Heal Your Vision Naturally | Dr. Bryce Appelbaum, OD

Summary

Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark
Episode: Heal Your Vision Naturally | Dr. Bryce Appelbaum, OD
Date: April 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this eye-opening episode, Alex Clark welcomes Dr. Bryce Appelbaum, an innovative neuro-optometrist and founder of My Vision First, for an in-depth discussion on natural and holistic ways to improve vision at any age. Dr. Appelbaum explains how vision is deeply connected to brain function, demystifies common myths about eyesight decline, explores the environmental and lifestyle factors affecting our vision, and offers practical, actionable steps (including at-home exercises) for maintaining and even improving eye health. The conversation delves into vision issues related to aging, childhood development, screen fatigue, concussions, and debunking pervasive eye health myths.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Vision vs. Eyesight: A Crucial Distinction

• Eyesight: The clarity of what we see (e.g., reading an eye chart); typically treated with glasses or contacts.
• Vision: How the brain processes, organizes, and assigns meaning to the information the eyes receive; “Vision problems are brain problems.”
  Quote:

  "Eyesight and vision are two different things...Vision, though, is entirely brain. Vision problems are brain problems and there are solutions for brain problems with something like vision therapy or vision performance training." — Dr. Appelbaum [00:55]

2. Is Vision Decline Inevitable?

• Aging and Vision: Age-related changes (e.g., need for reading glasses, cataracts) are common but not always “normal”—many are preventable or delayable through a proactive approach.
• Proactive vs. Reactive Care: Most eye care is reactive (wait for decline, then intervene), but Dr. Appelbaum advocates for proactive strategies: vision training, nutrition, and environmental adjustments.
• Glasses as a Crutch?: Early use, especially in kids and under 40, can be a sign of underdeveloped visual function rather than a permanent deficit.
  Quote:

  "If we can't control our eyes and their ability to focus, we can't control our mind and its ability to focus." — Dr. Appelbaum [05:17]

3. Development, Genetics, and Childhood Vision

• Vision is Developed, Not Fixed: No one is born with the ability to read or see in 3D—it’s all developed through sequential milestones. Skipping developmental steps (like crawling) can lead to coordination challenges.
  Quote:

  "Vision is entirely developed. No one's born with the ability to read or to use their eyes to track, to converge, to focus, or even with the ability to see in 3D." — Dr. Appelbaum [04:12]

4. Environmental and Lifestyle Factors

• Screen Time Pandemic: Excessive screen use, low outdoor exposure, and being sedentary are major risk factors for rapidly increasing myopia (nearsightedness) and other vision problems. Statistic:

  "When we landed on the moon in 1969, a fourth of America was nearsighted. Right now it’s about 43–44% and climbing...by 2050, 50% of the world is going to be nearsighted." — Dr. Appelbaum [10:26]

• Outdoor Exposure: Two hours a day outdoors is protective, especially for children.
• Light Quality & Circadian Health: Blue light at night (junk light) disrupts sleep cycles, impacts childhood puberty onset, and overall eye/mental health. Quote:

  "Getting two to ten minutes of sunlight first thing in the morning is so critical for setting our circadian rhythm." — Dr. Appelbaum [13:18]

5. Common Myths & Outdated Eye Health Advice

• LASIK Surgery: Should be a stable, lasting solution; regression often signals underlying functional problems, not LASIK failure itself. Quote:

  "LASIK shouldn't go after 10 years...the ones who do are usually the ones in a sedentary lifestyle on screens." — Dr. Appelbaum [22:27]

• Glasses Prescription Changes: Needing stronger glasses every year is not normal; indicates a functional visual imbalance, not just aging.
• Preservative-filled Eye Drops: Many commercial eye drops contain harmful preservatives. Opt for preservative-free and identify root causes of dry eyes (nutrition, gut health, inflammation).

6. Supplements, Nutrition, and Natural Interventions

• Key Supplements: Omega-3s, lutein, zeaxanthin, glutathione (gluterol — transdermal spray), and carbon-60 (C60) for antioxidant support.
• Top Eye-Healthy Foods: Eggs (lutein, choline), citrus fruits, leafy greens, and oily fish (SMASH: sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon, halibut). Quote:

  “Eggs have lutein in the yolk and choline. Lutein is really great...as an antioxidant to help slow down and offset some of the age related changes” — Dr. Appelbaum [28:34]

• Carrots Are Overrated: The “carrots for eyesight” myth is historical propaganda (see WWII origins).

7. Vision Training & At-Home Exercises

• Eye Push-Ups: A basic exercise to build focusing flexibility and stamina (instructions at [41:20]).
• Vision Therapy: Effective for issues like lazy eye, strabismus, reading problems, and post-concussion rehab; akin to “physical therapy for the eyes and brain.” Quote:

  “Vision exercises work. You have to do the right work in the right place for the right reasons.” — Dr. Appelbaum [40:58]

8. Vision & Hidden Problems (ADHD and More)

• Functional Vision Issues Are Often Misdiagnosed: Children (and adults) may be labeled with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, learning issues, or even motion sickness which are, in reality, rooted in treatable vision processing deficits. Statistic:

  “15 of the 18 most common diagnostic criteria for ADHD or ADD also have visual components from hidden vision problems.” — Dr. Appelbaum [39:28]

9. Concussions and Vision

• Concussions Affect Vision: Even without direct eye trauma, vision is usually impacted after head injuries due to the intense brain-eye connection. Symptoms may include light sensitivity, brain fog, headaches, sensory overload.
• Vision Rehabilitation: Can restore or even enhance function after a concussion; regular eye exams don’t test for this. Story:
  • Dr. Appelbaum shares the case of “Lisa,” a teacher who fully recovered from post-concussive dysfunction with vision training, dietary changes, and supplements ([58:18]).

10. Finding and Working with a Functional Vision Specialist

• How to Find Help: Use covd.org to find board-certified doctors in vision development.
• Online Training: Dr. Appelbaum offers ScreenFit.com—a home vision training program—with a discount for listeners ("code Alex") ([62:21]).
• Intensive In-Office Programs: Week-long bootcamps available for complex cases, with follow-up programs.

11. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Seek 20-happy, not 20/20.”

  “I'm a big proponent of seeking 20 happy rather than 2020. Meaning the ideal prescription for most people is the weakest lens possible, if any.” — Dr. Appelbaum [09:10]

• On Screen Culture and Children:

  “No developing brain has the capacity to handle the screen time that's being asked of it.” — Dr. Appelbaum [16:01]

• On Surgery for Lazy Eye/Strabismus:

  “Best case scenario with a strabismus eye muscle surgery is a cosmetic cure. Never is there a functional cure.” — Dr. Appelbaum [47:40]

• On Modern Vision Care:

  “We need to at least recognize that vision likely is a piece of the puzzle and go get your vision checked with a functional vision evaluation.” — Dr. Appelbaum [66:30]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Topic/Segment | |-------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–04:00 | Dr. Appelbaum introduces vision training, difference between eyesight and vision | | 04:49–05:35 | Reading glasses as a crutch, focusing system, mental focus | | 10:26–11:46 | Rise of myopia, screen time pandemic, environmental causes | | 13:18–15:12 | Circadian rhythms, sunlight, blue light, and children’s health | | 21:03–22:27 | Myths about prescription changes, LASIK durability concerns | | 25:18–26:57 | Dangers of preservatives in eye drops, eye-gut axis | | 28:34–29:20 | Top vision-supportive foods (eggs, citrus, leafy greens, oily fish) | | 37:35–40:48 | Hidden vision issues misdiagnosed as ADHD, motion sickness, learning challenges | | 41:20–43:53 | Eye push-ups demo: at-home focusing exercise | | 47:40–49:36 | Lazy eye, strabismus, why muscle surgery isn’t a functional solution | | 56:00–58:18 | Concussions, vision rehab, real-life recovery story | | 62:21–63:08 | Online vision training (ScreenFit), at-home program, discount for listeners | | 66:30–67:16 | Dr. Appelbaum’s remedy for a sick culture: make functional vision a routine health check |

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Actionable Takeaways

• Understand that worsening vision is not inevitable; proactive, brain-based approaches can delay or improve many issues.
• Prioritize outdoor time and minimize screen exposure, especially for children.
• Choose preservative-free eye drops and address root causes of dryness through nutrition (especially omega-3s).
• Use basic exercises like “eye push-ups” ([41:20]) to maintain and stimulate focusing ability.
• If dealing with learning, attention, or unexplained performance issues (academic, sports, etc.), consider a functional vision evaluation.
• After any concussion, pursue a functional vision assessment regardless of normal MRI/CT findings.
• Seek personalized, brain-based vision therapies instead of routine prescription escalation or surgery for functional problems.
• Find board-certified vision development professionals at covd.org or use online programs like screenfit.com (Code “Alex” for discount).

