Who Was Dr. William H. Bates and What Is The Bates Method?
Stress and mental strain affect eyesight: “The observer is so near the subject that the latter is made nervous, and this changes the refraction.”
– “Fig. 8. The Usual Method of Using the Retinoscope,” from “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates, M.D.
William H. Bates
William Horatio Bates, M.D. was a prominent American physician, surgeon, instructor of ophthalmology and vision researcher, who challenged the mainstream consensus of his profession, that said, and still does, that eyesight cannot improve. Dr. Bates discovered just the opposite, that eyesight can and does improve. He went on to develop a natural vision practice based on relaxation and natural vision habits, enabling people, including myself, to improve their vision. This practice became known as “the Bates method.”
You may be thinking that William H. Bates is a contemporary figure and that his discovery is recent. Actually, he was born in Newark, New Jersey, December 23rd, 1860, four months before the American Civil War, and died July 10th, 1931, in the early years of the Great Depression.
Dr. Bates began his medical career in New York City in the 1880’s – nearly 140 years ago. He received his medical degree from Columbia University in 1885 and become a successful and well-respected ophthalmologist, eye surgeon and college instructor at the New York Postgraduate Medical School and Hospital from 1886 to 1891. But, when he questioned conventional ophthalmology, and helped students and fellow professors to improve their eyesight and get out of glasses, he was expelled from his teaching position.
In spite of being black listed and ridiculed by his profession for his independent ideas, Dr. Bates had a busy and productive career. He did cutting edge vision research, had a successful and thriving practice and helped countless men, women and children improve their vision naturally.
He published 30 medical articles between 1886 and 1923, published his monthly Better Eyesight magazine from 1920 to 1931 and wrote his seminal book on his research, theory and practice, Perfect Sight Without Glasses, also called The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses, in 1920.
Mainstream Consensus
Early in his career, Dr. Bates questioned his colleagues who said that vision cannot get better and will only get worse. Conventional ophthalmology said, and still does, that eyesight cannot improve, and can only be corrected by glasses, contacts or surgery. The cause of common vision conditions, such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, is assumed to be genetic. The eyeball is either genetically “too short” or “too long.” This deformation of the eyeball is considered to be permanent.
How this effects focal length can be seen in the following diagram from Dr. Bates’ book, Perfect Sight Without Glasses. In nearsightedness, where the eyeball is too short from front to back, light rays land in front of the retina, resulting in vision being blurry in the distance. In farsightedness, where the eyeball is too long from front to back, light rays land behind the retina, resulting in vision being blurry close up (The deformation of the eyeball is greatly exaggerated for the purpose of illustration).
“H, hypermetropia; E, emmetropia; M, myopia; Ax, optic axis. Note that in hypermetropia and myopia the rays, instead of coming to a focus, form a round spot upon the retina.”
Fig. 4. Diagram of the Hypermetropic (farsighted), Emmetropic (normal) and Myopic (nearsighted) Eyeballs, from “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates, M.D.
Although studies don’t conclusively support genetics as the cause of most vision issues, this belief persists.
A 1969 study found genetics not to be a cause of nearsightedness.
Mainstream Practice
Because of their belief in the inevitability of common vision conditions, the mainstream eye industry takes for granted being unable to help you improve your eyesight. They don’t even try. They can correct your vision by providing glasses, contacts and surgeries, but admittedly cannot help you to improve it.
It was assumed in Dr. Bates’ time, and still is today, that eyesight can only get worse, never better. And, it is expected to get worse. According to mainstream eye doctors, correcting blurry vision with lenses or surgery is the only option. Admittedly, it is all too often temporary. Vision often continues to get worse. For this, higher prescriptions or another surgery is recommended.
Dr. Bates was Dissatisfied with Mainstream Consensus
Early in his career, Dr. Bates was dissatisfied with correcting vision with glasses. He was troubled by the fact that he and his colleagues were unable to improve the eyesight of their patients. He observed that his patient’s eyesight would decline in spite of wearing glasses. But, he also observed that their eyesight would improve when glasses were not worn, due to breaking or losing them. So, eyesight conditions were not necessarily permanent.
This inspired him to question the basic theories of ophthalmology, something his colleagues were unwilling to do. Through many years of intensive research and observation of the eyes of animals and people, he proposed an answer to why vision gets worse, and how it can get better.
Dr. Bates’ Theory
The Helmholtz theory of how the eye focuses, was, and still is, the accepted theory among most eye doctors. It states that the eye focuses only by changing the shape of the lens. And, according to this theory, proposed by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1855 (169 years ago), if the lens cannot focus, the only solution is glasses, contacts or surgery.
Dr. Bates came up with another theory. In his research, he found that the eye is able to focus independently of the lens. He even found that the eye can focus with the lens surgically removed. How? By using the external muscles of the eye.
