What the EYE doctors say...

Much as we love'em and praise'em, few eye doctors are familiar with light therapy modulation and thus our first public review was 'not' a good one. Yet look at "Conscious Seeing" below by yet another optometrist.

Much as we exercise our First Amendment rights, we encourage ALL to exercise their First Amendment rights as well.

We here at New Hope Therapy will print-it-all thus following John Adam's advice to 'let all be spoken as the truth shall prevail'.

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"The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom."

-- Lady Bird Johnson

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Louise Sclafani, O.D. speaking as president of the Illinois Optometric Assocaition in her column "IOA President's Column" in July 2006 was responding to an article published June 13, 2006 in the Chicago Tribune. I shall quote her with commentary afterward.

She was troubled by an article that described:

"an optometrists own particular brand of optometry that is advertised as vision therapy. albeit not standard therapy, prescribing glasses while the patient's eyes are closed and asking about the patient's unresolved issues......I find it insulting to our profession when these therapies are practised under the guise of optometry and that a respected publication would emphasize this uncommon and unusual aspect and neglect the many accepted and proven aspects that we have fought long and hard for. The profession of optometry has changed significantly over the past 50 years......Our treatment is based on science and sound judgment, not emotions and psychoanalysis. Although vision therapy and rehabilitation are critical areas, it should not be performed without evaluating the ocular health of a patient to determine if the condition has any organic cause. Our profession has its roots in improving vision however not at the expense of missing eye disease. It is imperative that the public be aware that there is a standard of care for our profession and there may be certain practitioners who do not comply with this. It is irresponsible to mislead the public regarding the objectives of our field."

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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's chartacter, give him power."
--Abraham Lincoln

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FIRST, we are in agreement with Dr. Sclafani that Light Therapy is 'not' optometry and that the Chicago Tribune is a "respected publication" and we thank them for informing the public about "this uncommon and unusual aspect". Dr. Sclafani implies that the form of light therapy refered to in the article is unscientific. We are aware that our understanding of the effects of light are just beginning to be studied and accepted. For example, people not getting enough light (especially during the winter season) can become depressed. (For those who wish to read more about light, check out any books by John Ott.)

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"Educate and inform
the whole mass of the people...
They are the only sure reliance
for the preservation of our liberty."
--Thomas Jefferson

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And yes it's true that the public needs to know about "the many accepted and proven aspects that optometrists have fought long and hard for" and we would encourage the Chicago Tribune to use their vast resources to that end. We here at New Hope Therapy are certainly doing our part to promote the optometric profession but to Dr. Sclafani we say 'it is the uncommon and unusual' that gets NO coverage whereas optometry does get occasional coverage as well as having associations to promote optometric care.

Having never met Dr. Sclafani, I am sure that she cares about people and especially their having good eyesight. We have never met an optometrist not dedicated to saving and preserving sight! And we are not the least bit upset with her as we believe that she truly believes that, in mother-hen-like fashion, she is defending good eye care.

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"Error of opinion may be tolerated
where reason is left free to combat it."
--Thomas Jefferson

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HOWEVER, we would like to take this opportunity to educate her and other eye care professionals who may confuse Light Therapy with what eye doctors do. If we used sound therapy it would enter into the body through the ears but that would not make us ear doctors! We will respond to some of her remarks below:

SHE SAYS: "...an optometrists own particular brand of optometry..."

HE SAYS: an "I" exam (although a play on words) is 'not' an EYE exam nor any brand of optometry. It is a form of 'light therapy'.

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SHE SAYS: "...prescribing glasses while the patient's eyes are closed and asking about the patient's unresolved issues..."

HE SAYS: No optometrist fits lenses with closed eyes so it's not optometry! Optometry measures eyes, the distance they can see and the strength of lens placed in front of them (opti = eye & metry = measure). Light therapy involves the 'subjective' choice of lenses to enhance physical & emotional well-being.

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SHE SAYS: I find it insulting to our profession when these therapies are practised under the guise of optometry

HE SAYS: You repeat so I repeat as I want to firmly proclaim that the commonality ends in that both systems use lenses. Light therapy is not eye care! Nature has decreed that the eye is the receptor of light and thus is the point-of-input for light much the same the ear is the point-of-input for sound and the mouth is the receptor for medicine and thus is the point-of-input for pills.

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SHE SAYS: there are "many accepted and proven aspects that we have fought long and hard for. The profession of optometry has changed significantly over the past 50 years.'

