Article by Ey@el

Original en français

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Hold on, don't you go assuming I'm into psychedelic trips. Nope. I'd just like to share an awesome discovery I made while surfing: pinhole glasses. Mine cost me less than two euros (some serious grounds for upheavals on planet Oculus 2000, assuredly, and what with getting called a charlatan except I have nothing to sell and the object of disinformation offence is even cheaper than a lottery ticket).

I'm punching holes, tiny little holes
Tiny little holes, over and over again
Second class holes
First class holes

"Le Poinçonneur des Lilas", Serge Gainsbourg (1958)

The concept is simple: whenever a person with visual impairment such as myopia, hypermetropia, presbyopia or astigmatism looks through a hole, their vision becomes clearer — the beam of light reaching the eye is narrowing, thus widening the focus range and reducing the blurred area on the retina. You can experiment at home by creating a tiny pinhole-sized tunnel with your fingers and look through it without your glasses on. Both the Eskimo and Filipino peoples, as well as the Aztecs, had invented the forerunners of our modern glasses — viewing slots made of mussels or animal bones to get a clearer view of their surroundings.

It's the camera obscura principle and the aperture used for that is called a “pinhole”. It allows individuals with visual impairment to have a vision 60% clearer when looking through it than without any corrective device.

I, for one, use pinhole glasses against presbyopia (far-sightedness). Since my vision varies according to my health condition, stress, eye strain, lightening conditions, and because I'm not the regular user I should be (doing my best), I wouldn't say my close vision is perfect (far from it), yet it's been about five years now and I still can read without corrective lenses. Whenever I'm struggling with small print (i.e. such as recommended dosage on homeopathic medicines), I put my pinhole glasses on and everything's fine.

You need to know that, unlike corrective lenses which sort of serve as crutches eyes that lost their ability to focus clearly, looking through pinholes stimulates and strengthens oculomotor nerves and muscles. I must say I've also practiced (but not on a regular basis) eye yoga recommended by Ayurveda medicine and basic foundation of the famous Bates Method.

Not the Bates as in Norman, the psychopathic murderer from the Psycho movie, but rather Bates as in William — Dr. William Bates, an American ophtalmologist of the past century who designed a method to  train eyes based on psychology, which was later popularised by Aldous Huxley. Without entering the specifics here, if you've never heard of it, it's for the same reason as many other similar things: it would hurt a whole juicy business. So if you visit Wikipedos, the Matrix cyclopedia, you may expectedly read that it has no real scientific basis, and you'll also find articles galore by medics and healthcare professionals condemning the desinformation — nothing new under the Propaganda sun. If you're still skeptical, I would like to point out though that the Bates Method was recommended to me by an orthoptist in addition to the specific custom exercises to train my eyes.

Besides, I'm not selling anything. Neither do I ask you to get rid of your glasses. Still I'm advising you to have a serious try and see (no pun intended) what happens. When you constantly wear corrective lenses (especially if you're far-sighted), you weaken your muscles and in time, you'll always need stronger ones (bonanza).

I won't expose the Bates Method here either (there are many detailed websites and books available), but paired with the regular use (15-30 minutes a day) of pinhole glasses  — while watching TV, working on your computer, reading a good book, etc. (however BEWARE not to use them will driving or walking in the street as they restrict your vision scope), overall you should acquire a better eyesight with or without corrective lenses.

Another benefit of pinhole glasses is that you can also use them as sunglasses to your great advantage since they reduce the amount of sunlight while retaining its healing quality (full solar spectrum). Perfect to watch tonight's solar eclipse.

Ey@el

#Polaroid Android