Chalm3.txt

Dear Friends,


This was written about 100 years ago.

Chalmer Prentice, M.D. may have not got everything right (no
one ever does) but he got this part right.

The difficulty is not the statement of what is necessary. It
is in helping the person develop the knowledge and
force-of-character to successfully implement this advice.

Today a great mass of explict DIRECT factual data spells out
the true effect that both a "confined environment" AND a minus
lens ultimately has on the refractive status of the eye.

What have we learned about this in the last 100 years?

What happens when you try to help a person use the plus as
described by Chalmer at the 20/50 level? The person states -- I
don't understand why I must use the plus -- my eye's are OK. Take
your plus lens and shove it.

This should explain why, even the ODs who "wake up" to the
necessity of using the plus -- never volunteer information about
it.

Tragic, indeed. But the truth.

Best,

Otis


----------------


The Eye in its Relation to Health

===============================

By Chalmer Prentice, M.D.

Chicago, A.C. McClurg & Company, 1895

Transcription (c) A. Wik, 2004


Chapter IX


...The following are some very interesting experiments in
myopia which can be verified by any operator, and which prove that
refractive myopia depends on ciliary spasm, and that, even in
axial myopia, considerable repression can sometimes be made at the
near point.

[In the case of 20/50 myopia, "repression" means using a
strong plus that completely ellimates the "near" environment.
This means that the person finds the "blur point" at near, and
pulls the book in SLIGHTLY. This is to insure that the "plus" has
the maximum possible effect. OSB]


In either class of cases, repression must be made at the near
point.

In various lengths of time, we shall be able to reduce the
myopia one or two dioptres, sometimes more.

[I would suggest that the person himself (at -1 diopters) IF
HE HAS THE MOTIVATION can clear his distant vision to pass the
required 20/40 line on his own eye chart. OSB]

In most cases satisfactory results will require considerable
time and patience; but a few experiments after the following
example will suffice to show that in some very advanced stages of
myopia, it is possible to suppress, or at least check, its onward
course by repression at the near point.

[This just suggests that much greater emphasis should be
placed on PREVENTION with the plus -- when the person himself can
take the responsibility to do this work completely under his own
control. OSB]

This fact renders the fitting of minus glasses to myopic eyes
an open question.

[From the Oakley-Young study, it is clear that a slighly
myopic eye will pick up a rate of -1/2 diopter per year (average)
if a minus is worn all the time. The issue now is far more than
an "open
question". It is a proven reality. OSB]


AGE 43 NEARSIGHTEDNESS

...Age forty-three; myopia; had been wearing over the right
eye -1.25 D, left eye -1 D, with little or no change for the space
of two years; eyes in use more or less at the near point. I
recommended the removal of the concave glasses for distant vision
and prescribed +3.50 D for reading, writing and other office work.

After reading in these glasses for several days, the patient
was able to read print twelve inches from the eyes. This patient
was of more than ordinary intelligence and understood the aim of
the effort. In six months I changed the glasses for reading and
writing to a +4 D without seeing the patient. After using the +4
D glasses for several months he again came under my care for an
examination, when the left eye gave twenty-twentieths (20/20 OSB)
of vision, while the right eye was very nearly the same, but the
acuity was just perceptibly less.

[Since then, the DMV standard around the world has become
approximately 20/40. Almost the only people legally REQUIRED to
have 20/20 are professional pilots. Be clear in your mind about
this issue. OSB]

During this time the general health had improved somewhat,
including considerable gain in the nervous condition.

Similar results have been attained in thirty-four like cases;


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

EMPHASIS:

"...but the process is very tedious for the patients, and
unless their understanding is clear on the subject, it is almost
impossible to induce them to undergo the trial."


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Anyone who is considering "prevention" at the -1.5 diopter
level (20/60) must realize that the process is tedious. That
seems to be the real "objection" to prevention. This really
becomes a "personal" issue for you to resolve. It is easy to
"talk" about vision-clearing with the plus. Sounds simple until
you realize that you must make the use of a strong-plus a "habit"
for from 8 to 15 months. Just remember, it takes about 15 months
to develop -3/4 diopters of myopia -- and it is likley to take the
same amount of time to clear back to 20/40 (to pass the DMV) and
then to 20/25 and 20/20. If you are looking for an "easy" or
"quick" method -- there is none. OSB]

_____________________________________________


Otis> This suggest that a "tutorial", or an "education" review
must be supplied to the person BEFORE that minus lens is
used. Clearing vision from 20/70 to 20/40 (-1.0 diopters to
-1/4 diopter) is possible and reasonable -- provided the
issue is handled HONESTLY. I suggest the term "second
opinion" should be used as part of an offer of
true-prevention.

Otis> If the person can not accept this requirement, and gets
"stair-case" myopia because of an over-prescribed minus lens
then he would have only himself to blame -- in my opinion.

Otis> I would GLADLY PAY a professional for his time to describe
the above to me. I would have nothing to lose. I think it
is time that we learn to take this issue more seriously.

Otis> Today, we can state that there is almost absolute proof for
this dynamic-eye concept -- provided we keep the subject on
a pure-scientific level.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The foregoing in connection with limited tests of more than
two hundred similar cases suggests an answer to that most
important question, 'What shall we do to prevent myopia in school
children and students?'

In a nomad, who is reared out of doors, who follows such
pursuits that his vision is mostly used at twenty feet and greater
distances, the nerve-impulses to the ciliary muscle become
established so that the easiest vision is for the far point, and
in many years of such use, these impulses become more or less
fixed; while the child of a higher civilization spends its life
within doors, amuses itself with toys, picture books, kindergarten
amusements and learning to read.

We will assume that such a child generally holds its book or
toy ten inches from the eyes, in which case the crystalline lens
requires a much greater convexity, or higher state of refraction
to bring about perfect vision; and this is brought about by an
increase in the ciliary nerve-impulse which contracts the ciliary
muscle. Through long continued use, this excessive impulse
becomes comparatively fixed, and in some instances refuses to
suspend itself sufficiently to bring about distant vision again,
and so myopia has set in.

The regular work of the student and those other pursuits
which require the use of the eye at the near point, tend to
perpetuate this disease and make it progressive.

Again, the important question, 'How are the advantages of a
high civilization to be attained wihout the foregoing
disadvantages?' If the eyes are to be used at a distance of ten
inches, aid them artificially by a ten inch magnifying glass; then
the nerve-impulses to the ciliary muscle will be no more than if
the patient were leading an outdoor life and viewing objects at
twenty feet or more. The nerve-centers are not called upon for so
excessive an impulse, and they become habituated to sending the
same amount of nerve-force as if an outdoor life were led.

...If the little student at school or any other person using
the eyes at the near point, were to be supplied with such glasses
during the hours of study, on leaving the school room they could
be taken off and the natural use of the eye at all other times
would be quite sufficient to cultivate and establish the habit of
accommodation. At least the danger of disturbing the
accommodation would be much less than the dangers resulting to the
eyes and nerve-centers without such aid.

I simply suggest the above as a possible answer to one of the
most important questions of the day.


Dr. C. Prentice