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Conclusion

This episode blends practical health advice with scientific insight, reframing vision care as a lifelong, holistic journey deeply tied to brain health, lifestyle, and the modern environment. Dr. Appelbaum’s approach empowers listeners to question traditional narratives about vision decline and consider overlooked root causes behind many "normal" struggles. If you feel stuck with your own or your child’s eyesight, there’s genuine hope—and practical, science-based steps—you can start today.

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[For more info: Dr. Appelbaum on Instagram (@drbryceappelbaum), My Vision First, Screenfit.com (code ALEX). Find certified specialists at covd.org.]

Transcript

[A]

You're an eye doctor and you believe that most people can actually heal or improve their eyesight naturally.

[B]

Any brain at any age has the ability to enhance and optimize their vision. That early signs of up close being blurry. That's the critical time where if you jump in and get proactive and do specific vision training exercises, you can at least kick that can down the road for a while and in many cases not be as dependent on glasses or not even need them. There are certain supplements that have been shown to support cataract reversal, gluterol, carbon 60. Eyesight and vision are two different things. Think of eyesight as the ability to see. That's what glasses are for. Contacts. Vision though is entirely brain. Vision problems are brain problems and there are solutions for brain problems with something like vision therapy or vision performance training. I mean there's so much more to vision than just 2020 eyesight. Foreign.

[A]

Did you know it may actually be possible to improve your vision naturally and that a lot of what we think is normal eye decline could be preventable? This is my first Culture Apothecary episode all about eye health and we're covering everything. Dry eye, blurred vision, astigmatism, screen fatigue, hidden vision problems that can mimic adhd, why concussions can affect your eyesight long after the injury and what you can actually do to protect your eyes as you age. I'm joined by Dr. Bryce Applebaum, a board certified neuro optometrist, fellow of the College of Optometrists and Vision Development and founder of my Vision first to break down what most eye doctors miss, the difference between eyesight and vision and the practical tools that could change the way you see. Watch today's episode on the real Alex Clark YouTube channel or culture Pot the Carry on Spotify. And don't forget, pause. Leave a five star review to support the show before we get started and keep the discussion going in the cute Servitus Facebook group. Please welcome Dr. Bryce Applebaum to Culture Apothecary. You're an eye doctor and you believe that most people can actually heal or improve their eyesight naturally.

[B]

Any brain at any age has the ability to enhance and optimize their vision.

[A]

How is that possible? Because this is so against everything that I've ever heard from any eye doctor

[B]

growing up and it's against what I was taught in school as well. You know, as eye doctors were trained to manage vision decline and take a reactive approach which is similar to most of healthcare. But when you take a proactive approach and you recognize that your eyes Are extensions of your brain. And just like any system or muscle in our body can be trained to optimize performance, so much can be done to avoid unnecessary struggling to allow for improved performance. With reading, learning, driving, sports, so many areas of life, vision is the missing piece to so much of our health and our happiness.

[A]

But if you're an adult who's had vision problems, you know, almost all of your life, is it really possible to reverse anything? Anything, or are you kind of stuck at that point?

[B]

Depends what we're talking about. So something like needing reading glasses, let's say most people in their 40s, the focusing muscles of the eyes become more rigid and less flexible. The lens inside of our eye gets hardened. Those are age related changes. But just like any system in the body, if we stop using it, we lose it. So that early signs of up close being blurry and then your arm's not getting long enough. That's the critical time where if you jump in and get proactive and do specific vision training exercises, you can at least kick that can down the road for a while and in many cases not be as dependent on glasses or not even need them. But you have to do the right type of work and you got to be motivated and compliant for it. So somebody though, who is a minus 100 prescription, typically that's not going to be able to be reversed. But when we're seeing blur, faraway, being blurry as a symptom, and the problem being a near issue, whether it's eye focus, eye coordination, tracking, some sort of functional vision problem, if we address the problem, then the symptom gets better, slows down, and sometimes can even backtrack.

[A]

How much of eyesight is genetic? Because my mom wears glasses, my dad wears glasses, my brother me, I mean, we're all wearing glasses. So I just thought, you know, some people are just born with worse eyes than others. Is that not true?

[B]

Vision is entirely developed. No one's born with the ability to read or to use their eyes to track, to converge, to focus, or even with the ability to see in 3D. It's all developed through our life experiences. So it's either learned appropriately through the right sequencing of milestones, or learned poorly. And that leads to these vision imbalances.

[A]

What if you're two years old?

[B]

If you're two years old and you skipped over crawling or walk too soon, very likely you're going to have some sort of eye coordination challenge, Whether it's an eye turn or lazy eye. Because learning how to have vision guide movement, we're Building off of a more broad foundation. And so much can be rerouted with the right type of intervention.

[A]

So you believe that vision can be trained. A lot of people hear that and they think it sounds fake. So what do they misunderstand?

[B]

The key? Misunderstanding. And hopefully the most important take home for everybody listening today. Eyesight and vision are two different things. Think of eyesight as the ability to see. It's how we can focus light clearly. That's what glasses are for, contacts. Vision, though, is entirely brain. And how our brain filters, organizes, processes all the information coming in through the eyes, knows how to make sense of it, drive meaning, and then direct the appropriate action. So vision problems are brain problems, and there are solutions for brain problems with something like vision therapy or vision performance training. But the eyesight, vision separation, I mean, there's so much more to vision than just 20, 20 eyesight.

[A]

Are reading glasses always helping or can they sometimes become a crutch?

[B]

Depends. So I would say if we're wearing reading glasses and we're, let's say, younger than 40, it's because our focusing system, the accommodative system, the inside muscles of the eyes responsible for making things clear and keeping them clear, are not functioning the way they're supposed to. We want them to be like an old school camera lens that's on autofocus, but if it's stuck on manual focus, then we're relying on glasses to do the work for us. Because our brain isn't controlling the eyes the way that it's supposed to or intended to. So reading glasses for kids typically is a clear sign of a visual developmental delay. They haven't learned how to use that system yet. And our ability to focus our eyes is so intimately related to our ability to focus our mind. If we can't control our eyes and their ability to focus, we can't control our mind and its ability to focus. So there's so much unnecessary struggling and trouble with mental clarity because of visual clarity.

[A]

I think most people just assume that part of getting older is having eye problems like cataracts or floaters that develop out of nowhere. What is your explanation for those things?

[B]

Most of that is environment. Although cognitive capacity drops as we age and vision gets worse as we age, both of those are common, but not necessarily normal. And so much can be done. When we're being proactive. We're giving our body and our brains the right instructions to function the way that they're intended to. But also when we can prepare ourselves for the environment that we're in, there's so much that causes visual stress. These adaptations where we're not using our brains the way that it's actually wired because of too much screen time, being indoors, being sedentary, not enough movement, junk lighting. I mean, a lot of stress from our environment is really what causes so much deterioration. And so cataracts, the lens inside of our eye become cloudy as we age because of UV damage and toxins and things from our environment. But if we're limiting how much of that is being received by the eyes, then we're gonna be limiting or delaying the onset of those issues, and maybe for a very long time.

