EYE CONDITIONS

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Contents

I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE EYES

The Eyes Are Very Delicate

Eye Hygiene

Eyes And The Liver

II. EYE CONDITIONS

Achromatopsia

Bloodshot Eyes

Visual Snow

Yellowish Color Of The Sclera

Cataracts

Glaucoma

Retinitis Pigmentosa

Ptyrigium And Pinguecula

Near-sighted, Far-Sighted, Astigmatism

Floaters

Stye

Eye Infections

III. OTHER TOPICS

Eye therapy with development methods

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There are many eye conditions. Most of them can heal using a development program. Below are comments about some common ones.

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

THE EYES ARE VERY DELICATE

Always remember this and treat your eyes very carefully and humbly. Unlike some other body parts, the eyes cannot be replaced if you lose them.

EYE HYGIENE

- Wear glasses or goggles whenever you are outside pruning tree branches, or using an electric saw, or doing other work that might expose your eyes to dust, glass or any kind of particles.

- To help prevent eye infections, when you wash your face, first wash your hands with soap so your hands will be clean. Then move your hands or your towel downward, and never upward. This helps prevent eye infections.

- Try not to rub the eyes. Instead, if an eye hurts, stop what you are doing, wash your hands, and hold the eye closed by pushing in and down on the eyelash. Then blink the eye a number of times. This can often dislodge dust particles and other foreign bodies from the eyes.

- Swimming pools and hot tubs are almost always contaminated with bacteria and viruses. They often spread eye infections. They are best avoided completely.

- Ideally, don’t put things in the eyes, including contact lenses. Use eye drops only if needed for an illness.

- Always read and work in good light. Reading or working in poor light is hard on the eyes.

- When using a computer or phone, have good background light. This is much easier on the eyes.

- Sleeping on your back is a little safer for your eyes than sleeping on your side or on your stomach.

THE EYES AND THE LIVER

In Oriental face diagnosis and Chinese acupuncture, there is a close relationship between the eyes and the liver. Congestion, toxicity, sluggishness or other problems with the liver can result in symptoms in the eyes.

II. EYE SYMPTOMS

ACHROMATOPSIA

This is the condition of being born without cones, which give one color vision and visual acuity. This is considered a genetic birth defect. However, we are currently working with a four-year-old boy, Liam.

His achromatopsia is improving nicely after just 5 months on the ‘free’ program and just 1 month on the full development program. This leads us to believe that achromatopsia may be a nutritional and congenital condition, rather than a genetic problem. For details of this case, read A Case Of Achromatopsia.

BLOODSHOT EYES, OR RED VEINS IN THE EYES

This common symptom can be due to a chronic eye infection, fatigue, sitting under fluorescent lights, rubbing the eyes, or it can be related to liver congestion.

Solutions. This depends upon the cause. Chronic eye infections are very common and will slowly go away on a development program.

Make sure you are reading in good light and are well-rested at all times.

After a coffee enema this problem is often reduced. The enema cleans out the liver. Doing the pushing down exercise also seems to help. It cleans the liver, and the rest of the body.

VISUAL SNOW

This is the presence of small white dots or tiny lines in the field of vision. There can also be other symptoms such as visual images that persist even after one looks away from the image. Some people are also light sensitive or have trouble with night vision.

Visual snow often affects younger people, unlike a number of other eye conditions. It is not recognized as a “disease” by many eye doctors and they don’t know the cause or how to handle it well.

Visual snow usually clears up easily with a development program. We believe its cause is an imbalance involving the liver, which a development program will correct. To read about this healing method, go to Introduction To The Development Program.

YELLOWISH COLOR OF THE SCLERA OR WHITE OF THE EYE

This is usually due either to drinking carrot juice or liver toxicity.

Solutions. If you are drinking carrot juice, a yellowish tinge to the whites of the eyes is totally benign and due to a lot of carotene floating in the blood. Carotene has an orange color, and gives carrots their color.

If you rule out this cause, a yellowish color can be a sign of jaundice, which is a backup of bile inside the liver. A development program, and specifically coffee enemas, are excellent to enhance the activity of the liver.

