Natural Eyesight Improvement

by Karen Kleiner

Is it possible to improve your vision and see well without the help of your glasses or contact lenses? According to Dr. Deborah Banker, M.D., the answer is yes. Although she is an ophthalmologist, she's not referring to radial keratotomy.

"Most visual problems . . . corrected by glasses are caused by an abnormality in the shape of the eyes," says Dr. Banker. Many people, when under stress, tense the muscles surrounding the eyes. The eyes are like fluid-filled balloons. This pressure, over time, causes them to change shape.

In people who are nearsighted (those who see well near but not far), certain muscles tense too much, others don't contract enough and the eyes become too long to focus light properly.

In people who are farsighted (those who see well far but not near), just the opposite is true. The eyes take on a shape that is too short to focus light properly.

Many people after the age of 40 or 45 suddenly have difficulty seeing near. This is called presbyopia and is due to fatigue of a circular muscle inside the eye, called the ciliary body, that focuses the lens.

Although glasses allow you to see more clearly immediately, "in the long run they weaken the eyes," says Dr. Banker. They keep the extraocular muscles fixed in the tense position which caused the problem, and the eyes get used to it. "It is better to teach people methods which actually strengthen the focusing ability of the eyes," she adds.

Through workshops and a book she's written, Dr. Banker conveys an eclectic mix of information on how to actually strengthen eyesight. Her holistic approach is based on understanding the eyes' functioning, learned through ophthalmology training, as well as Oriental medicine, muscle testing, yoga, nutrition, reflexology and other techniques. "A visual problem is not just an eye problem," she says. "There may be other parts of the body which are not functioning properly."

Dr. Banker says improvement of one quarter diopter per month or three diopters per years is average with prescribed eye exercises done fifteen minutes a day along with adequate nutrition. (Diopters are part of the prescription which measure the power of the lenses. If you're nearsighted, the number has a minus sign before it, and if farsighted, a plus.) If you look at the number of diopters in your prescription, you can get an approximate idea of how long

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