[A]

I had this homeopathy expert, Barbara o', Neill, on the show recently, and she was talking about how putting castor oil on your eyelids at night before you go to bed can help break up cataracts. Do you think that that might be true?

[B]

I would say she is a very smart person and I'm sure has helped a lot of people. Having a clinical practice with two locations and seeing tens of thousands of patients, I've never seen that happen. I've heard people talk about castor oil, and I would say oftentimes when something seems really, really simple and easy, there's probably a little bit more to that. And I know there's healing that can take place with castor oil, But I would say there's also way more robust proactive treatments than doing that as well.

[A]

What does it mean when you're in the shower, you're washing your hair in the morning, and when you lift your arms over your. You see stars.

[B]

Are you sitting in the shower or are you standing in the shower?

[A]

Standing.

[B]

So I would say that has to do with blood flow and autonomic nervous system and how well you're able to regulate all the systems within your body. I would say that's a really common occurrence with people who stand up too quickly and can have something called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. It can happen with low blood pressure. It can happen with lots of other scenarios. Maybe it means you need different shampoo, though, and there's something with a sense of that or something that's causing that. I'm not totally sure what is some

[A]

advice from mainstream eye doctors that you think is outdated?

[B]

Essentially everything. We are trained to intervene when there's eye disease and to look at structure. But no, eye doctors are really trained on function. And my specialty with optimizing the eye brain connection is all about function and recognizing there's a brain and a person attached to the eyes and Our eyes gather information, but our brain interprets that and makes sense of that and then directs the appropriate action that's needed. We're taught in school to be on this heavy pursuit of seeing the tiny letters on the bottom of the chart in the dark exam room and that everybody has to see the 2020 line and everyone has to see the same. I can confidently say that no two people see the same, so we don't need to target everybody to see the same. And I'm a big proponent of seeking 20 happy rather than 2020. Meaning the ideal prescription for most people is the weakest lens possible, if any. That's the most balanced between each eye that gives an improvement in performance. And if it's not improving performance, why are we wearing glasses or contacts? And I'm not anti glasses or contacts, but very often that's just putting a band aid on the symptom. We're then still faced with the same stress from our environment. We're still adapting to that same stress. And so our prescription just keeps increasing because we're not identifying the root cause and treating it. And especially now where we are in a screen time pandemic and we're in a digital world, the rates of myopia or nearsightedness are increasing ridiculously high. When we landed on the moon in 1969, a fourth of America was nearsighted. Right now it's about 43, 44% in climbing. And from a little bit of a global perspective, that's 30% of the world is nearsighted or has myopia right now. And it's estimated by 20, 50, 50% of the world is going to be nearsighted.

[A]

What's causing that, you think?

[B]

We have the research and the literature to support what we've known clinically for a long time now. Three main risk factors, not enough time outdoors. And it's proven that two hours a day outside, so protective for developing myopia or nearsightedness. Too much near work in the dark and too much screen time. And we are in a very different world now, especially our kids, than that we've ever been in and we're stuck inside. Screens are causing our attention, our thinking, but our vision to become locked up. And when we're locked up, we're not engaging with three dimensional space, we're not having vision guide movement like it's supposed to. And we're adapting to all of this stress from our world and allowing screen time to be this toxicity that is compromising so much of vision development, overall health and Even mental health.

[A]

Do you think whenever we have a newborn baby and we're bringing the newborn baby home, I think a lot of times moms sit cooped up with that newborn baby inside the house. Do you think that we need to be sitting outside with our newborn babies for a couple hours a day if it's not, you know, freezing cold or boiling hot out?

[B]

So I would say newborns a little different than like the toddler years. Toddler years, absolutely. We need to be exploring three dimensional space. We need to be climbing, we need to be looking at real clouds rather than pictures of clouds on an iPad, which allows for meaningful pathways to develop between the eyes and the brain. Yeah, for babies, I think absolutely. Getting outside is important for mental health for mom, but also for the child. And as the child's world opens up, I mean, when a baby is first born, they see in black and white, things are really fuzzy and they're only really, really close. And then that expands based off of developmental milestones and hitting them at the right sequence. But we can facilitate appropriate development for vision for any child at any age.

[A]

This kind of reminds me of there's this like VIRAL Screenshot from TikTok where this mom, really cute picture of her baby outside. And it was like a blue sky with some fluffy white clouds and some really young girl, like a gen Alpha age, like a young girl on Tik Tok comment. And she said, what you do to get that edit? And the mom said, that's the sky. We're outside.

[B]

This is real life. Like, open up yourself to the world.

[A]

Like, they don't even know. Like, that's the sky with clouds in it. Which was hilarious but sad. And I just think, yeah, we're not going outside enough. So, like, what does your ideal routine look like? How are you getting outside time as a, as a working eye doctor for

[B]

myself or for kids for you? Okay. So for me, getting two to ten minutes of sunlight first thing in the morning is so critical for setting our circadian rhythm. Getting natural light in and really grounding in time and space.

[A]

And where do you live?

[B]

I live on the east coast in Maryland. Right outside.

[A]

Okay. So it's, it's sometimes it's really freezing, frigid winters and very dark and stuff.

[B]

So.

[A]

So what do you do in those seasons?

[B]

So I still get outside. And even if it's for 30 seconds, that's better than nothing. I have a very strict regimen for just wellness and happiness. That is a lot of it is indoors. But I try and go on walks with my Wife as often as possible. I've got three young kids, we're outside as often as we can. It's ideal to get fresh sunlight in the eyes in the evening as well before bedtime to help let your body know it's time to calm down.

[A]

And ideally is that during when the sun is setting.

[B]

So you want to be really when the sun is rising and when the sun is setting. And eliminating junk lighting in the evening does wonders for supporting circadian rhythm regularity, falling asleep and staying asleep and having good quality sleep. Because we have these receptors in our eyes that sole purpose is to respond to light and send the sleep wake signal to release melatonin to allow us to fall asleep. Those cells are overstimulated all day long on screens or in LED lights because of the blue light. And if you're in the evening pounding out emails or watching shows or doing whatever you're doing with a digital device, you're literally having your brain be in this sympathetic state and you're allowing the melatonin secretion to be in the wrong consistency and wrong fashion. And then all of a sudden sleep gets messed up. And that can impact metabolic health, cause inflammation even, you know, has been tied to certain types of cancers.

[A]

I just saw the most fascinating study last night and I forgive me for not knowing exact numbers but basically the study showed that any amount of blue light, junk light with young girls after sunset is contributing to puberty starting earlier. Because we're seeing these girls that are starting puberty at 8 or 9 years old by the way, that increases your risk for breast cancer later in life. All sorts of different problems hormonally when you start puberty too early. So we really need to be, you know, getting, you know, pushing that off as late as possible. So that was a really freaky statistic and study that I saw.

[B]

I have an 11 year old daughter and we were just talking before the show. So many of her friends are already have already hit puberty. I mean it's nuts.

[A]

The plastic and the, and the synthetic fragrance in there, all these things are contributing to it. The light.

[B]

I mean it's the toxicity from our environment, it's the hormone disruption, but it's the light as well. And when you are on screens, you're also depriving yourself of exploring three dimensional space and getting outside. So it's not just the addition of screens which is absolutely harmful. And no developing brain has the capacity to handle the screen time that's being asked of it. But you're then also limiting what you would be Doing instead of that.

[A]

How long have you been an eye doctor?

[B]

17 years.

[A]

During those 17 years, when was it that you were like, I want to go into holistic eye doctoring. That's not the official term.

