See Clearly Method

Key takeaways

See Clearly Method belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect See Clearly Method to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of See Clearly Method from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The See Clearly Method was an eye-exercise program that was marketed as an alternative to the use of glasses, contact lenses, and eye surgery 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, 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, 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. The See Clearly Method and related approaches have been described as "amply critiqued and debunked." A 2005 Ohio State University study 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 Bates method, 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, 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 State Attorney General Tom Miller filed a consumer fraud lawsuit 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. 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.

See also Quackery Margaret Darst Corbett

Bibliography Beresford, Steven M.; Muris, David W.; Allen, Merril J.; Young, Francis A. (1996). Improve Your Vision Without Glasses or Contact Lenses: A new program of therapeutic eye exercise. Touchstone. ISBN 978-0684814384.

References

External links Promotional video (2002)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with See Clearly Method

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what See Clearly Method claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to See Clearly Method before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about See Clearly Method ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of See Clearly Method

In research: See Clearly Method appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses See Clearly Method in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: See Clearly Method is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alternative medical treatments, Bates method, Optometry, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for See Clearly Method outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study See Clearly Method in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what See Clearly Method means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain See Clearly Method out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is See Clearly Method in simple terms?

The See Clearly Method was an eye-exercise program that was marketed as an alternative to the use of glasses, contact lenses, and eye surgery to improve vision. Sales were halted by legal action in 2006.

Why does See Clearly Method matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study See Clearly Method?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on See Clearly Method.