CATARACTS

This is a condition in which the lens of the eye becomes opaque instead of transparent. It causes loss of vision and is very common in older people.

By following a development program, one should be able to avoid cataracts, and in many cases one can reverse them as well.

What causes cataracts?

Our research indicates that the presence of excess iron, manganese and/or aluminum within the lens of the eye may cause some cataracts. The form of these minerals are usually oxides, which are very irritating. For details, read Iron, Manganese and Aluminum – The Amigos.

Other contributing causes may include:

· Reduced circulation to the eye structures. This may be due to arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, diabetes, or some other cause for impaired circulation.

· Liver toxicity. This is very common as people age, and usually gives no obvious symptoms.

· Other toxic metals that may accumulate in the lens of the eye.

· Anti-oxidant damage to the lens of the eyes from other causes such as nutritional deficiency states or perhaps x-ray exposure.

· A side effect of cortisone-containing nose drops such as Nasonex and others, or the use of other steroid-containing drops or creams near the eyes.

· Excessive ultraviolet light from the sun or elsewhere.

· A spiritually-related cause is if a person does not want to see something. This may sound odd, but it can occur.

· Smoking anything and eating sugar in any form appear to be risk factors, though they are not considered causes. Even eating a lot of fruit or fruit juices may contribute.

· Wearing strong prescription eyeglasses is not a cause, but is associated with more cataracts for some reason. Perhaps it is associated with more stress on the eyes in some way.

What to do about cataracts?

1. Be sure it is a cataract. Be sure the cause of the problem is a cataract, and not some other eye disease. The eyes are so important that it is not worth taking chances with them.

An eye exam easily shows cataracts, and sometimes you can see it in the mirror, even. The middle of the eye looks cloudy and the world begins to look cloudy as well. However, there are other diseases that can mimic the problem, so always have an eye exam if you are not sure of the cause of a vision problem.

2. A development program can work well. It can identify some causes for cataracts, and in many cases the progress of the cataract can be stopped and perhaps reversed.

3. Symptomatic approaches. Symptomatic remedies might work in some cases. However, there is great danger putting anything in your eyes, so always use caution. We cannot recommend remedies, however.

4. Surgery. Surgery is the treatment recommended by the medical profession. While it can work well, it leaves the person with impaired vision in some odd ways that hinder the ability to drive, for example, as switching from near to far vision is difficult to do quickly. Sometimes, surgery does not work well and leads to complications that can lead to partial blindness.

How long does natural correction take?

Correcting cataracts with a development program will take months or perhaps a few years on a program. It depends how severe the problem is and how long it has been going on.

Preventing Cataracts

This is the best way to handle cataracts, especially if they are present in your family. A complete nutritional balancing program is best. Otherwise, eat well, sleep a lot, reduce stress all you can and care for your eyes as you would your life, as they are such critical organs for functioning in many ways.

GLAUCOMA

Glaucoma is a very common eye disease, especially among those over age 55. Symptoms result from an increase in the pressure of the fluid that is inside the eyeball. The excessive pressure affects the retina and optic nerve.

This can lead to gradual or even sudden irreversible blindness. For this reason, the condition is best prevented or handled quickly and aggressively to avoid damage to the eyes.

Types of glaucoma.

1) Over 90% of glaucoma develops slowly and is called open-angle glaucoma. For this reason, it is often detected late, after some loss of vision has occurred. The most common symptom is a gradual loss of peripheral vision.

2) A much more rare acute type of glaucoma is called closed-angle glaucoma. This is a medical emergency that requires diuretic drugs and usually surgery to stop it quickly. Symptoms include severe headache, eye pain, and often sudden loss of vision. Early symptoms may include some loss of vision, especially in the morning, seeing halos around lights, blurry vision and an inability to adjust to darkness. The pupils may be fixed and slightly dilated, and do not respond to light very well.

Always seek medical help immediately if these symptoms occur.