[B]

So for me, it was honestly like 35 years ago. So I'm a product of this work. I attribute. When I was a child, I had very poor eye coordination. I had no depth perception, I couldn't see well. I was lost in space on the soccer field. I had no idea what was going on. I was overwhelmed in the classroom. I had trouble with interpersonal connection and just felt like this turtle retreating to my shell in so many aspects of life. Fortunately, was born in the perfect parents who made sure that I did vision therapy and sensory integration based occupational therapy and for many, many years. I attribute all of my success in life, athletically, academically, even interpersonally, for the training I did between my eyes and my brain and my entire body. And so for me, this was no question I was going down this path. But. But I would say 2020 is when things massively shifted. When we all became terrified of life and were stuck inside and on screens more. And at the time my kids were 5, 5 and 2. And I remember this Sunday afternoon looking across the room and all three had their heads buried in their tablets. I was like, oh my God. First of all, we're not a house that supports this. How did they even find these? And then second, this is a problem for them and it's going to be a big problem for the world. And that's when I realized, if we don't get ahead of this and if we don't take a functional approach that we're all in on, we're doomed as a society. And then we shifted everything in terms of treatment programs, protocols, even offering an online program for people that don't have access to come to our clinics. But now we have solutions in place for this digital world where any brain can develop the visual skills and abilities to thrive in this digital world, but it requires training and it requires proactive work to get the eyes to work together as a team, to get the brain to process visual input and to really get the system to be functioning the way it's supposed to from a holistic perspective.

[A]

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[B]

Your eyesight in the distance should not change year to year unless there's a functional vision problem causing that type of adaptation. And when you go to the eye doctor and you get new eyeglasses every year, that is a clear sign that something within the system is not balanced. Very often it's the focusing system or the eye teaming system or the tracking system. And like we talked about before, far away getting blurry is a direct result of this near problem. And lack of flexibility between the systems and glasses don't make things worse. Our adaptation to our environment and needing something stronger to maintain that same clarity makes things worse. And so somebody who's had LASIK surgery, LASIK surgery should stick. You shouldn't need an additional LASIK surgery or multiple others unless there's a functional vision problem causing those changes.

[A]

I got LASIK in my early 20s, and it's been 10 years. Nobody told me that after 10 years, your Lasik basically goes away. And sure enough, almost exactly on the dot, ten years, my vision started completely disappearing. I. I told my assistant. I was like, please get me a. A appointment at my eye doctor. Sure enough, my vision had totally plummeted in both eyes. It was like it all just vanished, like, overnight. And I knew I was. I was like, I'm going crazy. I'm going blind. I was so sc. Yeah, so nobody told me that. So you're saying that this isn't a LASIK issue. This is. Something with me is causing my LASIK to wear off?

[B]

Absolutely. This is not. The cornea is now damaged. This is probably in the last decade, you've been on screens a lot, and you've had a different lifestyle, and you've been juggling a million things, running all that you're running, and your now visual system is becoming locked up. LASIK shouldn't go after 10 years. And what you're describing is so common. That's not normal, though. So that's this. I mean, there's thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of people whose prescriptions don't change, but the ones who do are usually the ones in a sedentary lifestyle on

[A]

screens, which I certainly am.

[B]

And that's life. Now.

[A]

Do you like LASIK at all?

[B]

For some people, I would say some people, a good percentage of people who have LASIK are happy. And if you're going into the saying, I don't want to be as dependent on glasses or contacts, and that's a Great way, a great solution. There's a small percentage of people who are absolutely miserable after lasik, with an increase in glare, dryness, even mental health challenges. And then there's about 20 to 25% who are just like, man, I wish I didn't do this. And there's a reason why most eye doctors don't promote Lasik or don't have LASIK themselves. Why you're taking normal, healthy tissue and shaving it and cutting it off, and it's entirely elective. And you know, the doctors who are advertising, oh, one eye for free, and then, you know, you only pay for one. I mean, LASIK numbers are dropping because people are realizing it's not the same. It's not allowing for the same outcomes that used to be there. One of the. I'm in. My practice is in Maryland. We're right outside Washington, D.C. two of the most prominent LASIK surgeons in D.C. send us their patients to say, is this a good candidate for lasik? And every single time the patient's like, why are they sending me to you? They're doing the surgery. We can actually predict whether eyesight's going to change down the road based off of the functional visual skills and abilities and how much stamina, flexibility, and support the eyes are offering the brain.

[A]

How do you find out what your functional abilities are with your eyes? Can you do that yourself or you have to go see? You.

[B]

I mean, you got to see. Well, there's screening tests we could do,

[A]

but puff that air in my eye. I hate that.

[B]

We do not do. They're puffing.

[A]

Sometimes I have to look at a little farm. They make me do that. A little farm.

[B]

It's so outdated. I mean, that's measuring the pressure of the eye, which is important, but what we're looking at is how the eyes are tracking and focusing and converging and how the brain is responding to that information and perceiving in depth and looking at our peripheral vision and. And really seeing. Is this system balanced? Is there equilibrium there? And for so many people, that shifts. The more we are reading, the more we're on screens, the more we're indoors.

[A]

As a holistic eye doctor, are there any concerning ingredients in conventional eye drops?

[B]

So many.

[A]

Like what?

[B]

Preservatives. I mean, preservatives in our eye drops is the same thing as preservatives in our food, but we're now putting them on the most delicate, sensitive tissue in our body. So there's so much that can be done from a internal perspective. So even something like artificial Tears. If we're taking artificial tears, absolutely, you want preservative free ones. But also we can figure out why there's dry eye or why the glands are not secreting tears the way they're supposed to. And we can take supplements like omega 3 fatty acids to help the tear film be more viscous or more oily. We can look into the microbiome and the gut health to know that, that there is an eye gut axis, that when there's certain things leaking from our gut, a lot of it ends up in our eyes because they're end organs.

[A]

Ooh.

[B]

So definitely eye drops. I mean, there's something like Visine. Anyone who's listening who has Visine, throw it out. It's absolute trash. It causes the blood vessels in the eyes to constrict, so they're less red. But then when the drug wears off, the rebound effect is twice as big and there can be a dependence on them. I have a drawer in my office that we just put people's Visine bottles in whenever they come in. And if we look at it as like we're trying to water the grass or get really healthy grass, water the grass. But also you want the fertilizer to be solid. So from a tear film and a front surface of the eye perspective, we want good quality tears on the front surface. We also want our glands to be secreting the way that they're supposed to, and we want, want our inflammation within our body and within our eyes to be as low as possible.

[A]

What is a holistic dry eye remedy?

[B]

So without knowing all the details, I would say in general, it's based off of supplements, nutrition and lifestyle modifications. So supplements. I mean, there's a lot of great supplements out there for eye health, but omega 3 fatty acid is number one on my Mount Rushmore of what's great for eye health. Lutein, zeaxanthin. Great supplements to help the back of the eyes where they're macular carotenoids. So they're almost like internal blue light blocking glasses where we can protect our really delicate tissue in the back of our eye, our retina, from UV damage, if we have robust amounts of those macular carotenoids. Nutrition, I mean, eating for eye health is very similar to eating for brain health. Eyes are part of the brain. They're the only part of the brain you can see without things getting really messy and in utero, in the first trimester, the eyes separate from the brain. So if you're eating for brain health, you're eating for eye health. And really the things to avoid, the same stuff that you preach, gluten, dairy, sugar, processed foods, seed oils and even alcohol can cause a lot of neuroinflammation and can damage our visual system as well.

[A]

Are carrots really the ultimate food for eyes?

[B]

Carrots are not bad for the eyes. There's beta carotene in them which our body converts to vitamin A. That's great. But that is an entire story back from World War II that just got fabricated that made it seem like that was the be all end all. I could list 10 other things, 10 other foods that are so much better for the eyes and gas.

[A]

Tell us.

