EYE EXERCISES to improve your eyesight (is this legit?) | Optometrist Explains

Eye exercises to improve your eyesight | Optometrist Explains

are there any natural ways of healing eyesight? how can I do exercises to stop my eyes getting worse?

These are some of the most common questions I get asked while practicing.

Just like how doing exercises will probably not make you any taller, eye exercises have a very specific role which is to restore the eyes to "normal" acuity

GEAR I use:

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[panza]

You don't expect an optometrist to agree with the assertion that eye exercises work because he has to protect his business.

[lorisirene]

I did eye stretches for headaches. Six months later my eye Dr told me that my vision had improved from 20/40 to 20/25. I didn't even know that was possible back then

[otiebrown]

Anything that gets you back to 20/20 is the best science possible.

[MonkeyPunchZPoker]

I had better vision at 40 then 20. The job I had at 19 or 20 required use to go from one old school computer monitor to two while we migrated systems, and that totally wrecked my previous excellent vision. It was around 30 I pointed to a sign on a desk when telling someone how great my eyesight use to be saying "I used to be able to read that", then noticed I could. Maybe my eyes would just gradually healed after getting away from what wrecked them, like over years, but it does feel like eye exercises helped.

The one I did most was to focus on my finger about 6 inches from my nose then on a far away object. Doing this definitely helped with eye strain, and I have to think it helped with eyesight too.

[jasminec]

I had an optometrist prescribe me glasses. Instead I saw an orthoptist, I did eye exercises recommended by him and now have perfect eyesight again.
Eye exercises definitely work!

[Dave-wvto]

I swear to God my eyes are getting improve since i started eye exercise

[Sengr]

I don't know if eye exercises work or not but here is my experience.
A few years ago i went to Arizona on vacation for a month. I have a good friend there and stayed with his family. Me and this guy went to work (some project he worked in Flagstaff)
We had the mountain range in sight and people were climbing rhe mountains on trails.
We often through the day looked at the people trying to focus on them. It was an involuntary move i guess trying to see who is on the trail.
After about 3 weeks (the project took 1 month) i began to have problems with my glasses (vision) it was like i couldn't focus with my glasses on.
I thought maybe my vision was getting worse.
But it turnd out that i was more comfortable without my glasses on
.
My vision was getting better just by trying to focus on a distant object many times a day for a few weeks. Thats all it took.
Of course i came back home and every day things in a city with close proximity things got my vision to being bad again.
Bottom line, there is some truth to this eye exercise thing.

[marekkozub]

Maybe it's a placebo effect, but if it works for some people, it doesn't hurt to try it.

[someguy]

I recently got glasses for my near sightedness about a year ago, I realized it was proably from too much screen time, apparently focusing on things up close for too long will change the eye shape and give you this condition. But apparently no medical websitees or anything theorize the opposite: that looking at things far away without your glasses will change your eye shape back. So now apparently because I chose to use screens too much for a year or two i get to suffer with glasses for the rest of my life and apparently im at a higher risk of going blind when im old. Why is life so cruel? My only hope is every once and a while i heat a story where someones vision miraculously returns to them after avoiding screens for a prolonged amount of time why hasnt any medical jouranl or anythin looked into this? if screens can make you nearsighted by changing your eye shape i see no logical reason looking at far away things wouldnt do the exact opposite. But thats life right? its always 10x easier to suffer than to win.

[lin_win]

Well, eye exercises is something people need to do. It’s like brushing teeth or body workout. The glasses prescription only makes it worse and eye muscles get weak. So, Bates method is what unis never teach about, they only teach about German based theory, which is actually wrong. Just moving your eyes isn’t enough. And you need to be careful too, if people have like -6, the exercise need to be mild. For Bates method, to relax your eyes just do palming exercises and sun bathing with closed eyes. I personally hate glasses and try to get rid of this burden by doing exercises. I only saw and experienced harm from glasses, and not help. So please don’t get caught up to this glasses business, most people don’t care about your health at all, only money. And all of this I know because of the doctor who literally helps people to get rid of the glasses. He shared all of that.

[PCoutcast]

Someone who sells glasses for a living picks the most ridiculous thing he can find on youtube and lumps all natural vision improvement into the same pile and mocks it with a shit-eating grin throughout the video. You know what that tells you? That eye exercises for improving visual acuity do work.

[rabiafuwai]

I started following your exercises, especially how to write number 8 with my eyes for a month now and I have great improvement. Even my Dr said that, at my age, 61 years now, your eyes are perfect.

[AM]

I did it! Eye exercises are amazing. Don't listen to people who say it can't be done. I did exercises for 4 hours every day for 6 weeks (yes big commitment) and I moved from +2.5 both eyes to zero glasses and perfect vision. I'm sure it can be done with less hours but would take longer. I couldn't read without glasses now I can. I did eye movements, convergence exercises, swinging, looking out to distance. My eyes hurt and my head hurt a lot - but it is now resolved. It's like exercising the body - it hurts but the muscles will strengthen and I also worked a lot to relax my eyes. If you do 4 hours a day for 2 weeks you will see a quick change and then it gets better from there.

[astarte]

Well, now I better understand why the eye dr had me doing horrible eye exercises when I was young. They use to trigger migraines when I was a kid though. I really hated doing the exercises and I’m not sure still what the benefits were for me at the time, I was just glad when I no longer had to do them.

[JericTamayo]

My ex threw away my glasses during summer. I was 20/100, but for several months without glasses and doing eye exercises and having to drive without them, im currently at 20/40

[sassygrrl]

I actually started eye exercises not to improve vision but as part of face yoga. Haven't been doing yoga very long. If I got a bit of improvement or even my eyes not getting worse I'd be happy or even just keeping my eyes healthy, I'll be happy.

[SolidNate]

At least it's an actual eye doctor is telling us this stuff instead of a random guy on youtube.

[starbock]

@AntoniotheOptometrist - I recently found your channel and find it informative and well put together. I really like when you show how X condition looks like to patients; there's a lot of putting oneself in the patients' shoes in those videos, which is great. And, that kind of first person presentation makes the concepts easier to understand. Thank you for the effort that you clearly put into doing that.

While I generally agree with most of what you presented in this video, I think that you overlooked something: voluntary accommodation. Yes, it's rare. And, yes, exercise of the ciliary muscle does make a huge difference, especially as we grow older. That's not a question; I am sharing my own experience.

Generalizing all patients' situation is a prevailing (and increasing) mindset that is hurtful to many patients; it results in doctors not listening, which manifests as a lack of empathy and compassion. Not every patient can be made to fit into one tidy, catch-all norm. It's important to always keep an open mind. 🙏

[Private-C]

That's interesting, as when I was 8-10 yo, I was doing gymnastics for eyes (like cover them with palms for a few seconds, look up, down, sides, look at the dot on the window-look at the horizon, etc), and my vision would improve! from 70% to even 120% on one eye and 60% to 90% on the other. Of course, my vision was crisper only while I was doing those exercises, as soon as I would stop, it would slowly go back to old numbers. Indeed, I don't understand how could it work, and if there is no evidence, especially! Is that because I was a kid? 🤔

[jeandanielmimi]

You are literally telling us that we can't improve myopia. Well the best evidence that you can get is to try improving your own since you are wearing glasses. However I should tell you that this is a long path with lots of doubt and many people like you will discourage you. If you are strong enough you will see the light at the end. Line after line on the snellen chart will clear up. What an amazing experience.