The See Clearly Method was an eye-exercise program that was marketed as an alternative to the use of

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples or ...

contact lenses Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...

, and

eye surgery Eye surgery, also known as ophthalmic or ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa, by an ophthalmologist or sometimes, an optometrist. Eye surgery is synonymous with ophthalmology. The eye is a very fragile organ, and requ ...

to improve vision. Sales were halted by legal action in 2006. The method is not supported by basic science, and no research studies were conducted prior to marketing. The program is based in part on the

Bates method The Bates method is an ineffective and potentially dangerous alternative therapy aimed at improving eyesight. Eye-care physician William Horatio Bates (1860–1931) held the erroneous belief that the extraocular muscles effected changes ...

, an alternative therapy devised in the early 20th century, which lacks clinical evidence to support the claim that it can improve eyesight.*

History

The See Clearly Method was created by four individuals who called themselves the "American Vision Institute": optometrist David W. Muris, optometrist Merrill J. Allen, psychologist Francis A. Young, and nuclear chemist Steven Beresford. In 1996, they authored a book titled ''Improve Your Vision Without Glasses or Contact Lenses: A New Program of Therapeutic Eye Exercises'', on which the later system was based. When

Fairfield, Iowa Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, Iowa. It has a population of 9,416 people, according to the 2020 census. The median family income is $46,138, with 10% of families below the poverty line. The city is typical ...

, businessman Cliff Rose saw the book, he asked that the authors develop the program. Along with attorney David Sykes, Rose created ''Vision Improvement Technologies'', which owned and marketed the See Clearly Method, which was heavily advertised on radio and television from 2001 to 2006, with the endorsement of actress

Mariette Hartley Mary Loretta Hartley (born June 21, 1940) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for work with Bill Bixby on '' The Incredible Hulk'' (1978) and ''Goodnight, Beantown'' (1983–1984), an original ''Star Trek'' episode (19 ...

. The See Clearly Method has been described as "amply critiqued and debunked." A research, ''The effectiveness of the See Clearly Method'', published in 2005 found no significant results in the application of the method. Both the ''Journal of the American Optometric Association'' and the ''Journal of Behavioral Optometry'' declined to publish a study by the American Vision Institute purportedly demonstrating the efficacy of the method. The AVI then self-published the paper on their website.

Techniques

Some of the program's techniques were adapted from the

, a collection of techniques developed by William Bates in the early 20th century. These techniques were based on Bates' own unorthodox theories, which have been consistently rejected by the scientific and medical community. Still, no evidence suggests that the Bates method, in whole or in part, is effective. Some of the See Clearly Method's techniques are: *"Tromboning" involved holding a small object at varying distances from one's eyes, inhaling as it was moved in and exhaling as it was moved out. The program's manual stated, "Tromboning exercises the focusing mechanism, improves control of the

extraocular muscles The extraocular muscles (extrinsic ocular muscles), are the seven extrinsic muscles of the human eye. Six of the extraocular muscles, the four recti muscles, and the superior and inferior oblique muscles, control movement of the eye and the ot ...

, and stimulates the flow of nutrients inside the eyes". *The Scanning Chart exercise involved moving a chart just out of focus, then jumping from dot to dot in time with the music on the program's exercise video. *The program recommended Acupressure, in essence a massage for muscles surrounding the eye. *"Blur reading" entailed turning a magazine upside-down at a distance from which the words were unclear, selecting a word and running one's gaze around it, and then around any letters one could recognize. *Personal affirmations such as "I am seeing better each day" or "I can see without my glasses" were suggested. *Light therapy, a variation of Bates's "sunning", involved sitting with one's eyes closed and the face six inches from an unshaded 150-watt bulb, just far enough to make the eyes "pleasantly warm but not too hot", according to the manual. *"Palming", another technique adapted from Bates, involved closing the eyes and resting them against the palms. * "Hydrotherapy", involved alternately placing hot and cold water-soaked towels over the eyes. The See Clearly Method kit was sold at $350.

Legal action

Wisconsin's Consumer Protection had issued a warning that half of the kit buyers in the State had returned it.

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

State Attorney General The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney gen ...

Tom Miller Tom Miller may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Miller (broadcaster) (1940–1993), American radio personality and emcee *Tom Miller (artist) (1945–2000), American artist *Tom Miller (travel writer) (born 1947), travel writer from Tucson *To ...

filed a consumer fraud

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against Vision Improvement Technologies, the promoter of the See Clearly Method, in 2005. The lawsuit alleged that "Vision Improvement Technologies uses a combination of misleading and unfair marketing tactics to sell their kits, including exaggerated claims of effectiveness, false implications of scientific validity, and misleading consumer testimonials in advertising." In February 2006 an Iowa court issued a temporary injunction restricting certain aspects of the company's

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

. A November 2, 2006, press release from the Iowa Attorney General's office announced a consent decree with Vision Improvement under which the company will halt sales, offer restitution to customers, clear customers' credit records of any filings related to See Clearly purchases, and halt operations as of December 2006. On December 18, 2006, the company's web site stated, "As of November 1, 2006 The See Clearly Method is no longer available for sale." In response to a 2007 complaint by the California Attorney General's office concerning David Muris' involvement with the See Clearly Method, Muris was placed on probation for five years in 2008 by the state Board of Optometry.Muris' petition to be removed from probation

History

Techniques

Legal action

See also