[B]

Okay, for me, the number one healthiest food for the eyes are eggs. Eggs have lutein in the yolk and choline. Lutein is really great for as an antioxidant to help slow down and offset some of the age related changes that happen to our our lens, inside of our eye, cataracts in the back of our eye, macular degeneration. Choline is great for cognition. Any type of citrus fruit which has vitamins A, C and E, those are great as antioxidants. Green leafy vegetables, huge for having zeaxanthin and lutein and really protecting the macula omegas. So fish is wonderful. There's an acronym smash. So sardines, mackerel, anchovies, halibut and salmon.

[A]

Tin fish obsessed Tin fish. I feel like I talk about this all the time with different guys that

[B]

come fishes, they're great. Yes, but you want to look in ingredients.

[A]

Yes, totally. And so there's certain brands that I like, you know, in looking for extra virgin olive oil and all that. No seed oils and things but.

[B]

And ideally like wild caught tin fish that's not from a farm in a little tank.

[A]

Yeah, we don't like that. That's gross. We don't want to get our tin fish from Red Lobster. No, thanks.

[B]

You don't want to get much from Red Lobster.

[A]

No, you don't want to get anything there. O so when you say that eyesight and vision are not the same thing, can you break that down like we're in fifth grade? Because I just feel like a lot of that people think, you know, if I can read that little chart like you talked about with the letters, then I'm fine. So what does that mean? Eyesight and vision aren't the same thing.

[B]

Eyesight is the ability to see whether that's the chart in an eye doctor's office, what the teacher writes on the board in the classroom, or street signs. Street signs when you're driving. And eyesight's important, but eyesight is really a symptom, and that's glasses or contacts. Vision is how our brain tells our eyes how to move, how to converge, how to track, how to focus, how to process the information coming in through the eyes. And vision is entirely brain. So functional vision problems are brain problems. But look at our eyes as really what just gathers information from our world, and then our brain receives that and then knows what to do with that information. And that's how we can really make sense of what's around us and how we need to direct whatever action is next.

[A]

So if somebody's being told that surgery for cataracts is probably in their near future, what's the first thing that you would tell them to do?

[B]

Today, any surgery like cataracts is an elective surgery. So don't jump on that immediately. Take the information, sit with it, do some research, maybe get a second or third opinion. If we live long enough in this world, we're all going to get cataracts. And although it is the number one most common surgery done in the US or at least used to be, I'm not sure if it still is. Any surgery has risk and there's relatively low risk there, but there absolutely is risk. But there are certain supplements that are great for systemic health that have been shown to support cataract formation and slowing it down. And with many of my patients, we've seen some reversal and some pretty substantial reversal.

[A]

What are the supplements?

[B]

There's a form of glutathione called gluterol, which is absolutely awesome. And Dr. Patel, I'm going to give you a shout out. He's the man. This is a spray form. So glutathione is our body's master antioxidant. And when you take it in pill form, we absorb, don't really absorb and utilize it all because our GI tract breaks it down. The spray form you spray on your skin and ideally on a place where there's not hair follicles, and you can get systemic levels of glutathione to above optimal within 72 hours. I have most of my patients on that. And that particular antioxidant is really powerful. There's other really powerful antioxidants as well. There's something called C60, carbon 60, which is really healthy and wonderful for decreasing inflammation throughout the body. And then there's other kind of old wives tales out there about other things that I only want to share what's factual and is science based but if you take high doses of antioxidants and you protect from UV damage, it's not going to get worse.

[A]

What does that mean? Wear sunglasses.

[B]

There's so much controversy over there over where sunglasses are done.

[A]

That's what I was thinking is like you're talking about we need the infrared rays in our eyes, right? Sunrise, sunset and all that. But if we're wearing sunglasses, are we really getting that ideal sunlight? But then you're saying you got to protect from UV damage.

[B]

So light is so critical for homeostasis and it grounds us in time and space. But we want natural light. And natural light helps support mood hormone regulations, circadian rhythms, all of this stuff. In natural light, there's a spectrum and there's uv, there's different colors. I mean, we don't need to get into that. But UV rays are really what damage the structures of the eyes and uva and uvb. So UVA is what causes aging and wrinkles, and UVB is really what causes the burn from. If you're outside from like 10 to 2, when the sun is the highest in the sky, Wear sunglasses. Wear sunglasses. If you're on the water and you're getting light that's hitting the water and reflecting back at you.

[A]

Or skiing.

[B]

Or skiing, wear sunglasses. But really beyond that, like, if you're healthy and if your body is sending the right signals on how to respond to life, you're probably going to be okay. And there's a lot of influencers out there that talk about getting sunburn when you're wearing sunglasses, but not getting sunburned when you don't wear sunglasses.

[A]

You think that's true?

[B]

There is absolutely science to that. But I would say if you have a very. If you have a lot of neuro or systemic inflammation, your body's not going to be able to secrete treat the biochemical cascade that is needed to protect it. So this is not saying go outside, you're not getting sunburned. If you're outside at the beach all day and you're not healthy and you're wearing or not wearing sunglasses, you're going to get burnt. But I think it's moderation that's needed. And I've definitely done that experiment myself and it held true. Wow.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I was more sunburned wearing sunglasses than I was not wearing sunglasses.

[A]

Can we be honest about how insane the supplement industry is? Americans spend billions of dollars every year buying random powders, capsules, gummies, whatever. Some influencer said change their life with absolutely no clue if their body even needs it. You might be taking glutathione and not need it. You might be drinking pure penguin juice and not need that either. Spending hundreds on trendy gut supplements while having no idea what's actually going on in your gut is stupid. That's why Jevity is actually a money saver. And it makes sense. Instead of guessing, Jevity helps you actually your body first. They do incredibly comprehensive testing, over 90 biomarkers. And they can also help with advanced testing, like getting your hormones tested, your gut health, nutrient levels, all kinds of stuff. They'll send a phlebotomist to draw your blood at your house. You don't have to go to a waiting room or sit in traffic to go get all this information. And then you're going to meet with Jev's health team and they're going to look at your blood, work with you, explain what everything means, and then build a personalized plan based on your labs, your symptoms, your lifestyle, your goals. So instead of wasting money on a drawer full of supplements that may be doing nothing, you can finally know what your body actually needs. And if they recommend supplements, they're personalized and high quality. They're not random. Wellness roulette. Go to gojevity.com use code alex for 20 off your first year. That's go.com code alex for 20 off your 1st year. Can I ask you something deeply personal? When you floss, does it smell like a dead animal? Because if it does, congratulations, there is a corpse in your gum. You've built a lovely little bacterial Airbnb in your mouth, and they are thriving. They've got throw pillows. They have a wine fridge. This is why flossing is not optional. It's not cosmetic. It's basic survival. And Zebra makes the only floss I trust, because most floss, even the stuff pretended to be healthy, is made from polyester and can contain forever chemicals, which is insane. Why are we flossing with chemicals that sound like military acronyms? Stems. Zebras Floss is made from real silk, peppermint oil, and xylitol. It's been tested. There's no forever chemicals. No plastic, no junk, just clean ingredients that really work and make sense. And once you use it, you realize how gross the other stuff is. Zebra also has all sorts of stuff that'll make your life easier when it comes to personal care products like deodorant and lip gloss and even, yes, toothpaste. But the floss alone is worth it, because there is no greater act of self respect than making sure your mouth doesn't smell like roadkill in a heat wave. Go to yay zebra.com use code Alex for 10 off your order. That's yay zebra.com code Alex for 10 off. Woohoo. Okay, so what are the symptoms that people are really dismissing right now that are hidden vision issues?

[B]

So many. And there are so many people who are misdiagnosed or have labels like add, adhd, dyslexia, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, bad at sports, bad at sports. When those labels have the exact same behaviors and symptoms of hidden functional vision problems that are treatable. So if you have trouble catching a ball, functional vision problem. If you get motion sick, especially as a passenger in the car, but you're not as much or not motion sick at all as a driver, functional vision problem.