Testing for glaucoma. Eye doctors and optometrists often do a simple test to assess the pressure inside the eyeball while doing a routine eye examination. They blow a puff of air at the eyeball with a device that measures the pressure.

Eye examinations are one of the few medical exams that I highly recommend for everyone. Another is testing for high blood pressure. Many other medical tests are less important or less accurate, in my view. Tests such as PSA, mammograms and others are thus less critical, assuming one takes excellent care of the body.

Causes Of Glaucoma

Doctors are not sure what causes glaucoma in most cases. For some reason, the ducts or other structures that regulate the pressure in the eye become damaged.

Nutritional causes for glaucoma may include:

· Inflammation, often due to the presence of toxic levels of manganese, iron, aluminum or other metals in and around the eyes.

· Oxidant damage. Toxic metals, nutrient deficiencies, liver damage and other causes may contribute.

· Copper toxicity. In particular, copper imbalance, which is very common, can damage connective tissue, such as that in the ducts of the eyes. This may occur because too much biounavailable copper oxidizes vitamin C and may damage the disulfide bonds that give all connective tissue such as collagen its flexibility and strength.

· Liver toxicity. Liver damage is associated with most eye diseases. In Chinese medicine, the liver meridian passes through the eyes. As a result, disturbance of this meridian affects the eyes, often in subtle but important ways. Cataracts, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa and other diseases of the eyes are often related to liver toxicity, which is extremely common and often hard to detect with blood or other tests. On hair tests, indicators may include a low hair phosphorus level, a low or very high sodium/potassium ratio, copper imbalance or a very slow oxidation rate.

Correction Of Glaucoma

Nutritional balancing. A number of our clients with glaucoma report that their condition resolved by itself on a nutritional balancing program. This may take several months to several years of following a complete nutritional balancing program.

Possible reasons for the correction are an improvement in liver activity, a reduction in a high copper level, and the elimination from the body of many oxidant compounds that often involve toxic metals such as aluminum, and biounavailable forms of manganese and iron. Other reasons for the improvement in the symptoms might include renourishing the body, in general and supplying more antioxidants and other protective nutrients found in natural foods and in supplements.

Symptomatic remedies for glaucoma. Some books recommend vitamin C, glutathione, vitamins A, C, D and E, omega-3 fatty acids, gingko biloba, bilberry, zinc, bioflavinoids and other natural remedies. I don’t find these nearly as good as an integrated and coordinated nutritional balancing program.

Other natural therapies such as homeopathy might be tried as well.

Caution: Anyone prone to glaucoma should strictly avoid ephedra or ma-huang, belladonna and licorice. These could provoke an attack of closed-angle glaucoma in susceptible individuals. In nutritional balancing science, we suggest avoiding these herbs at all times, anyway.

Medical remedies. Doctors prescribe eye drops to control the pressure in the eyeball. These are usually effective, but in some cases cause severe headaches or other side effects. They are definitely somewhat toxic, do not address the deeper causes, and must be taken every day for the rest of your life.

Eye surgery is occasionally recommended. Tiny incisions are made with a laser to enable the fluid in the eyeball to flow correctly. I am told this surgery is unreliable, but sometimes helpful.

MACULAR DEGENERATION OR AMD

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a very common disease of aging in which the central part of the retina, sometimes called the macula, begins to malfunction. Two hundred thousand people are diagnosed with AMD each year in America alone.

Doctors classify macular degeneration as wet or dry. Most cases are the so-called wet type.

Symptoms

AMD does not cause total blindness. However, it causes very annoying defects in vision. These include:

- Blurry vision

- Wavy lines

- A blind spot

- Straight lines or faces appearing wavy

- Doorways seeming crooked

- Objects appearing smaller or farther away than they really area.

Hair Analysis Indicators

Those with macular degeneration often have a buildup of cadmium in the retina of the eyes. Cadmium is a zinc antagonist. Zinc in large quantity is required for the health of the retina, and especially the central part of the retina or the macula.

We are not sure if all cases of macular degeneration are related to cadmium toxicity, but have observed this in several cases. Many people with AMD enjoy fish and shellfish, and this may be the source of their cadmium. To read more, click on Cadmium Toxicity.

