[...]
The Problem of Imperfect Sight
By W. H. Bates, M.D.
The problem of imperfect sight is such a tremendous one that few, even
of those who specialize in such matters, realize its proportions,
while outside this circle there is not the remotest conception of what
it means.
The literature of the subject is very confusing and contradictory; but
from the facts available there can be no doubt that the great majority
of school children suffer from some degree of imperfect sight, while
among adults normal vision is a rare exception.
The very careful investigation of Risley showed that in the public
schools of Philadelphia, among children between eight and a half and
seventeen and a half, the proportion of imperfect sight was about
ninety per cent, [1] other investigators report lower figures, but in
many cases this simply means a lower standard. The findings of Risley
agree with those obtained by myself in a study of 100,000 children
made under all sorts of conditions in both city and country schools.
As to the sight of the adult population the operation of the draft law
has supplied us with some unimpeachable data. It was found impossible
to raise an army with even half normal vision in one eye, and in order
to get the number of soldiers required it was necessary to accept for
general service men whose vision could be brought up to half normal
with glasses. [1]
Such figures as the foregoing, terrible as they are, by no means
exhaust the subject. In fact they are only the beginning.
Errors of refraction are so common that we have learned to take them
lightly. They are usually reckoned among minor physical defects, and
the average lay person has no idea of their real character. It is well
known, of course, that they sometimes produce very serious nervous
conditions, but the fact that they also lead to all sorts of eye
diseases is known only to specialists, and not fully appreciated even
by them. The complications of myopia (nearsight) constitute a large
and melancholy chapter in the science of the eye, but most eye
specialists say that no organic changes occur in in hypermetropia
(farsight). That this is very far from the case was proven by Risley
in the investigation alluded to above, and it is strange that his
report on the subject has attracted so little attention. His studies
also showed that these organic changes occuring in all states of
refraction, are very common among children and have often progressed
to an extent that would be expected only after long years of
eyestrain.
In the case of myopic astigmatism the percentage of diseased eyes
among all the children examined ran as high as eighty-seven per cent,
and in the secondary schools not a single myopic eye was found with a
healthy eyeground. The condition known as 'conus' in the which the
choroid, or middle coat of the eye, is destroyed in the neighborhood
of the optic nerve exposing the outer coat (sclera) and forming first
a crescent and later even a complete circle is commonly regarded as
one of the symptoms of myopia and attributed to the tension resulting
from the lengthening of the globe, but Risley's statistics show that
while it is somewhat more common in this state of refraction than in
[~Illustration~] hypermetropia it is by no means peculiar to it. In
hypermetropia it was found in twenty per cent of the cases, and in
hypermetropic astigmatism in forty-five per cent. In simple myopia it
was present in forty-one per cent of the cases, and in myopic
astigmatism it reached sixty per cent. It is a terrible thing to think
that the eyes of our children should show a symptom of this character
in such a large proportion of cases.
My own experience is that errors of refraction are always accompanied
by some organic change. It may only be a slight congestion, but this
may be sufficient to lower the vision.
By wearing glasses, avoiding poor lights and limiting the use of the
eyes for near work, it is supposed that we can do something to prevent
the development of these organic diseases and to check their progress;
but for none of the traditional methods of treatment is it even
claimed that they can be depended upon to preserve the sight as long
as it may be needed, and Sidler Huguenin, in a paper several times
referred to in this magazine, has stated that in the thousands of
cases of myopia that have come under his observation they never were
of any material benefit. [3]
That imperfect sight is a fruitful cause of retardation in school is
well known. According to the New York City Board of Health it is
responsible for a quarter of the habitually left backs. [4] But that
this condition cannot be remedied by glasses has not been generally
observed. By making the patient more comfortable glasses do often
improve his mental condition, but since they cannot relieve the mental
strain that underlies the visual one, they cannot improve it to normal
and by confirming it in a bad habit they may make it worse.
From the foregoing facts it will be seen that in the condition of the
eyesight of our people we have a health problem, an educational
problem, and a military problem, of the first magnitude, and one would
think that if any method of either prevention or cure that was even
tolerably successful had been found it would immediately be put into
general use.
[1] School Hygiene, System of Diseases of the Eye, edited by Norris
and Oliver.
[2] Report of the Provost Marshal General to the Secretary of War on
the First Draft under the Selective Service Act, 1917.
Second Report of the Provost Marshal General to the Secretary of War
on the Operations of the Selective Service System to December 20,
1918.
[3] School Health News, February, 1919.
[4] Archiv. f. Augenh, vol. IXXIX, 1915, translated in Arch. Ophth.,
XLV, Nov. 1916.
____
Imperfect Sight Can be Cured Without Glasses
You Can Cure Yourself
You Can Cure Others
Better Eyesight
A monthly magazine devoted to the prevention and cure of imperfect
sight without glasses
Copyright, 1920, by the Central Fixation Publishing Company
Editor—W. H. Bates, M.D.
Publisher—Central Fixation Publishing Co.
$2.00 per year, 20 cents per copy
342 West 42nd Street, New York, N. Y.
Vol. III - October, 1920 - No. 4
____
[...]
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
