The William Horatio Bates Story

The reason the Bates method is considered so unreliable is that Bates blamed the majority of Vision Problems on mere habitual eyestrain. He believed that the best solution to these conditions was simply to perform various Eye Care Exercises to relax the tense muscles in the eye; by his assertion, the reason people were having these Problems with Eyesight was due to the tension preventing the eyeball from changing shape when focusing on nearer or farther objects. This was completely at odds with what ophthalmology had determined about the eye's properties even at that time, and the Bates method remains obscure to this day.

Though William Horatio Bates insisted that most Eyesight Problems. were the result of strain, he also claimed that since we strain our eyes in so many different ways, there should be just as many types of Eyesight Exercises to ease the tension.

William Horatio Bates said that no single technique would work for everyone and encouraged people to try different Vision Exercises to see which yielded the best results. One of the methods he recommended was called “palming”; with this, the person was told to close their eyes for several minutes and hold their palms to their face in order to obstruct the light.

He claimed that since the eyes would pick up no light, there would be no strain, allowing the muscles to relax and this would Improve your Vision. Many patients reported seeing patters of color even in complete darkness, which he also attributed to strain — in fact, it was merely the process known as Eigengrau, where the eye produces activity, which the brain then interprets as a show of light.

He also asserted that staring directly into the sun could help eyesight. William Horatio Bates claimed that those with healthy eyesight could look at the sun without feeling any sort of discomfort.

While he did acknowledge the sun's potential to hurt the eyes, he claimed that these effects were always temporary and even that they were merely a byproduct of the stress that was already present in the eye. It wasn't until later that he changed his stance, saying that one should only face the sun with closed eyelids.

It's not hard to see why his method faded into obscurity. Still, some people use it and a small number report having experienced improvement in their eyesight. Despite this, the Bates method is still considered a form of alternative treatment and few ophthalmologists take it seriously. Many strides have been made in the medical field to improve people's health, especially with ophthalmology — the medical study of the human eye.

For every great development, there are just as many questionable practices that some believe don't help so you should Protect Your Eyesight at all times.

Subscribe to EyeSight Vision Care! , our monthly newsletter with in depth information to help you keep up to date on how to Protect Your Eyesight with a free bonus. Fill out the form below. You'll then receive an email asking you to confirm that you subscribed. You'll always have the option to unsubscribe at the click of your mouse.

William Horatio Bates to Facts About Eyesight

William Horatio Bates to Protect Your Eyesight