Eye Exercises for Myopia

Vision therapy--exercises for the eye--has been used successfully for years to treat conditions such as lazy eye in children, to help athletes improve their sports vision, and for problems such as eye strain from working at the computer. But can eye exercises improve nearsightedness, also known as myopia?

The Claims

• Programs like the See Clearly Method advertise they can improve vision and even eliminate the need for glasses and contacts. Research doesn't back up these claims. In 2006, an Iowa court halted all sales of the See Clearly Method and ordered the company to pay $200,000 in restitution.

  Since then, other programs have popped up that claim you can improve your vision by exercising your eyes. The exercises involve performing eye movements--up and down, side to side and around in circles. This might have some effect on the muscles of your eyes. The programs instruct you to do these exercises for up to 30 minutes every day.

The Proof

• According to the Mayo Clinic, there's no evidence eye exercises can improve vision.

  Nearsightedness is caused by a flaw in the shape of the eyeball itself. The eyeball is too long and light rays can't properly focus on the retina. If you have astigmatism, the surface of the eye has an irregularity that distorts the light focusing on the retina. No exercise can change the shape of your eyeball or the surface of your cornea.