He observed that these external eye muscles, thought to be used only for turning the eye, also focus the eye by changing the shape of the eyeball itself. To see in the distance, the external muscles of the eye squeeze the eyeball so it becomes a little shorter from front to back. To see close up, the external muscles of the eye squeeze the eyeball so that it’s a little longer from front to back. He discovered that this focusing ability of the external muscles of the eye is automatic and effortless.
“When we understand, however, how the shape of the eyeball is controlled by the external muscles, and how it responds instantaneously to their action, it is easy to see that no refractive state, whether it is normal or abnormal, can be permanent.”
– Chapter VII, The Variability of the Refraction of The Eye, from “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates, M.D.
The Root Cause of Vision Problems
Dr. Bates went on to discover that this focusing by the external muscles of the eye can be interfered with. He got to the root of vision problems, which he determined is mental strain.
He observed that mental strain causes the external muscles of the eye to physically tense up, squeezing the eyeball out of shape, resulting in blurry vision. Rather than the deformation of the eyeball being genetic and permanent, Dr. Bates observed it to be changeable and reversible… by letting go of strain.
The Bates Method
Dr. Bates discovered that eyesight can be corrected through relaxation, letting go of poor vision habits and not wearing glasses. The Bates method, as it came to be known, reawakens natural vision, which is effortless and automatic. According to Dr. Bates, poor and worsening eyesight is caused primarily by three things:
1. Stress or mental strain
2. Poor vision habits, and
3. Wearing glasses.
What Is The Bates Method?
"The Bates Method is a method of vision reeducation through relaxation of eyes and mind to regain normal, effortless eyesight, which is comprised of both central clarity and expansive peripheral vision. And unlike what you might have heard, it's quite the opposite of eye exercises.
The Bates Method is about changing your visual straining habits that caused your eyesight problem. The way to see better permanently is to apply those natural, healthy habits all day. This needs to be practiced by first noticing and feeling the strain. Nearly everyone with eyesight problems is initially not even aware of the strain in their eyes and mind. Creating that awareness and attention is the first step, just like in any other transformational process.
Consciously reversing the habits and choices you made to get your eyesight to where it is today is the key to success. This is not a quick fix! And unfortunately there is none.
The Bates Method is an educational approach to relearning the habits of good eyesight. It is based on the principle of dynamic relaxation and of letting go of strain in the mind and eyes. Mental strain and tense eye muscles cause blurry and distorted vision. It is not a set of eye exercises. It is relearning and incorporating into daily life the habits of Natural Vision that bring back visual clarity.
The Bates Method defies the traditional belief that that vision problems are genetic or age-related and therefore unavoidable. Ophthalmologist William H. Bates has shown that eyesight is highly variable and can be improved as much as it can be worsened by conscious choice and unconscious habits."
- From the Association of Vision Educators, "About the Bates Method?"
“It’s not about what you do, but about what you don’t do that improves vision.”
– William H. Bates, M.D.
Although his personal story is history, his theory and practice lives on as the Bates method. Dr. William H. Bates side-stepped his skeptical colleagues, who were unwillingly to step out of their traditional practice and the mainstream narrative, by training lay people in this natural method of improving vision. As it turns out, non-medical people are often the best teachers. Especially those who have themselves improved their own eyesight.
This brings up the biggest misconception, that the Bates method is eye exercises. It isn’t. And it takes effort. It doesn’t. But, it isn’t always easy to let go of trying. The Bates method is more like play. Dr. Bates found his method so simple, even a child could teach it. In his Better Eyesight magazines are stories of children teaching other children to improve their eyesight.
The Story of Emily by William H. Bates, M.D.
The Story of Emily
-From Better Eyesight Magazine, August 2019 issue, by William H. Bates, M.D.
The efficacy of the method of treating imperfect sight without glasses has
been demonstrated in thousands of cases, not only in my own practice but
in that of many persons of whom I may not even have heard; for almost all
patients when they are cured proceed to cure others. At a social gathering
one evening a lady told me that she had met a number of my patients. But
when she mentioned their names, I found that I did not remember any of
them, and said so.
That is because you cured them by proxy," she said. "You didn't directly
cure Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Brown, but you cured Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Smith
cured the other ladies. You didn't treat Mr. and Mrs. Simpkins, or Mr.
Simpkins' mother and brother, but you may remember that you cured Mr.
Simpkins' boy of a squint, and he cured the rest of the family."
In schools where the Snellen test card was used to prevent and cure
imperfect sight, the children, after they were cured themselves, often took
to the practice of ophthalmology with the greatest enthusiasm and success,
curing their fellow students, their parents and their friends.
They made a kind of game of the treatment, and the progress of each
school case was watched with the most intense interest by all the children.
On a bright day, when the patients saw well, there was great rejoicing, and
on a dark day there was corresponding depression.
One girl cured twenty-six children in six months; another cured twelve in
three months; a third developed quite a varied ophthalmological practice
and did things of which older and more experienced practitioners might well
have been proud.
