Presbyopia Reduction Chart Instructions

This post is also available in: French

By Ray Gottlieb, O.D., Ph.D.

Purposes : To increase near focusing, converging and diverging power.

Equipments:	Presbyopia Reduction Chart download PDF file
Set-up:	Hold the chart at normal reading distance. Keep it level. Don’t strain. Keep breathing and blinking. Take frequent breaks and palm. Find your best near acuity (without your reading glasses) by finding the smallest print size you can read.
Convergence Procedure:	Converge to fuse the two top dots into three. Look at the middle dot. Be aware of depth – the center paragraph should float awayfrom you. Move your eyes from the middle dot to the word “Cross.” Move to the smaller print down the page while still converging the targets. Are the smaller letters clearer than before converging? Relax for the print clear as you converge. Blink, breath and see the whole chart. Clear near vision in one eye at a time. Move your converged eyes to the left paragraphs on the second line. The right eye sees the dot on the print and the left sees just the print. Is the text visible through the dot or do you ‘suppress’ the left eye? To learn to see the print behind the dot: cover and uncover one eye several times, shine a flashlight beam on the obscured print, cast a shadow on the dotted paragraph, or shake the chart. Practice to make the print immediately visible and clear. Try this with the dot on the right side and at the ends of the smaller lines below. Clear smaller print by converging more. Fixate a pen at 6″ to fuse the paragraph next to the adjacent paragraph. Notice the three dots change to four. Follow the directions in the third line of paragraphs for more convergence. Change lighting – clear small print in bright, then in less light. Work at your edge. Reduce chart distance while trying to keep the print clear. Work at your edge. The letters at the top of the page are like a visual acuity chart. One of the lines should appear in depth. Look carefully to find the hidden message.
Divergence Procedure:	Relax your eyes. Look over the page and notice the three dots below. Or hold the page at your nose with the top two dots just before your eyes. See one big dot. Keep eyes steady (don’t converge). Slowly move the page out to see three dots. See the depth — the middle paragraphs should float off the page towards you. (Depth awareness is the secret to holding the divergence) Repeat above steps while diverging.
Keys to Improvement:	Fusing to make three dots and seeing 3D. Moving the page and walking around without losing fusion. Clearing smaller and smaller print with less and less light at nearer distances. Seeing print through all the side dots. Converging separated paragraphs on the same line. Seeing clearly at near without correction or needing to converge.