patients at 1,086 hospitals, came up with quite different results. Magnesium seemed to have little or no effect, with 2,216 deaths reported among the 29,011 patients receiving the treatment, against 2,103 deaths among the 29,039 given standard treatment.

Patients on captopril, however, had a 7 per cent lower death rate after five weeks. Another treatment, mononitrate, also seemed to have little beneficial effect.

When the results of the new study were first announced, the trial was condemned by some heart specialists as being unreliable, and that those who were enrolled into the magnesium programme were unsuitable (The Lancet, March 18, 1995).

More evidence that diet against cholesterol doesn’t work. People attending a doctor’s surgery in Oxfordshire were able to reduce cholesterol levels by only about 1.5 per cent by following the advice of a dietician, a nurse or from a leaflet (BMJ, March 4, 1995).

Women have a lower survival rate after heart transplant. After six months, 75 per cent of women were still living, against 84 per cent of men. The gap widened after three years, to 64 per cent of women, compared with 76 per cent of men (Circulation, February 15, 1995).

After a few weeks, I developed a croaky throat, then a bad cough. The consultant said he had not seen this reaction before.

The cough became so violent that I stopped using Lumigan. It seemed to be paralysing the muscles of my throat; I couldn’t swallow any solid food, and the cough made me sick three times one morning. I coughed so much one day, I couldn’t breathe. A neighbour phoned my GP, who sent me straight into hospital.

>From the onset of the trouble, it was four months before I could swallow any ordinary food and keep it down. I lost two stone in weight. My eye consultant said that 90 per cent of people could use Lumigan without suffering any serious adverse reactions.

Now, six months later, I can eat my ordinary food with vitamins and minerals, and I have put back on a stone in weight. – MS, Epsom

Many of the drugs being used for various disorders are responsible for some of the increase in the incidence of primary glaucoma during recent years. The processing and adulteration of foodstuffs has also played a role.Research has been carried out in order to ascertain the effect of alcohol on intra ocular tension by numerous researchers. Their conclusions were that alcohol reduced intra ocular tension. As a result some doctors have recommended that patients suffering from glaucoma should take alcohol. We strongly disagree with this recommendation, largely as a result of more recent research.

It has been shown that nutrition is directly related to the normal intra ocular tension and that this is a key factor for the variation in tension throughout the day. With the alcohol tests, researchers noted that the maximum effect occurred after one and a half hours, and that after two hours the tension again increased. Present research indicates that the ingestion of a drink merely acted as an intake of liquid food which in some cases contained more protein (beer) than in others (whisky).

The long term effect of alcohol ingestion not only destroys vitamin A and other nutrients vital to eye health, but eventually destroys the liver, the storehouse of vitamin A.

As soon as you know that you are suffering from an eye disease, there are many steps you can take to improve the problem without exposing yourself to the risks inherent in orthodox treatment. First of all, abstain from alcohol and smoking, in spite of what your doctor may say about it doing no harm. Assess your diet for its nutritional content and adjust it and/or take supplements so that your daily intake of protein is at least 60 gms if you are a woman and 70 gm if you are a man, plus 10 mg glucose. (Increased protein intake has been found to help eye problems, particularly glaucoma.) Raise your daily intake of the following vitamins:

Vitamin A 25,000 international units

Vitamin E 500 mg

Vitamin C 3 g

Vitamin B1 15 mg

Vitamin B2 12 mg

Vitamin B6 12 mg

Because there may be other nutrients necessary, it might be wise to consult a specialist in nutritional medicine, particularly an ophthalmic practitioner with knowledge of ophthalmic nutritional therapy. It’s also a good idea to ask this ophthalmic practitioner to monitor your intra ocular tension if you are using any orthodox treatments, since the raising of your nutritional status may enable you to reduce, if not eliminate, the use of drugs.

For more information and a list of practitioners who may be sympathetic to this approach,contact Dr Evans at the address above or telephone:(0502) 583294.

Perhaps more than any other body part, doctors act as though eyes have a life of their own, disconnected from the rest of our bodies. The medical profession tends to view eye problems as purely mechanical, a retina that somehow got detached, a globe that somehow got misshapen or stubbornly refuses to stay straight or see correctly, a bad toss of the dice that has somehow, without our having anything to do with it, “just happened”.Consequently, the prevailing medical approach is to surgically or chemically get those errant lenses or muscles back into line that is, to correct vision by attempting to treat the symptoms, not the underlying cause. In most cases, the underlying cause isn’t understood and certainly never connected to our diet or any other drugs we may be taking.

