Lots of claims, little evidence of effectiveness.

I haven't heard of any herbal component of this program.

More on eye exercises and "training".

Two herbs that have traditionally been used by the Chinese for eye health are Gogi berries (Lycium barbarum) and Chrysanthemum flowers. I have frequently been served these two together made as an infused tisane by my Chinese herbalist friends. The Gogi berries are a good source of vitamins A and C. They have some interesting effects with insulin and blood sugar. I suspect that their benefits to the eyes are probably related to better reduced insulin resistance and the vitamin A content. The Chrysanthemum flowers contain some flavonoids or similar molecules and some of these may act as anti-inflammatory molecules.

There is a product that is a transdermal patch set that is intended to support the eyes called Oculax. Although it is not marketed in the US for eyesight improvement, the original study in China with 630 people showed improvement in by at least two lines on the eye chart by more than 90 percent of participants. This was conducted at Beijing 301 Hospital and Tianjin 272 Hospital. A further study in the US of 220 ethnic Chinese people showed similar results, with the greatest effectiveness in the age groups under 60. (private communication with Dr. Liqin Sun). I don't know the citation for Chinese language publication.

They are sold as eye relaxing patches in the US. Probably this would be useful to those of us who use computer terminals and televisions a lot.

Richard

Those with computer terminals will have difficulty finding out anything about Oculax, as a PubMed scientific literature search (which includes foreign language publications) turns up nothing on it. A Google search reveals that Oculax is the name of the Osaka City (Japan) University women's lacrosse team, about which one web page says:

"Personality everyday life to be pleasant the Lacrosse it has done with the member who overflows."

I think this loses something with translation. Or is Oculax also a diuretic? :)

The See Clearly Method is an expensive set of exercises to "cure" myopia based on the ideas of William Bates (circa 1890) that do not work. If you want to try the Bates method without spending $300, borrow his book or Huxley's "Better Vision without Glasses" (published in the 1940's and still in print)based on Bates' writings from your local library.

The See Clearly Method people are currently facing a consumer fraud lawsuit by the state of IOWA.

http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/latest_news/releases/aug_2005/vit810.html

See the link below for more detail about Bates.

I wonder whether the Oculax patch is simply scoplomine, an anti cholinergic drug used to prevent motion sickness that is available as a patch. It has a side effect of relaxing accommodation.

Accommodation is the process of flexing the lens inside the eye which allows for clear near vision. In some young (under 35) people, the lens may be always slightly flexed, about 0.50 to 0.75 D which causes "pseudomyopia", or about 0.50 to 0.75D of nearsightedness. Wearing the patch would relax this, which would cause about a two line improvement in acuity.

Here is a link that might be useful: More Detail about Bates Method

If the Oculax patch works to improve distance acuity by slowing the nerve impulse to the internal eye muscles that flex the lens (most likely explanation), it will make reading more difficult since flexing of the lens is what allows humans to see clearly at near. With the nerve impulse to the muscles impaired, any Oculax user would have to strain harder to overcome the drug effect and still see clearly at near.

So, lundpix, if you were thinking of using it to relieve eye strain on the computer, you will find it makes the strain worse. Drug store +1.00 reading glasses used for computer work will relax the lens and muscles while keeping the print clear. (But they will blur distance while reading or on the computer)