[A]

And oh my gosh, my best friend Nicole needs to hear that anytime we're with a group of people, she always has to ride shotgun. It's so unfair. I'm sick of that. I'm gonna tell her she's got an eye issue.

[B]

And with that, and it's really a brain issue rather than an eye issue, because when we are driving, we're integrating central visual input and peripheral visual input and we can plan what's coming ahead and open up our periphery. When we're in the back seat, we're on a phone or a tablet. Our visual system and our vestibular system, which is like the internal GPS system and the roadmap of life, are sending conflicting signals that our brain can't interpret.

[A]

So how do you fix that? The motion sickness thing, what do you do with your eyesight or vision, vision

[B]

therapy or vision performance training?

[A]

Who does that?

[B]

I do that. A lot of people do that. There's never been a greater need and there's never been less. Eye doctors doing this type of work. And we now have OTs, PTs, speech and language pathologists, coaches, trainers, teachers doing vision work because the need is so high. You want to see somebody who's board certified in vision development and rehabilitation. And it's kind of like physical therapy for the eyes, but really for the brain through the eyes.

[A]

So a lot of people are medicating their children right now in the United States who don't actually have a mental issue. It's more like they cannot process visual information correctly.

[B]

One out of 10 kids in the in the US has ADHD or ADD. One in 36 has autism, and one in 16s has anxiety. And I will tell you, in all of those scenarios, vision plays a role. If you cannot control your Eyes and their ability to focus. You cannot control your mind and its ability to focus. And it's not like there's a blood test that says, oh, you have ADHD. It's based off of symptoms and behaviors. And 15 of the 18 most common diagnostic criteria for ADHD or ADD also have visual components from hidden vision problems. One out of four kids has a vision problem significant enough to impact learning. 80% of what's learned in the classroom comes through the visual processing of information. There are so many kids and adults who go throughout their days having a hard time focusing, especially like 2pm or later when they're reaching for adults that third, fourth, fifth cup of coffee, brain fog, Decreased productivity throughout the workday. Issues with focus, attention, even critical decision making because the brain is on overdrive just trying to control and use the eyes and process that information. So it's almost like there's this visual overload that we're all experiencing but just accepting it as normal.

[A]

So for me, my vision is deteriorating, your eyesight is deteriorating, my eyesight is deteriorating. How do I fix that? Are there exercises or things that I can be doing at home to help?

[B]

100%. First of all, people who say that vision exercises don't work are the same people that say normal exercise doesn't work. It works. You have to do the right work in the right place for the right reasons. So I'm sorry, people who say go outside and do sunning or palming and then you'll never need your glasses again. It's a little more complicated than that.

[A]

That.

[B]

However, there are science based exercises and systems that can be dramatically improved in terms of stamina and flexibility. So let's do eye push ups right now. Okay, so what this is, you're going to cover up one eye with your hand.

[A]

One eye is like so blurry.

[B]

So one eye is so blurry and

[A]

one is a little bit more normal. So I'm, I'm.

[B]

All right, let's talk, let's talk this through.

[A]

I'm left eye dominant. It.

[B]

Okay. So if your eyes are focusing at different planes, if one eye is blurry, the other eye is not. Very likely. And we could do testing to know exactly, but very likely. There's this binocular rivalry, there's this competition over sensory input where your brain is saying, I can't focus my eyes together at the same plane. So I'm going to adapt so that I don't have to. So one eye is probably seeing better far away and the other eye seeing better up close so that you don't have to use both eyes at both distances. Super common after LASIK surgery or having a prescription that's maybe a little bit too strong. And we're adapting to that. So with something like eye pushups, we're going to be working on the focusing system to develop stamina and flexibility. And this is going to be interesting with you. You're going to notice that it's very different for each eye. So cover up one eye, take your thumb with the other eye in the other hand and stick it up like you're giving somebody a thumbs up. Look at the nail portion of it. And then you're going to slowly bring your thumb towards you down your midline, making it as clear as you can. And then when it gets a little blurry, stop. Try and make it clear. So think about looking hard, locking in your focus. You'll notice if you're watching somebody, their pupil gets really small. The system is stimulated. Then you're going to relax your focus and look out into the distance for five seconds and then back at your thumb for five seconds. Distance for five seconds. So this is a gross stimulation, relaxation, stimulation, relaxation of the focusing system. You want to do the same amount of time, right eye as left eye. You'll notice when you do it with your other eye. I bet you your thumb is held at a different plane or different distance. So start far out, bring it in.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And then you're probably noticing symptoms one side or it's a bit harder with one side. If you do this for two minutes a day and you do this every day, you literally will not need stronger glasses. And in some cases, this is gonna draw a line in the sand and allow for things to shift. Imagine holding your thumb a millimeter closer a week. Millimeters add up to centimeters. Centimeters add up to inches. Inches add up to much longer. You're developing a better rapport with the z axis. You're able to focus your eyes closer and for longer.

[A]

Yeah, I like it. That actually did feel really good.

[B]

It felt good to do, like, this is simple, this is easy.

[A]

And if you, like, have no idea because you're listening, you can watch this on Realloc's Clark YouTube. And then you can see what we were doing with our thumbnail.

[B]

And anyone who's just on the verge of needing reading glasses or told they need them, and this is kind of the early stages, if you do eye push ups every day, you can at least prolong the need for those and probably for a significant amount of time. And then, I mean, there's different Exercises we can do for your peripheral vision for tracking for so many different systems. But really the right sequence of learning. If learning takes place from the environment and experience, you're literally rewiring your brain to change how you're using vision. And if you're able to work with somebody board certified in their office, I mean we're utilizing tech like VR and AR and eye tracking software and also low tech things but really rebooting the brain and allowing for neuroplasticity to be tapped into where we can use the eyes to rewire the software to change how we're using vision.

[A]

I have to be honest with you, I just did not know what to expect from this interview. I thought maybe you were gonna tell us sleep with potatoes in your socks or something like some strange things.

[B]

Haven't done that yet.

[A]

To me this is so pract and it makes sense. And like I thought this was going to be really woo woo like how to improve your vision or a holistic eye doctor. And it's not like to me this is better eye doctor advice than any conventional eye doctor has given.

[B]

Thank you. I mean there's definitely some woo here but. And I'm not and we can go into woo. But I mean something as simple as you get your pair of glasses from the eye doctor and doesn't seem right or they're strained and then the doctor says oh get you just wear them, you'll get used to them them that is immediate red flags. That's the wrong prescription. Glasses should not seem different or off when you first get them. And if they are, it's probably because you had a 10 minute eye exam and they're just taking measurements but not putting together big picture what's needed to optimize the eye brain connection.

[A]

Oh yeah, that is weird. When I first got my new glasses I was like I feel sick wearing these. And they were like just power through. You'll get used to it in like a day. Like you just gotta wear your brain

[B]

will get used to it. Because our brains are incredibly resilient and adaptable. But that's why we can retrain our brain brain with the right type of work so that we can allow the airplanes to land and have an air traffic controller that can coordinate and organize all that we're asking of our brains and our eyes.

[A]

So if you are somebody that has a toddler or a baby that's wearing glasses, what can you do with somebody that young to help improve their eyes at home?

[B]

So most doctors would say there's nothing you can Do. And I'll tell you, if your child's glasses are really thick and they magnify the eyes, that's likely hyperopia or farsightedness, which means they haven't developed their focusing system yet. If they're really thick but minimize the eyes and make them look smaller, that's usually myopia or farsightedness, meaning their world is here and far away, is getting blurry. These are visual developmental delays that have a genetic component potentially. But if we just keep feeding the problem, we're going down a really scary path versus there's intervention we can take to slow down the progression. That's FDA approved for myopia that most doctors don't even talk about. Like contacts. You sleep in at night, that's a retainer for your eyes instead of your teeth. Drops that you put in your eyes that actually make your focusing system not work the same way. Multifocal contacts. There's even some glasses that have just come out to slow down the progression of nearsightedness. So these are all kind of, of. No one would discount this. But if we look at really vision development where it should be and then where it's operating, when there's a gap there, you close the gap with the right intervention and then there's a wide open Runway into the future for that person.

