The Eye Exerciser

Sometime early this year, SY came back from school with a note informing us that she needed prescription glasses. Apparently, her school did an eye check for every students. She told me that she cried because she couldn't see, and felt very scared. Many of her friends cried too. But the person who inspected them consoled them and told them that it's ok, they would see again after Mommy fixed glasses for them, and they could chose beautiful frames as well.

I felt like I've just been given a big blow too and it took me a while to accept it. Not even 7 and she needed to wear glasses? I got mine at 14, and I locked myself in my room for the whole day. Ok,, I exaggerated, but it was a terrible day for me then.

What's worse was that I felt at lost as to how to help my girl, apart from getting her a pair of 'pink' spectacles. I was more worried for her eyesight, while she's more worried of how she'll look. Sigh, girls...

I've known a few friends who bought the Eye Exerciser for their kids. I wanted to try that too. But that was rather costly, and its effectiveness was not 100% proven. Hubby did not think that was necessary. To him, it was like what's so big deal? Just get her a pair of spectacles and that's the end of story.

To me, I knew that it wouldn't be the end of the story yet. The power would go on increasing, since children's eyesight would not stable down so fast. And with glasses, her daily movements might be constrained in a way, especially during sports activities. Worried, I consulted a dear friend, who gave me a more positive outlook on things, and I did really felt so much better after that. Thank you so much, PS!

So come weekend, I took SY to see my regular optometrist and got her power inspected. Luckily it was not as bad as stated in the prescription note she brought back that day. The optometrist advised us to monitor her reading habit closely, because he told us that children's power went up very fast. He didn't recommend her to wear the glasses all the time, but only used it for reading and in the classroom. Yes, did I tell you that she didn't copy down the homework for the day because she couldn't see? I also asked the optometrist about pinholes glasses, but he told me not to waste money on that. I was not sure if it was really that ineffective, or that would mean less business for him. His reply was the same when I asked him about the Eye Exerciser. According to him, once the eyesight deteriorated, nothing would be able to help except prescription glasses. But the glasses would only aid the person's eyesight, it would not improve it. How sad and demotivating when I heard that.

Undeterred, I decided to call another good friend and asked for the Eye Exerciser agent's contact. Unfortunately, the agent told me that they were not selling the model that my friend's son was using anymore, but they had another model with similar function, though using a different approach. The model that my friend was using, was more popular, and I could search the info from the websites. It used moving cartoon images to exercise the child's eyes, so it could attract them to stay focussed throughout the exercise duration period. The model that the agent recommended to me used rays of lights to stimulate the eyes, besides having background music to train for better eyes/ears co-ordination. However, longer period of exercises were needed, in fact double the amount of time of the other model. The agent claimed that this model would be more effective because it didn't require the child to really focus for the 'magic' to work, rather as long as the child's eyes were exposed to the 'rays', it's as effective. Furthermore, it came with 2 programs, treatment for those having short-sightedness, and prevention for normal good eyesight people who just wanted to exercise the eyes.

The Eye Exerciser came with the eye chart as well. Can you see the 'rays'?

It was also claimed that this machine would be effective for kids up to 10 years old, with the power of less than 300. Even though so, adults could also benefit from this exercise too, not so much in terms of treatment, but rather for eye relaxation after a tiring day.

After discussion with hubby, we decided to buy the machine. There's nothing to lose because it came with a 30-day money back guarantee. Meaning if the child's eyesight didn't improve at all within this time frame, we got our money back. We went for the 'made-in-China' option because it's much cheaper, ~RM1k less compared to the  'made-in-China', but 'repackaged-in-Singapore' option. The agent shared some testimonials with us that a child with a power of 175 regained perfect eyesight after using it for only 2 weeks, but the child exercised as frequent as 3 times a day.

Since it was during the CNY break, I made sure SY exercised at least 2-3 times a day. Even after school reopened, she managed to squeeze in an average of 2-exercises per day. I wouldn't deny it was tough for her, since her homework was picking up too. Then one day, she came back from school and excitedly announced that she didn't need to wear the glasses anymore! She could see the board!

I was very happy for her, and I tested her eyesight a few days later. It was only 15-day after we got the machine. Indeed, her eyesight really improved 1 line. Come 30-days, she improved 1 more line. But I needed to make her do some palming to see that clearly, which I read about in the Bates Method. Her improvement was further confirmed when she can still see the board while she was seated at the last row in school. You see, their class had this sitting rotation where the children would be shifted back one row once every week and the rotation continued on. So the children got to sit from front to back throughout the school sessions.

I felt so relieved myself, and couldn't believe such miracle. She's one more line to perfect eye sight. However, this girl got lazy and so was her mother. We both felt complacent and reduced the exercises to once a day and sometimes none at all. Until one day, when I leisurely tested her on some car plate numbers and she told me she couldn't see it, I got worried and made her continue doing the exercises. At times, I doubted if her eyesight really improved, because it really sounded like a miracle to me. I did pray a lot for this to work, though and I knew deep down inside me that God has answered my prayers. But not all people can believe such miracle. They wanted something scientific to prove it. My doubts came when SY couldn't see some words that I can see. Some people suggested that maybe she memorized the eye-chart. But then, after slacking for quite awhile, I tested her again, and indeed, her eyesight dropped back to where we first started. Indeed, we both needed lots of discipline to continue working towards the perfect eye-sight.

I refrained from sharing about this earlier because I wanted to be certain that the Eye Exerciser really helped before I sang its praises. Now, I'm quite convinced of it's 'magic', but to really gain the full benefits from it, we really need to continue using it. There's really no short cut indeed. Besides that, I'm also starting her on some eyes supplement recently, because she had astigmatism as well, and nothing could cure that. But again, all these are pricey and took sometime to see its effect. I only started her on the eye supplements after I witness all the improvements, so I can safely conclude that the Eye Exerciser plus a good reading set-up did help. We actually revamped her study place, with the correct angle and amount of light as well as a proper desk/chair so that her eye level would be at the right distance.

And now, we need to continue the exercises.... Cheers to more healthy eyes!