Going to the school which she attended one day, I asked this girl about her
sight, which had been very imperfect. She replied that it was now very
good, and that her headaches were quite gone. I tested her sight and found
it normal. Then another child whose sight had also been very poor spoke
up, "I can see all right too," she said. "Emily"—indicating girl No. I—"cured
me."
"Indeed"" I replied. "How did she do that?" The second girl explained that
Emily had had her read the card, which she could not see at all from the
back of the room, at a distance of a few feet. The next day she had moved
it a little further way, and so on, until the patient was able to read it from
the back of the room, just as the other children did. Emily now told her to
cover the right eye and read the card with her left, and both girls were
considerably upset to find that the uncovered eye was apparently blind. The
school doctor was consulted and said that nothing could be done. The eye
had been blind from birth and no treatment would do any good.
Nothing daunted, however, Emily undertook the treatment. She told the
patient to cover her good eye and go up close to the card, and at a distance
of a foot or less it was found that she could read even the small letters. The
little practitioner then proceeded confidently as with the other eye, and
after many months of practice the patient became the happy possessor of
normal vision in both eyes. The case had, in fact, been simply one of high
myopia, and the school doctor, not being a specialist, had not detected the
difference between this condition and blindness.
In the same classroom, there had been a little girl with congenital cataract,
but on the occasion of my visit the defect had disappeared. This, too, it
appeared, was Emily's doing. The school doctor had said that there was no
help for this eye except through operation, and as the sight of the other eye
was pretty good, he fortunately did not think it necessary to urge such a
course.
Emily accordingly took the matter in hand. She had the patient stand close
to the card, and at that distance it was found that she could not see even
the big C. Emily now held the card between the patient and the light and
moved it back and forth. At a distance of three or four feet this movement
could be observed indistinctly by the patient.
The card was then moved farther away, until the patient became able to
see it move at ten feet and to see some of the larger letters indistinctly at a
less distance. Finally, after six months, she became able to read the card
with the bad eye as well as with the good one. After testing her sight and
finding it normal in both eyes, I said to Emily, "You are a splendid doctor.
You beat them all. Have you done anything else?" The child blushed, and
turning to another of her classmates, said: "Mamie, come here."
Mamie stepped forward and I looked at her eyes. There appeared to he
nothing wrong with them. "I cured her," said Emily. "What of?" I inquired.
"Cross eyes," replied Emily. "How," I asked, with growing astonishment.
Emily described a procedure very similar to that adopted in the other cases.
Finding that the sight of the crossed eye was very poor, so much so,
indeed, that poor Mamie could see practically nothing with it, the obvious
course of action seemed to her to be the restoration of its sight; and, never
having read any medical literature she did not know that this was
impossible. So she went to it. She had Mamie cover her good eye and
practice the bad one at home and at school, until at last the sight became
normal and the eye straight.
The school doctor had wanted to have the eye operated upon, I was told,
but fortunately Mamie was "scared" and would not consent. And here she
was with two perfectly good, straight eyes.
"Anything else?" I inquired, when Mamie's case had been disposed of. Emily
blushed again, and said: "Here's Rose. Her eyes used to hurt her all the
time, and she couldn't see anything on the blackboard. Her headaches used
to be so bad that she had to stay away from school every once in a while.
The doctor gave her glasses; but they didn't help her, and she wouldn't
wear them.
When you told us the card would help our eyes I got busy with her. I had
her read the card close up, and then I moved it farther away, and now she
can see all right, and her head doesn't ache any more. She comes to school
every day, and we all thank you very much."
This was a case of compound hypermetropic astigmatism. Such stories
might be multiplied indefinitely. Emily's astonishing record cannot, it is true,
be duplicated, but lesser cures by cured patients have been very numerous
and serve to show that the benefits of the method of preventing and curing
defects of vision in the schools which is presented in this number of BETTER
EYESIGHT would be far-reaching. Not only errors of refraction would be
cured, but many more serious defects; and not only the children would be
helped, but their families and friends also."
If it weren’t for Dr. Bates’ curiosity and steadfast courage as a maverick ophthalmologist, questioning professor, meticulous researcher and independent thinker, the field of Natural Vision Improvement would likely not exist as it does today. To Dr. Bates’ credit, for over 100 years, untold thousands who have suffered with poor eyesight have been self-empowered to naturally improve it.
Resources
- Association of Vision Educators – “What is the Bates Method?”, “A History of William Horatio Bates”
- Visions of Joy – “About Dr. W. H. Bates” by Esther Joy van der Werf
- “The Cure Of Imperfect Sight By Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates
I am a natural vision improvement teacher and coach, massage therapist, yoga teacher and the owner of Relearn To See – Natural Vision Improvement. I take a wellness coaching approach to helping you negotiate life in a more relaxed and natural way that can benefit your eyesight, health and well-being.
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