[A]

Okay, so does that advice apply to any child or are there special exceptions? Like, you know, a child with down syndrome, for example, they typically have a lot of vision problems.

[B]

So I would say, I mean, there's definitely certain things that apply to everybody and then there's is much more specific and individualized. With down syndrome, there's a very high prevalence of strabismus or it turns and strabismus or an eye turn, most of the time, the vast majority of the time has nothing to do with eye muscle strength or eye muscle length. It's coordination and it's a brain problem showing up through the eyes. So if you dress on a brain basis with the right type of visual rehab, vision development, training, very different outcomes than if we do something like eye muscle surgery or patching eye muscle surgery. Best case scenario with a strabismus. Eye muscle surgery is a cosmetic cure. Never is there a functional cure. Because a functional cure requires learning from our life experiences and developing what it feels like and looks like for the eyes to work together and then the brain to turn on to that information to perceive depth. Patching. Patching has been around for over 100 years. Patching takes the mindset of you have A good eye and you have a bad eye. So let's cover up the good eye so the bad eye has to work. We know that amblyopia, or the medical term for lazy eye, is a two eye problem showing up on one eye. So if it's addressed on a two eye basis, if it's addressed on a brain basis, we can teach the eye how to engage the other eye that it's not seeing as well, so that the bossy one is less bossy and the one that's just hanging out can start to play together and happily with the other eye.

[A]

How do you do that?

[B]

That? Vision training, vision therapy. Imagine putting on a virtual reality headset where we can make it so that the oculars have to converge a specific amount or diverge or oscillate, or we can blur the better seeing eye so that the eye that wasn't seeing as well now becomes the better seeing eye. And then you're chopping fruit, popping balloons, whatever the game is in there. But we're arranging the conditions to raise to your brain's awareness how it's taking in space, how the different visual skills are working, and then start to put things back together so you can use your brain the way in which it's wise.

[A]

So someone I love in my life has a lazy eye and is being told that they're going to need surgery sooner rather than later to correct it.

[B]

Has that person had a lazy eye their entire life?

[A]

Yes, we are told and already has had surgery once.

[B]

Please, please, please do not let that person have another surgery.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And there are studies that say with each successive strabismus surgery, the success rates drop dramatically. We are taught in school that there's this critical period for vision development moment. And after age 8, what you see is what you get. That is completely not accurate. That's for vision lost, not for vision gained. So if you or I were to wear an eye patch for six months and take off the eye patch, we'd be sensitive to light, but we would not have lost sight. If you take a six year old, they wear an eye patch for six months, take it off, there literally will be eyesight loss. They'll have to see bigger letters. But in terms of what can be trained and taught and the neuroplasticity that exists for every brain at any age, we can absolutely improve and often eliminate lazy eyes and eye turns with this type of treatment. We have a 92 year old right now in office based treatment developing depth perception for the first time.

[A]

Way to go.

[B]

I mean it's how cool is that? So cool. And yet this is one of the not talked enough about conversations. And even most eye doctors would say, this guy's crazy. This isn't true. We have research now to support this. It's just not put into most clinical practice yet because there's a huge delay until that stuff comes out.

[A]

I have astigmatism. What do you know about that?

[B]

There's a couple different types of astigmatism. Astigmatism, if we're talking to the fifth grader we talked about earlier, is the eye shaped more like a football than a basketball and so it means light has to be bent in a certain way to see it clearer. So much of astigmatism though has a functional component. So it's not just the shape of the cornea, the front surface of the eye, or it's not just the shape of the lens of the eye eye. It's the focusing system, which is a sphincter circular muscle not being uniformly stimulated. And so astigmatism that increases. Assuming we're ruling out disease, processes that cause that often show up in the setup where you're on screens or up close too much. And so the system's becoming lazy in a particular position. So astigmatism really is kind of like it impacts eyesight light, but it also can impact function, especially with in at night when our pupils get larger and more light comes in and gets scattered and distorted. Or it can cause for just a lot of unnecessary struggling because your brain is on overdrive just trying to align point and focus the eyes that it's harder to process what's coming in.

[A]

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[B]

Good question. Depends. So most insurance, well, all. All insurance is A for profit entity. And there's, there's a lot of reasons why insurance companies cover certain things versus not, I would say many good insurance. That's a PPO plan with out of network benefits. That does not say exclusion. Vision therapy does recognize and reimburse vision therapy and cover if it is an in network doctor. But whether insurance covers it or not does not mean it's valuable or that it's life changing. And so often we have to take health into our own hands and be our biggest advocates. Kit and I would say if insurance covered vision therapy for every person around the world, we wouldn't be in this terrible state that we're in in terms of vision problems spiraling out of control.

[A]

I want to talk a little bit about concussions, please. Why does a concussion mess with vision, even if your eyes were never physically hit?

[B]

We talked about eyesight and vision as different things. There are more areas of our brain dedicated to processing vision than all of the other senses combined. Two thirds of the neurons coming into our brain come from our eyes. And more than half of the real estate in our brain is dedicated to processing vision. You cannot have a head injury, minor or major, and not have vision be impacted. It's just a matter of at what level. And most of the time when we get a head injury, we go to the er, we go to the pediatrician and they do a CAT scan or CT and they say, oh, there's no blood pooling in your brain, you're good. Because they're not looking at anything functional and they're not doing the right type of tests to screen and detect for changes in function or the neuroinflammation that's there. And then they say either go sit in a dark room or just get back to life. You got your bell rung, you're fine. Neither of those are right. If we're looking at the eye brain connection and evaluating that and looking at the tracking system, the focusing system, eye coordination, depth perception, visual processing, visual memory, we can absolutely identify where the areas of opportunity for improvement are. If we have a baseline, we can say, oh look, something's shifting. And I'm a big believer that with the right motivation, right compliance, and of course the right work, almost every concussion can get back to previous level of function and in many cases get to a better place. If you're looking at the eye brain connection, you're then looking into the area that is the most commonly impacted and symptoms like light sensitivity and sensory overload at malls or grocery stores or strained blurry eyes when you're on screens, on, on or reading for too long are so common from a head injury.

[A]

Also anxiety and stress, right?

[B]

Absolutely. And being told that, I'm sorry, that this must be in your head, there's nothing here. We can't find anything. Well, it is in your head, but it's the doctor's not doing the right tests to figure that stuff out.

[A]

So there's a lot of people after a concussion that are feeling off. And that's really because no one checked

[B]

their visual system, no one checked their functional vision. More than half of my practice is, is tbi, traumatic brain injury and concussion rehab. And that's like, without even trying because the need is so great.

[A]

So do you have any stories about that of like one of your patients, a crazy head injury? They had all these vision problems nobody knew to check. Like what was that? Can you share?

[B]

Lisa was 32 at the time. When she was in treatment, she was a elementary school teacher. Had on the playground, a ball hit her in the side of the head. She was supervising the playground, thought everything was fine and went through the day and then terrible symptoms that night. Next day, had to call out of work for a while and was absolutely miserable. She had dizziness, nausea, headaches. Anytime she tried to read scrolling on her phone was miserable. Light sensitivity in every scenario possible, disrupted sleep, no stamina throughout the day, no patience for anyone in her family and, and worked with her. She did about two months of treatment with us and got back to being in the classroom where that was causing this sensory overload, all of this busy, crowded input that her brain couldn't filter and organize, she couldn't lesson plan, she couldn't even sequence throughout her day what was needed from a executive functioning standpoint and literally got back to a place where she was, she says, better than she's ever been by doing vision performance training. We had her doing office based work with home reinforcement. We had her taking the right supplements, we had her doing the right nutritional modifications and she's now able to live a happy, fulfilled life without any of the anxiety, depression. I mean she was stuck at home thinking, I'm never gonna get back to work, I'm never gonna get back to life. And she now can return to learn and return to life based off of all this crazy impressive work.