Another observation is that some people who have AMD are mixed or fast oxidizers. This also may have to do with cadmium toxicity, although it could be caused by other factors as well.

Nutritional Aspects

Some research supports that idea that taking anti-oxidants such as lutein and zeozanthein may help slow the progress of dry macular degeneration. The same is true of research on the importance of taking extra omega-3 fatty acids or vitamin D.

However, these substances do not seem to have a powerful effect on this particular condition. Some researchers feel that zinc or other supplements may also be helpful, although once again the results of zinc therapy are mixed.

From our understanding, the reason that simple nutritional supplements are not sufficient to have a strong impact on AMD is that they are not sufficient to remove much cadmium, though they can help. In order to remove cadmium, a person must go on a complete development program that employs at least a dozen or more methods to remove cadmium. These are discussed in detail in an article on this site entitled Toxic Metals.

Correction Of Amd

If a toxic metal such as cadmium is involved in AMD, then if one can remove the cadmium, the condition might not progress or could reverse.

Removing cadmium is not a fast process, requiring at least a year or several years on a development program. As with all eye diseases, correcting toxicity of the liver may also be of great help.

RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA

This is a progressive, inflammatory eye condition that can lead to blindness.

PTYRIGIUM AND PINGUECULA

These are both thickened, whitish or grayish bumps that appear in the white part of the eye, on one side of the cornea or dark part of the eye.

They are similar. Ptyrigium can grow over the cornea and impair vision, whereas pinguecula do not grow over the cornea, and are less important for this reason.

Both can cause symptoms of irritation, dry eyes, and a feeling that there is something in your eye.

They both may be due to liver problems. They both can go away with a complete development program.

NEAR-SIGHTED, FAR-SIGHTED AND ASTIGMATISM

These are very common abnormalities of vision. They can sometimes be corrected with vision training. Eyeglasses are used to compensate for them.

A development program may eventually help, but if would require years on a program.

We do not recommend contact lenses and we do not recommend Lasix or similar surgery to correct near-sightedness or far-sightendness. The reason is it is best not to risk damage to the eyes that these can cause. Better to wear glasses.

We do recommend the Bates vision training system, also called the Bates Method. These are exercises one does to improve the vision. They can work well, especially if near-sightedness or far-sightedness are recent developed.

FLOATERS

These are dark specs that appear to float across your field of vision. They are considered to be a benign and harmless symptom that can come and go.

During a development program, some people report passing through a period when they have floaters. This is likely the breakdown of old tissue inside the eye and a little gets loose. It floats around until the body absorbs it. No therapy is needed.

STYE

This is an acute bacterial (staphylococcus) infection of one of the sebaceous or oil glands of the eyelid. We don’t have enough experience with these infections to recommend natural method of healing.

At this time, we recommend visiting an eye doctor for any infection that persists more than 2-3 days.

CHRONIC EYE INFECTIONS

These are extremely common. They may cause pain, tearing, redness, or swelling of an eye, or they may produce no symptoms at all.

Natural solutions. A development program will slowly resolve many chronic eye infections, as well as most acute ones. Particularly helpful procedures are:

- Reflexology - rubbing the eye reflexes on the feet and hands.

- The oral coffee procedure, which puts the coffee close to the eyes.

III. OTHER TOPICS

HEALING THE EYES WITH DEVELOPMENT METHODS

Aspects of a complete development program for healing the eyes include:

- pressing on the eye reflex areas of the feet

- shining a reddish heat lamp on closed eyes to improve circulation and more.

- moving energy through the eye area with the pulling down exercise.

- Oral coffee procedure (holding some coffee in your mouth for 15-20 minutes) can bring some of the healing benefits of coffee to the head area.

- Liver help. Eye problems may indicate liver problems, according to Chinese medicine. Therefore, the food and procedures to assist the liver often help eye conditions. These include plenty of cooked vegetables with each of three meals daily. It also includes the use of coffee enemas daily, and the rest of a development program.

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