But at least one doctor in the UK takes issue with this approach. Stanley Evans went to Africa in 1964 for an extended research programme into the causes and prevention of blindness in Africa. He planned to stay five years and ended up staying 17, during which time he completed a great deal of research into the nutritional causes and correction of eye disease. Evans has countless anecdotal cases of patients in Africa and Britain (and indeed from many other countries) who have been helped or cured through his dietary and orthoptic (ie, eye exercises) approach. Here is his view of the dangers of some orthodox treatments and the basic nutritional regimen he recommends. Read it and weep.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness in the UK, is a disease where eye pressure, due to an obstruction in the outflow of the aqueous humour, becomes elevated, eventually damaging the optic nerve. The orthodox methods of treating glaucoma fall under the following categories:

Surgical methods may be adopted if the tension within the eye is very high and drugs fail to reduce it to a safe level within a few hours. (If high tension is allowed to persist for 12 hours, permanent damage is almost certain to occur.) Sometimes this operation is often performed as an alternative to drugs.

Drug based methods consist of one or more of the following:

A miotic such as pilocarpine given as drops into the eye to constrict the pupil and stimulate the ciliary muscle.

Acarbonic anhydrase inhibitor such as Diamox or Daranide to inhibit secretions and thereby reduce the production rate of the aqueous humour.

Administration of an osmotic agent such as Mannitol (Osmitrol) to aid the aqueous outflow.

Recently a new experimental medical method is to use timolol maleate as an eyedrop. This is an antihypertensive similar in action to propranolol hydrochloride. Special reporting is required when this is prescribed as there are a number of serious side effects from this type of drug, some lethal. It is known to cause “dry eye” in its eye drop form marketed as Timoptol.

In some cases patients have been given all the above treatment and still the tension in the eyes is not controlled. Besides being ineffective, there are serious side effects from the use of all these drugs.

Pilocarpine

The normal mechanism of the pupil,which changes in light, is destroyed by a miotic such as pilocarpine. This kind of drug also substantially reduces the visual level which is impaired to begin with, simply because the size of the pupil is artificially reduced, and so, consequently, is the level of light entering the eye. It is well established that seeing is directly related to the intensity of illumination of the object viewed. In some cases using a miotic in eyedrop form can reduce the visual level by 50 per cent.

Miotics also create artificial night blindness. Prolonged use produces paralysis of the sphincter muscle, so that even when you stop using the drug the pupil remains abnormally small. The effect of this is to permanently impair the visual level and create permanent night blindness, even after glaucoma may be cured.

Pilocarpine can also frequently cause cataract, as has been noticed in various journals.

Diamox (acetazolamide)

This particular drug frequently causes drowsiness, numbness and tingling of the face and extremities. Less frequent side effects include fatigue, excitement, thirst, headache, dizziness, lack of muscle coordination, increase in breathing rate, tinnitus (noises in the ears), hearing loss and gastrointestinal disturbances. Fever and skin reactions have been reported, as have a few fatalities. The American Journal of Optometry also reported that such therapy can also cause myopia, lens displacement and very low intra ocular tension with risk of retinal detachment, oedema of the retina and changes in the refractive ability of the eye.

Timoptol

This eye drop form of timolol maleate, which is still in its experimental stages, can effect the central nervous system. Even if you use it in one eye it not only affects both eyes but also other secretions in the body. Its serious side effects include heart failure and other heart disorders, fatigue, dizziness, vomiting, nausea, depression, hallucinations, insomnia and gastrointestinal disorders.

Besides these individual side effects, any of the orthodox treatments for glaucoma, which are directed towards treating the symptoms of raised tension, can make the intra ocular tension too low below the safe level and cause a detached retina. This can easily happen when patients are sent away for several months without being regularly monitored, and especially in cases of high tension when all these drugs are sometimes given together.

The Dangers of Surgery for Squinting or Strabismus

The last 50 years has shown that most cases of strabismus, or squint (when eyes are not properly aligned) can be cured with nutritional therapy. However, many cases of squinting are still treated surgically, and in every such case serious damage is done to the binocular function.