HE SAYS: We Agree! Optometry has come a long way and can do more than ever to preserve and restore your sight. Your eyes are precious and your sight priceless. Don't take them for granted. Visit your eye doctor regularly. (See the EYE CARE PROVIDERS DEFINED page for the definition of 'regularly').

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SHE SAYS: "Our profession has its roots in improving vision however not at the expense of missing eye disease."

HE SAYS: We Agree! And in as much as we do not provide the eye care of an eye doctor we encourage you to visit yours!

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SHE SAYS: "It is imperative that the public be aware that there is a standard of care for our profession and there may be certain practitioners who do not comply with this. It is irresponsible to mislead the public regarding the objectives of our field."

HE SAYS: We Agree! Optometry is an honorable profession which is setting standards of care, as it should, and as has all other branches of medicine.

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We want to publically thank optometrists who are so conveniently located in all the department stores and malls for the sole purpose of providing you eye care so don't let too much time pass between your visits.

In closing, we want to point out a few choice words for the benefit of us all. Dr. Sclafani uses phrases such as:

"albeit not standard therapy"

"uncommon and unusual aspect and neglect the many accepted and proven aspects"

"Our treatment is based on science and sound judgment, not emotions and psychoanalysis

At one point in time past, much of what medicine considers scientific today was considered UN-scientific to say the least!

For example, in the 1850's, Vienna was considered the most advanced medical center of its' day. Dr. Semmelweiss ran a maternity ward there and 17% of women admitted died.

One day the old doc had a cRaZy idea; 'What if we are carrying an invisible 'something' from the autopsy room into the live patients on the ward?'

So he ordered all doctors to wash their hands upon leaving the autopsy room and they are annoyed with him to say the least! But the old doc just kept watching and noted that the death rate went down!

'Well what if we are carrying an invisible 'something' from the sicker patients to the healthier ones?' So he then issued the order for doctors to wash hands between patients as well. And in spite of the fact that the death rate continued to fall, they now ostracized him for 'calling them dirty'. In fact, his contemporaries, including his wife, believed he was losing his mind and seeing imaginary things and thus, they had him committed to an insane asylum in 1865. After all, they couldn't see anything therefore all that he said was considered the rantings of a crazy man! He died there only 14 days later, possibly after being severely beaten by guards.

Semmelweis' practice only earned widespread acceptance years after his death, when Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease which offered a theoretical explanation for Semmelweis' findings. Semmelweis is today considered a pioneer of antiseptic procedures and every 5 year old now knows about germs and dirty hands even when they don't look dirty thanks to Semmelweiss.

Simply put; here are the facts:

1--by merely washing their hands the death rate in the maternity ward plummeted from 17% to 1%.

2--the established scientific community attributed the deaths to such things as the mis-alignment of the planets and overly spiced food!

3--every 5 year old today knows what the scientific community did not know less than 150 years ago and that is to 'wash your hands, you have germs on them!'

Ole Doc Semmelweiss stumbled upon the concept of germs which, being too small to see, the scientific community of his day didn't believe in! They too said that they only believed in that which was "based on science and sound judgment" yet the scientific community of today sees the one of yester-year as barbaric. I wonder what the future scientific community will say about some of what we are doing today?

Well, here's a clue......

“When people tried to treat infectious disease 150 years ago, they had no clue what the cause was – namely that there were these nasty micro organisms that caused the disease. They were just shooting in the dark. That’s what we still do. Doctors of the future will look on our medicine with ”bemusement and horror”.......they’ll sit around saying ‘Can you believe they gave poisons to people to kill their cancers?’ And that is the reward we’ll get – we will be considered medieval.”

-- Eric Lander in 2005, founder of the Whitehead Institute / MIT Center for Genome Research, a Rhodes scholar and one of the country's leading molecular geneticists researching in cancer

~~~ All we ask of folks is to keep an open mind! ~~~

"You can't trust your eyes
if your imagination is out of focus."
- Mark Twain

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...for those with an open mind; read on...

"Conscious Seeing- Transforming Your Life Through Your Eyes" - Dr. Roberto Kaplan, O.D. practioner and esteemed professor of optometry

Go to: http://www.talktotara.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=68&osCsid=be0ec636e83bf 3ec399b95c340d04444

Click on: FREE to Listen Now while visiting TalktoTara.com

Please Note: We and Dr. Kaplan have never met nor know one another and work independently. One of our satisfied clients sent us this info.

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" Most of the tyrants, despots, and dictators
are sincerely convinced
that their rule is beneficial for the people,
that theirs is government for the people."

--Ludwig von Mises