[A]

I know in my heart when I have a guest that everybody's gonna love and they're all gonna wan. So for people who don't live in Maryland, in the DMV and are not near you, they're gonna say, well where do I go? How do I know how to find a doctor like you? What's your advice?

[B]

I'm doing so much work for awareness and advocacy. And so that is changing, but it is tough. So I would say right now there's an organization called the College of Optometrists and Vision Development where you can type in a search radius and it'll say who's board certified within a search radius from you. So from an evaluation standpoint, I think that can be really helpful. So it's covd.org and there's a located doctor section. From an evaluation standpoint, you're going to know what's going on. But in terms of what does treatment look like? Vision therapy, vision performance training, it's not like physical therapy. It's not like I have a sprained mcl. Grade one, I'm getting a dozen sessions. Grade two, I'm getting two dozen. And depending on which PT I go to around town, it's kind of the same work. Work. There is no consistency yet on what this work looks like. So because of that, we see people in my office every week who fly in from all around the world for these intensive programs because they don't have anybody like them, like us, near them. I also recognize not most people don't have that opportunity or accessibility for that. We have an online vision training program called Screen Fit, which we can give a discount to your audience if you'd like.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that would be great.

[B]

This is.

[A]

Can we call it Code Al, Alex?

[B]

Done.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Let's give a huge discount so that people will do it.

[A]

Okay. What? Like what?

[B]

All right, so let me show you what it is. So we have. It's two different courses. Each course is 30 lessons. Each lesson is 10 to 15 minutes. And it's literally a video of me describing a specific vision exercise. You put the phone or tablet down and you do the exercise. So it requires no equipment. Ten minutes a day. If you did this five days a week, that would be six weeks for each course, that'd be 12 weeks of training. We've had thousands of people go through this. 100% of people who have finished the first course have seen a reduction in symptoms. We've had as young as 5 and as old as 89. So this is really a way to take a step across the start line and get going on your vision improvement journey where complicated cases, you're going to need to work with a doctor and need the individualized customized care. But for people who just want to have improved, improve fatigue on screens or get better at night driving or not have this brain fog or fatigue or loss of focus throughout the day. This is a great way to help train your eyes, just and train your brain just like you would train the rest of your body.

[A]

And what's the website?

[B]

So it's screenfit.com code Alex. So it's 4.97 for the first course. Let's do 200 off.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

Okay, let's do 297.

[A]

Cool.

[B]

And if you're a family only of 10 or of 1 only buy it once. It's intended to have exercises that you can do at a stoplight in the bathroom. Like stuff that is just part of your daily routine that I mean, the results have been unbelievable. And I created this thinking Covid's here. What are we going to do? People aren't going to have access to be able to go to an office. Let's do something. Let's create something people can do from home. And now let's become a monster for

[A]

the people that live near you. They live in the DMV or they're flying to go see you. Is this like a one appointment thing where you get all of your protocol and everything or it's something you got to come back multiple times for?

[B]

So we do a five day boot camp where it's two hour evaluation beginning of the week, two hour evaluation end of the week. We're doing about a dozen hours of work during the week, entirely customized. And then we put everybody on a home program with our customized virtual reality platform with different eye exercises. We have regular calls. Most of our patients do the week in office as the boot camp, the reboot, and then the work continues at home. But then they can continue to do that on their own. And then we do have a subset of patients who come in for two, three. We even had one do seven intensives with just more complicated things. So if you're local, if you're not flying in from around the world, most vision therapy is you're coming in once or twice a week in office, you're doing stuff at home. And then it's a much longer process. We now know that the more opportunity that the brain has for learning with the least amount of time between the learning, the faster learning takes place. So it's kind of like if you wanted to get in good shape, if you go to the gym once or twice a week and that's it. It's harder to get in good shape versus if you're going every day for a short period of time. Not all profiles. Is this the ideal protocol for. But for many, this can be better results, faster. Chester.

[A]

Have you ever heard of Chestertown or Chesterton, Maryland?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

How far is that from your office?

[B]

I believe it's about 45 minutes.

[A]

Okay, listen, people, listen. I'm gonna hook you up. So this is what you do. If you're like me and you've got all of these problems and you want to go see him, then you've got to go. You got to go to Modern Stone Age Kitchen. Have you been been there yet?

[B]

No, but I've heard of it.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. You have to go. It's the best. I. I'm friends with him. You can stay there. They have like a whole, like Airbnb set up. You can do the whole sourdough Cor eat there. It's like the cutest little Hallmark. Hallmark town. You can go get your. Your vision fixed and then you can swing over to DC and you can spend time in dc, which, by the way, I don't know how often you were there, but it is so cleaned up and beautiful right now. It's like a totally different city. Like, if you have never been to D.C. and you want to take your family and do a little trip, you this summer. Plus it's the 250th birthday of America, so, like, there's so many cool celebrations that are going to be happening. You know what I mean? This is the time, so you should, like, go make a whole trip.

[B]

My office is 25 minutes from D.C. yeah. In Bethesda, Maryland. And everyone who comes in for intensives, like, it's. It's half the day maybe. So the other half of the day, like, you're going to dc. You see the monuments. You're going to Georgetown.

[A]

So much to do. It's. I love going to D.C. right now. I'm so happy to go. I hope it doesn't ever go back. I would love to. I would love to come. I would. I was really thinking of my mom, who's the person that's being told you're gonna have to get cataract surgery probably eventually soon.

[B]

That we can do with a phone call.

[A]

Oh, great.

[B]

Because it's more. Take this stuff, do this.

[A]

Yeah, but I would love to come, too.

[B]

And your friend with. With the eye turn that person more than anybody because likely double vision or the brain ignoring that eye or.

[A]

Well, I have to be in D.C. for like an entire week this summer at some point, so I might. That would be perfect. I'm gonna have some time where can people find you on Instagram?

[B]

Dr. Bryce Applebaum My is D R B R Y C E Apple Bomb but my ancestors made things really hard for us. So Apple Bomb is a P P E L B A U m not like the fruit apple, but we're on there and then practice my vision first and that's where we've got everything that we're doing hosted in one place.

[A]

If you could offer one remedy to heal a sick culture, physically, emotionally or spiritually, what would it be?

[B]

So I would say if if you have a headache, you often go to the neurologist. If you or your child have attention issues, you see a psychiatrist or a learning specialist. If you're motion sick, often the first place we go is an ENT or an otolaryngologist, but with pretty much any symptom or any unnecessary struggling, we need to at least recognize that vision likely is a piece of the puzzle and go get your vision checked with a functional vision evaluation. And that goes way beyond just whether you need glasses or or not. So recognize vision and the eye brain connection really has the opportunity to completely change your life and in ways that you didn't even know were possible. But we got to know how to unpack that system and get started on the process.

[A]

I loved this episode so much. Definitely one of my new favorites. I've not done anything on how to heal or improve your vision naturally, so this was so interesting to me, especially as a glasses where. Thank you so much Dr. Applebaum for coming on Culture Positive.

[B]

Such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.

[A]

I don't know about you, but I loved this episode. If you want more episodes on Eyesight, I did do an episode not on all things I but just Lasik you can go back and find that just type in Culture Apothecary Lasik Leave us a five star review to celebrate the important work done by this team that works so hard getting every episode out. New episodes come out every Monday and Thursday at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, anywhere you get your podcast. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be taken as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional regarding any questions or decisions related to your health or medical care. I'm Alex Clark and this is Culture Apothecary.