Thirty years ago, by combining nutritional therapy with orthoptic therapy, I witnessed many cases of strabismus cured within a few weeks. This compared to the years it took to cure the condition through traditional methods, such as wearing a patch over the normal eye. The success rate of these traditional methods is very low, which is why the majority of cases are referred for surgery.

When one eye deviates from its normal position, the usual surgical method of straightening the eye is to cut one or more of the extra ocular muscles which are responsible for moving the eye in the direction of the deviation, and suturing it further back on the surface of the eyeball so as to weaken its pull. Alternatively, the muscle or muscles responsible for moving the eye in the opposite direction may be cut and sutured further forward on the surface of the eyeball so as to increase the pull and thus overcome the deviation. Frequently, both these procedures are combined, and it is very common for the good eye as well as the deviating eye to be operated on.

The surgery thus destroys the normal function of all the horizontally acting muscles. Not only is the delicate relationship between the photoreceptors in the retinae and the individual muscle fibres of all these four recti muscles disrupted, but the motility of all four muscles is seriously impaired. The normal eye movements are restricted in both horizontal directions.

Furthermore, it is very rare for a patient to undergo a single operation. Even when a compound surgical procedure is adopted, frequently this has to be repeated one or more times because the operation by its very nature has such a high potential for inaccuracy. The first operation may reduce the deviation, or cause one in the opposite direction, so that another operation has to be done just to correct the error of the first one or repeated several times before the eye appears straight.

In performing such an operation the surgeon is confronted with a most delicate task, and it is not possible to accurately forecast the result. Often the first operation is not expected to completely correct the deviation; the surgeon will deliberately operate in stages, rather than attempting to do it all at once. This has to do with the scale of the surgery. The eyeball is a globe of less than one inch in diameter. Changing the position of the insertion of a muscle by only one millimeter will change the position of the eye by approximately 5 degrees of arc. Most operations are performed to correct deviations this slight. Even when the most accurate apparatus possible is used with the highest level of skill and experience, the kind of accuracy called for is too high to ensure success. Apart from this, the healing process can completely upset even the most superior surgical job. The fact that the eyes may appear straight after an operation or series of operations does not mean that the two eyes are working together correctly and giving normal binocular vision.

Every time an eye muscle is cut and sutured in a different position, the delicate circuit connections feeding the group of muscle fibres that have been cut no longer remain in circuit with the cells of the nuclei in the brain stem, the photoreceptors in the retinae, or the brain cells in the visual cortex or motor cortex. This means that the delicate mechanism designed for providing eye balance and movement is irreparably disrupted.

For the past half century I have been consulted by a large number of patients who have been operated on for squint and who experienced very serious trouble because they were unable to move their eyes correctly or change fixation with comfort. Many patients experienced double vision whenever they attempted to move their eyes from the straight ahead position.

In every case of squint, the patient or parent should never consent to surgery before a thorough trial of nutritional orthoptic therapy. That never harms the eye functions, but invariably improves them, whereas surgery always permanently destroys at least part of the delicate visual mechanism, and frequently causes far more trouble than does leaving the strabismus alone. Often the parent is too anxious to straighten a squint in a child when he is young in the mistaken belief that nothing can be done later. Many cases of strabismus have been cured by the nutritional approach even after many years, whereas with surgery, the normal binocular vision is very unlikely ever to be restored.

Dangers of Using Corticosteroids

Another area where I’ve have seen cases in which serious damage has been done to the eye is with the use of steroid and cortisone eye drops. In a number of cases the cortisone drops cause the pupil to be fully dilated and paralyzed, and so intolerant to light. The outsized pupil size (often in just one eye) is also disfiguring. And some cases even after the drug had caused the damage, it was still being prescribed!

In other cases, steroid and cortisone drops have been used to treat eye infections, causing serious corneal ulceration; besides impairment of vision, this also caused disfigurement.

The side effects of these eye drugs have been well documented. In l975 T. F. Schlaegel reported to the American Academy of Ophthalmology that the use of corticosteroids can cause serious eye disturbances, some of which have caused blindness, including optic nerve changes, swelling of the optic nerve head, changes in the crystalline lens and myopia. There have also been reports in the literature about patients treated with steroids for arthritis developing cataracts, and patients using steroids to relieve discomforts caused by contact lenses subsequently developing cataract or glaucoma. Other reported side effects include extensive and irreversible retinal damage, corneal perforation necessitating corneal transplants, increase in intra ocular tension in glaucoma patients, swelling of the optic disc, and other eye disturbances.

