User reviews

Introduction

Although a product might not have much scientific basis, let us keep a cautious optimism and approach everything with an open mind. Judge purely by results. A method might work. Even with flawed or even non-existent logic, it just might work. Presented below are some feedback and personal accounts by visitors to the Vision Improvement Site. Do spend the time to read through them, especially if you are contemplating purchasing any products.

Experiences with Vision Freedom

Kindly contributed by J.L., Sherling (New Jersey, USA)

"Your web site asks if anybody has had experiences with Vision Freedom. I tried it. I spent maybe three weeks doing the exercises 2 hours a day and another three doing them 30 minutes a day. I was never able to actually do the exercises properly though and never saw results. The program's creator (Brian Severson) wasn't helpful after several queries so I asked for my money back (and I did get the refund for all but shipping cost).

"The exercise time only counts if you are able to clear print so unless you can do that as described in his booklet, spending more time on it isn't productive. I've taken a few stabs at it since and still have never been able to clear print.

"On the other hand, I've had little or no success with just about everything else I've tried so far (started in October 1997). I'm more aware of what I'm seeing, and I go without glasses/contacts as much as possible, but no overall improvement has been noticed. "I'm approximately -5 left and -3.75 right..."

Kindly contributed by D., Dawson (USA)

"I liked the book and system because it did include so much information starting with definitions of the problems and what steps to take to correct it, but the problem is it's too expensive for many people who might benifit from it."

Kindly contributed by Raimund Arztmann (Richardson, TX USA) - 20/3/98

"I am a 36 years old Swiss living for a few years in Texas. My vision became bad during my studies for mechanical engineering when I was in my early 20s. I bought the first pair of glasses at age 21.

"My first attempt to improve my vision started in 1994 when I tried for weeks to improve on a program by Lisette Scholl that uses Bates' methods and relaxation techniques. It did not work. In the second half of last year I tried the same again and searched the internet for additional help and information. That was when I came across the Vision Freedom system. I read the booklet immediately and started the training.

"When I could trigger an autofocus and clear up print for the first time after about 2 weeks or so I knew that this was going to work. It took me another few weeks without good progress. At this time I concentrated on my astigmatism and worked mainly with a astigmatism chart (astigmatism circles) with a few words in fine print underneath to clear up, so I knew always how my astigmatism was doing by glancing at the circles and not pushing the print too far out of focus. At this stage good light was very important. Later on I rather read newspapers and books clearing up print as I read.

"However, I did not experience print clearing so nicely in those 10s, 20s etc. time intervals as described in the instructions. I would always hold the print in a distance far enough and clear it up sooner or later. During each session I push the print far out of focus for a few times and clear it up after several minutes. Usually it would clear up and disappear again after the first blink but the eyes keep working, that is the important part.

"My eye chart hangs in a hall way with rather bad but always constant light conditions. For weeks I stuck with the first three top lines from 3 feet. Later it took only a few days to clear the rest down to the 20/20 line, an almost sudden progress. Now I can read the top 3 lines from 6 feet and clear up a few more lines on a good day. I know that if I keep working my eye muscles will get stronger and finally stabilize on normal vision.

"I started the training by December 15, 1997 and worked 1 to 2 hours per day, seven days per week since then (3 months). My vision is improving! During the last 3 weeks I made tremendous progress. I expect to reach my goal (20/20 vision of course) in another 8 weeks or so. I will keep working no matter what. My prescription at the beginning was (-2.75 / -3.00) and some astigmatism."

Kindly contributed by Graham Spencer - 26/3/98

"Thank you for taking the time to produce a good website. Thought you may like to know my experience with the Vision Freedom system and share it with others. My prescription before starting the program was aprox -11 dioptres in both eyes which includes 2 dioptres of astigmatism in each (left is worse than right). Pretty bad and I got like that since starting to wear glasses at the age of 12. The level of correction has increased over the years until about 15 months ago I decided I must do some thing positive to stop the rot. I work in the computer industry and have for all of my working life.

"Lesson number one computer screens, PC Mac, dumb terminal what ever, ruin your eyes, make no mistake about this, I am living proof ! I am clearly more prone than most people but everyone suffers to some extent. Take regular breaks from the screen, use a very good quality monitor and look away in to the distance often.

"The VF course seemed like it was worth the $99 gamble compared to paying another $300 for a decent set of glasses (ie Rodenstock frames, high index lenses, lens coating) that I pay out about every 2-3 years. Does it work ? Yes it does but the worse your eye sight is to start with the more difficult it is to get the exercise system to kick in. It has taken my 9 months to get my right to respond and my left has only recently started to work ie after 18 months. The blurb you see on the VF web page about 6-8 weeks makes me laugh, I assume that if you are only slightly myopic it may work that quickly but it has taken a long time for my eyes to respond. Brian Severson does warn you about this but I think his estimations on the timing are way out. But remember I am very myopic indeed.

"Part of the program is to spend as much time as possible NOT wearing your glasses and when you are very myopic that is extremely difficult to do, what can a -11D myope do without his glasses ? Nothing

"It is very very difficult to do anything but I try and manage at least 30 mins of glasses-off every day. Anyone who has a high prescription will understand.

"So how has my eyesight improved, my dominant right eye can now read the 20/40 line on the eye chart at 12 feet BUT NOT ALWAYS, the amount of time that I get this massive improvement in my right eye is increasing all the time. it starts with the odd blink improving the vision and then it disappears and it improves so that now every other blink brings this huge improvement in my right eye. It took a year to realise that my left eye was not responding and I now exercise that separately to help it catch up. My dominant right eye was doing all the exercise !

"Glasses off I can now do many more activities than I could, swimming with my kids is fantastic, I can read the TV subtitles glasses off at 15 feet, the strong colour contrast helps there. "I have a long way to go get permanent 20/20 in both eyes but this system does seem to work for me and has given a feeling of control over my own vision that I have never had before and I think that is a very important factor.

"I do the exercises when ever I can, maybe a total of 2-3 hours per week, a big mistake is to hit it 2 hours a day and kill your enthusiasm early on. Take it easy, and like the man says in the little VF book, DO NOT TRY AND READ BLURRED PRINT. Trying to get good exercise time is difficult, 8-10 hours a day at a screen, the drive to and from work, domestic life with 2 kids does not leave me much time when my eyes aren't tired and I can do the exercise. You can not do this system if your eyes are tired as they will not respond to the exercise.

"I expect all kinds of eye professionals to scoff at the VF system, my own optician did, I am very much looking forward to my next eye test (Oct'98) to measure the exact improvement. 28 years of wearing glasses might take a few years to fix with VF but at least I am in control and I can make it better using the VF system. I can measure my improvement at home with eye charts provided in the kit. One thing I can now do again is read books without my glasses on (6-8 inches from my face) , before VF I could not see any print at all no matter how close I held the book."

If you have managed to finish reading this tediously long page, you must really be interested. If you have any stories about vision improvement to tell everyone, please tell me via email.