Keywords

binasal tapes, vision therapy, eye health, neuroplasticity, peripheral vision, double vision, lazy eye, visual coordination, stress relief, alternative therapies

Summary

In this conversation, Dr. Sam Berne discusses the concept and application of binasal tapes, a technique used in vision therapy. He shares his experiences and the origins of this method, highlighting its benefits for various visual issues such as double vision and lazy eye. The discussion emphasizes the importance of peripheral vision and how binaural tapes can help in enhancing visual coordination and relaxation, especially under stress.

Takeaways

Sound Bites

Chapters

Sam Berne (00:02.222)

So think about a pair of glasses and on the inside part of the glasses like on the we call it the nasal part or the nose part. We actually apply about one inch of tape on either side of the lenses. So you’ve got it on your right and the left and you have this tape in the middle.

So it’s by the nose, it’s by the nasal, it’s by the sinus. We call these bi-nasal tapes.

What are these and how do they work? Well, I have to rewind and I want to give many of my mentors kudos for sharing this with me. One of my former partners, Dr. Ellis Edelman. I was in practice with him for five years in Newtown square, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. And when I started working with Dr. Edelman, I had just graduated the gazelle Institute and

Dr. Edelman was a graduate of the Gazelle Institute, except he had graduated about 40 years before I did. So he had a lot of experience and I thought this would be a good place to apprentice. so I began my practice in his office. I started renting space from him and it’s kind of hard to get patients. took a while. We were in a very conservative area of the main line of Philadelphia.

Sam Berne (01:51.598)

in 1990 and started a practice in 1992. Just to give you some orientation. One of the techniques that dr. Edelman taught me was how to work with people either who over focused or tunneled their vision. And you know, when you tunnel your vision, you exclude your peripheral vision. One of that has to do with myopia.

where you just tighten up your vision and you you narrow it. So that would be one place where you might want to say, okay, how can we enhance your peripheral vision? Another application that we would see is double vision. So with the two eyes weren’t working together how to work with this and then of course the third situation would be if somebody had a crossed eye or a

even a wandering eye or they had lazy eye. So one I saw more clearly than the other. So he showed me this technique where you put black tape on the inside part of both lenses. And what it did immediately for most people is that gave them a reference point on where they needed to look and where they needed to look is where they weren’t looking.

Meaning that when you put something right in front of your eyes like this, you start opening up your peripheral vision. And if you want to reduce double vision, the way to do that is to enhance your peripheral vision on both sides. You know, the bigger the visual field, the more chance you have for the two eyes to overlap, especially if they’re separating.

Sam Berne (04:13.9)

First of all, you would feel a lot of eye relaxation and relief and second of all, it would get your two eyes to start to work together with the brain. So by wearing it over time because of the neuroplasticity capability in the visual system. Remember the eyes are the only part of the brain that sit outside the cranial vault. And what you’re doing is you’re creating a new mapping in the brain by changing

how the eyes are inputting the information. So these binasal tapes became a tool in my toolbox. And to this day, if somebody has double vision or a lazy eye or you know, they’re just tunneling their vision and they’re under a lot of stress. We use scotch tape. Now. We don’t use the the black electrical tape. So it kind of gives them the idea that okay, I need to use my peripheral a little more.

And it’s it’s quite a winner of an effective treatment that over a few weeks you can remove the tapes and your vision goes back to homeostasis. It goes back to normal where the double vision reduces in some cases even goes away and you have this really profound visual relaxation because the name of the game is opening up your peripheral vision.

And when you’re under stress, we say the sympathetic nervous system is overworking. You’re either traumatized. You’re in a fight flight freeze response. The eyes reflect what’s going on in your nervous system and your emotions your psychological reactions. And so the binaural tapes give you a gentle nudge to say, a minute. 90 % of my vision is in the periphery, which I’m not using.

Sam Berne (06:41.866)

the necessary stability to start to use their vision with their brain in a better way.

Book Mark this subject. All right. That’s our show for today. I want to thank you so much for coming along on this trip until next time everyone. See ya.