Dangers of Laser Eye Treatments

The latest innovation to treat eye problems which has received a good deal of press is the laser. It is now used to treat retinal detachment, diabetic retinitis, macular degeneration and glaucoma. In every instance, its use destroys that part of the eye on which the laser is directed.

In the case of retinal detachment, although the laser will attach the retina to the chorid (a membrane in the eye near the retina) so as to prevent it from falling forward, the patient will have blind zones in the visual field resulting from the adhesions created by the laser even in what appears to be a successful operation. There is also evidence that the laser itself can bring on cataract. If such a powerful light beam is directed through the cornea, lens and vitreous, which takes place in the laser techniques, there is a great risk of causing damage to these transparent components. If the laser is too strong, for instance, both cataract and corneal burns result.

When my oldest child was 7 and had to have a shot to go back to school, he too underwent genital examination and was extremely uncomfortable. I asked the doctor if it was necessary. He said yes. I asked until what age it was necessary. He said until adulthood. Then he went on to say that oftentimes little girls are so uncomfortable that they have to transfer out to a female pediatrician. In the late 60s and early 70s, my mother found a pediatrician who also forced me to remove all my underclothes, lay on my back and spread my legs so that he could spread my vagina with his hands and get a “good look”. I never remember a visit forgoing this experience until I was well into my teens. No explanation was ever given to me, and my “panic attacks” prior to the visit were considered to be quite ridiculous. L B, Miami Springs, Florida…..Thank you for calling attention to this subject and for sending in photocopies from a medical textbook on physical examination of infants and children. It emphasizes that it isn’t essential that the child be completely undressed during the course of the examination only the part of the body being examined and that direct visualization of the vagina and cervix aren’t considered part of the ordinary physical examination.

Our advice would be for parents to avoid “well children” general examinations; to save doctor visits for times that something specific seems to be wrong, and then ask the doctor to only examine the relevant body part. If your child has something wrong with his plumbing requiring that his genitalia be examined, it would be wise for you to explain beforehand that the doctor is going to have a look at it and why, and perhaps for you to demonstrate it yourself so that your child is not taken by surprise. Of course make sure to always be present. If your child clearly doesn’t want it, never force or restrain him.

I went for my sight test several months ago, four months overdue, and was stunned to be told I had glaucoma and was going blind in one eye. The pressure in my eye was 34, whereas normal eye pressure is between 15 and 25. A second optician confirmed the diagnosis.

As I have over 50 food and chemical allergies, I immediately began to worry about the possibility of having an operation, coping with the anaesthetic.

I also wondered how on earth I would go about explaining to sceptical and patronising medical staff that one of my most violent allergens is chlorinated tap water.

When I got home, however, my mother got out the glaucoma article in WDDTY (vol 2, no 3), which I studied carefully. From that day I immediately halved my intake of strong black coffee, cut out alcohol completely, and took extra supplements of vitamin A, E, C, B1, B2 and B6, as suggested in the article.

Two months later I had my eyes examined again by another, non patronising, specialist who found no sign of glaucoma. The pressure is now “perfect” and I have nothing wrong with my eyes other than the need to wear glasses.

Rather tentatively, I told him what I had done, as naturally he thought the original optician had made a mistake. He said that while he thinks there may be something in vitamin therapy, more proof is needed.

As far as I’m concerned, it has to be the vitamins and other dietary changes, as my medical diet is still the same.

Many thanks for your article it saved me the trauma of a hospital stay. And let’s face it, even if I had been clutching various WDDTY booklets on how to handle doctors and survive hospitals, an operation would still have been a traumatic experience. G R, Edinburgh.

Best of the bunch comes from one gentleman who recommends smoking marijuana! One of the immediate effects is the lowering of intraocular pressure, he tells us. Our correspondent happens to be a congressional candidate in Texas, so those cowboys could be in for a great four years if this guy gets in.

More conventional suggestions include bilberry tablets. One 1000 mg tablet a day should do the trick. Another correspondent suggests something similar with a bilberry, Gingko, eyebright supplement plus manuka honey.

One Ayurvedic practitioner in Bangalore suggests the Triphala combination, and it also corrects digestion, cures haemorrhoids and lowers cholesterol, he tells us. It probably also takes the dog for a walk.