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Relief of Retinal Detachment
By Clara E. Crandall
Twenty-five years ago Samuel D. was struck in the left eye by a nail
thrown carelessly from a roof, and nineteen years later, while he was
chopping wood, a stick flew up, hitting him in the face and injuring
the same eye.
There were apparently no serious consequences from either of these
accidents, but about a year after the second one the patient noted
that his sight was getting dim. He consulted an oculist, thinking that
he probably required glasses, and was told that he had iritis. He was
given drops for this condition, and had been using them for a month
when, on May 12, 1916, while digging in the garden, he went suddenly
and completely blind in his left eye. The cause proved to be a
detached retina, and the oculist whom he consulted sent him to a
hospital where he underwent a thorough examination. His teeth were X-
rayed, and it was thought best to remove his tonsils. He was then kept
for eight weeks motionless, flat upon his back.
At the end of this time it was found that the retina, as a result of
the complete rest, had become partially reattached, and the vision
was, to some extent, improved. Hoping to improve it still further, the
doctors operated upon the eye, but without success. Two weeks later a
second operation was performed, after which the eye became totally
blind again. The condition of the left eye was complicated by a
traumatic cataract and senile cataract now developed in the right. He
was sent to another hospital in the autumn where he was again
thoroughly examined, but the doctors decided that nothing more could
be done for him.
And so, with one eye totally blind and cataract rapidly obscuring the
sight of the other, Samuel went back to his work as a gardener, trying
to resign himself to the dark future before him. From month to month
he struggled on but he found it increasingly difficult to do his work,
and felt that the time would soon come when he would have to give it
up. He suffered greatly from the strain of trying to see, and
complained of a constant yellow glare in the blind eye, together with
many other painful and unpleasant symptoms which, he said, interfered
with the sight of his right eye also.
From a time several years antedating his sudden attack of blindness
Samuel has been in the employ of my family. After he became blind I
went to Dr. Bates to have some eye troubles of my own treated, and,
hearing of the many remarkable cures that were effected by his method
of treatment, it occurred to me that he might be able to do something
for Samuel. It seemed to Samuel a forlorn hope, but as it was the only
one he allowed me to take him last May to Dr. Bates' clinic in the
Harlem Hospital.
At this time he was still without light perception in the left eye,
and with the right was unable to make out the smaller letters on the
test card when it was held a foot from his face, while even the
largest letters appeared grey and blurred. Dr. Bates told him that the
cataracts could be cured, and encouraged him to hope for improvement
in the condition of the detached retina also. He told him to leave off
the dark glasses he had been wearing, to palm as often and as long as
possible, to drink twelve glasses of water a day, to imagine and flash
the letters on the Snellen test card, and to imagine everything,
himself included, as swinging.
Samuel followed these instructions conscientiously, and in a short
time the strain and other distressing symptoms from which he had
previously suffered were greatly relieved. The sight of the blind eye
improved gradually. At the first visit he became able to distinguish
light, and later he saw the shadowy image of a moving object, at first
only when held close to the left side of his head, but afterward in
all parts of his field of vision. The perception of light in the blind
eye has grown steadily, and the vision has so improved that now, at a
distance of fourteen feet, he can see a moving object against a strong
light, while at the near-point he even thinks that he can sometimes
catch a glimpse of the large letter on the Snellen test card. With the
right he can read the smallest letters on the test card at the near-
point, and they appear black and distinct. At fourteen feet he can
flash them.
Among those who have benefited by Dr. Bates' remarkable discoveries,
there is no one who owes more to them than Samuel D.; for now, instead
of having to look forward to blindness and utter dependence on others,
he has been enabled to take up his life with renewed courage and
interest, confident that if he faithfully continues the treatment he
will eventually obtain good vision in both eyes.
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Blindness Number
Better Eyesight
A monthly magazine devoted to the prevention and cure of imperfect
sight without glasses
Copyright, 1921, by the Central Fixation Publishing Company
Editor—W. H. Bates, M.D.
Publisher—Central Fixation Publishing Co.
$2.00 per year, 20 cents per copy
300 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Vol. IV - March 1921 - No. 3
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