Pinhole glasses are something of a phenomenon. They allow anyone with blurry vision to see clearly - instantly - without the need for corrective lenses.

You can test the concept right now. Make a fist and put it up to one eye, with the other eye closed. Open your fist just a tiny miniscule amount, just enough to create a small hole to peep through. Amazingly, you can now see clearly!

It's a bit miraculous, isn't it? What's more, there is lots of anecdotal evidence to show that wearing pinhole eyeglasses can improve your vision naturally in just 15 minutes each day. While optometrists have been reluctant to carry out the necessary clinical trials to verify this, my personal experience leaves me with little doubt that pinhole glasses can improve vision naturally with daily use.

In fact, I believe that pinholes are an excellent support to daily vision training,

Pinhole glasses, or stenopic glasses, are an alternative to conventional eyeglasses to improve vision. The shape and design are similar to normal frames, but the difference is in the lenses. Instead of a lens, pinhole glasses have a series of pinhole-size perforations in a sheet of plastic, and each hole allows only a small beam of light to enter the eye.

Pinhole glasses are worn like normal glasses. Instead of transparent glass or plastic for lenses, opaque black plastic "lenses" are used. Wearers see through small holes (pinholes) in the black plastic.

How the eye works:

Our ability to "see" starts when light reflects off an object at which we are looking and enters the eye. As it enters the eye, the light is unfocused. The first step in seeing is to focus the light rays onto the retina, which is the light sensitive layer found inside the eye. Once the light is focused, it stimulates cells to send millions of electrochemical impulses along the optic nerve to the brain. The portion of the brain at the back of the head (the visual cortex) interprets the impulses, enabling us to see the object.

Click on picture for larger size

Light, refraction and its importance.

Light entering the eye is first bent, or refracted, by the cornea -- the clear window on the outer front surface of the eyeball. The cornea provides most of the eye's optical power or light-bending ability.

After the light passes through the cornea, it is bent again -- to a more finely adjusted focus -- by the crystalline lens inside the eye. The lens focuses the light on the retina. This is achieved by the ciliary muscles in the eye changing the shape of the lens, bending or flattening it to focus the light rays on the retina.

This adjustment in the lens, known as accommodation, is necessary for bringing near and far objects into focus. The process of bending light to produce a focused image on the retina is called "refraction". Ideally, the light is "refracted," or redirected, in such a manner that the rays are focused into a precise image on the retina.

Click picture for larger eye chart

Most vision problems occur because of an error in how our eyes refract light. In nearsightedness (myopia) the light rays form an image in front of the retina. In farsightedness (hypermetropia), the rays focus behind the retina. In astigmatism, the curvature of the cornea is irregular, causing light rays to focus to more than one place so that a single clear image cannot be formed on the retina, resulting in blurred vision. As we age, we find reading or performing close-up activities more difficult. This condition is called presbyopia, and results from the crystalline lens being less flexible, and therefore less able to bend light.

How do Pinhole Glasses Work?

Pinhole glasses are a natural form of vision correction, that can never harm your eyesight.

In contrast, glasses and contact lenses only correct your vision superficially and are known to make your vision worse over time.

Contrary to their name, pinhole eyeglasses are not made of glass or corrective lenses. They are simply black plastic (or metal) with holes punched through where the lens would normally be.

So, how do pinhole glasses work?

In camera terms, pinhole glasses (also called spectacles, eyeglasses and sunglasses) reduce the effect of the eye's focusing errors by increasing optical depth of field by reducing aperture size

Pinhole glasses work based on the concept that each hole only allows a narrow beam of light through. This reduces the size of the optical spot not coming into perfect focus on your retina and increases your depth of field.

The unaided weak eye without Pinhole Glasses In a weak eye, light rays entering the eye's lens are not all focused onto the same place on the retina. For example rays a b f g, require more focusing by the lens to hit the same plane as rays c d e, which are nearer to the centre. Rays c d e are usually always in focus, regardless of the condition of the eye, and form a clear image on the retina. This clear image is flooded by the blurred image known as the "blur circle" formed by rays a b f g.

The unaided weak eye with Pinhole Glasses When the pinhole lens is used, only rays c d e are allowed to form an image on the retina and no blur circle is present to block the clear image. Consequently, by using a lens with multiple pinholes, many focused images form on the retina and a clear, natural image is seen. Also, no effort is required from the eye muscles, as the only rays entering the eye are already in focus. Hence there is a dramatic consequential, relaxing effect.

Just look through any pin-hole and you'll see what they mean. When you do this, blurred images become focused. This is because the amount of peripheral light rays (which are responsible for blurring) is reduced. With appropriately spaced multiple pin-holes, you'll get clear straight vision without the difficulty of concentrating on a single hole. Regular use of these special pinhole glasses helps exercise eye muscles and helps eyes relax at the end of a tiring day and thus has a beneficial effect. Particularly useful for those who spend a great deal of time looking at computer and/or TV screens, Pinhole Glasses help retrain your eye muscles, just as other forms of exercise retrain muscles elsewhere.More Info Here

What are Pinhole Glasses For?

1. Prevent Computer Vision Syndrome - if you use computers a lot you will recognize the signs: eye strain, dry eyes, fatigue, headache, blurry vision and double vision. This is all down to intense near point stress. Computer glasses can reduce the glare from the monitor, help relax the eyes, increase depth of field, and increase your natural focusing power (also known as accommodation).

• Because of the way pinholes minimize light to the eye, they work well as sunglasses or for extremely bright conditions. They also work well in reducing the visual stress of lengthy computer work

2. Relieve Eye Strain and Improve Your Vision - when I wear pinhole eyeglasses, I get a clear long distance focus without any eye strain. This is very supportive for reducing myopia. In fact, some users report that wearing pinhole glasses for just 15 minutes a day can noticeably improve your vision in 4 weeks. If you have farsightedness, you need simply read and write with pinholes on, while nearsighted people need just sit back and watch TV wearing pinholes.

Cataracts People with cataracts often see better through pinholes. A cataract doesn't allow light to enter the eye properly. Pinholes often improve the vision even with the existence of the cataracts.
Specialty Glasses

"When used for reading or other close work, pinholes reduce the amount of accommodation or focusing power that the eye must use to see clearly. There is an abundant amount of research that points the finger at excessive accommodation as the cause of acquired myopia.

It is clear that anything that can reduce this accommodative effort, including pinhole glasses, is a useful weapon in retaining good vision. It is for this reason, and the fact that those in the optical business want nothing to do with them, that we have decided to promote the use of pinholes on this website. These glasses could be a major tool in preventing myopia.

Its well proven Pinhole glasses make it easier to read and do other close-up work. They easily take the place of expensive prescriptions glasses, and they are durable enough to last a lifetime.

REMARKS OF AMERICAN DOCTORS ON THE INVENTION

Dr. Janet Goodrich(a distinguished eye-sight-correcting specialist)
" People with both close and distant blur and astigmatism are able to use micohole sight correctors."
Dr. David Michael(author of Visual Optics and Refraction)
" Microholes reduce aberrations and light scattering, isolate a favorable area of the damaged cornea and increase depth of focus."
Dr. Norman Bies(author of Correction of Subnormal Vision)
" The longer depth of focus obtained through microholes is well established --- patients enjoy a substantial increase in reading distance."