Retinoscopy

Much of my information about the eyes was obtained through retinoscopy , i.e.clinical examination of the retina. Retinoscope is a tool designed to determine the re-fraction of the eye. With his help, a puma of light reflected from the mirror is thrown into the pupil. The light source can be either outside the instrument-above or behind the patient-and within it( using an electric battery).When viewed through a hole in the mirror, the doctor sees a large or smaller part of the pupil filled with light, which in the normal eye has a reddish-yellow color( according to the color of the retina).If the eye is focused on the point from which HE is inspected, it is inaccurate, the doctor also sees a dark shadow at the edge of the pupil. The behavior of this shadow, when the mirror moves in different directions, is what shows us the refractive state of the eye.

If the instrument is used at a distance of six feet and the shadow moves in the direction opposite to the movement of the mirror, then the eye is myopic. If the shadow moves in the same direction as the mirror, then the eye is either hypermetropic or normal. In the case of hypermetropia, this movement is more pronounced than in the case of a normal eye, and the specialist can usually distinguish between these two states, only by the nature of the shadow movement. With astigmatism, this motion is different in different meridians( the meridian is the projection of the plane drawn through the poles of the eye on its front part.) To determine the degree of deviation of refraction from the norm, to correctly distinguish the hypermetropic eye from normal or to distinguish different types of astigmatism, it is usually necessary to experiment with the lensplaced in front of the patient's eye. If the concave is used instead of the plane mirror, the described movements will have the opposite direction.a mirror is used more often

The Snellen checklist and test spectacle lenses can be used only under certain favorable conditions. The retinoscope can be used always and everywhere. It is slightly easier to apply in dim lighting than in bright light, but in principle, it can be used whenany illumination, even in bright sunlight, beating directly into the eye. Petinoscope can also be used under many other unfavorable conditions.

Determination of refraction using Snellen checklists and trial lenses takes considerable time( from minutes to hours).With the help of the retinoscope, refraction can be determined in a fraction of a second. Previous methods would be impossible to obtain any information about refraction, for example, a player in baseball at the moment when he turns to the ball, at the moment when he strikes it, and at the moment after the strike. And with retinoskoiom it is fairly easy to determine whether his vision is normal, or it is onomistic, hypermetropic or astigmatic at the moment when the player makes these movements. If, however, any refractive anomalies are noted, then one can fairly accurately determine their degree in the speed of movement of the shadow.

With checklists and trial lenses, findings should be made based on the patient's statements about what he sees. But the patient is often so worried and embarrassed during the test that he does not know what he sees, how he does not know whether his glasses improve or worsen his vision. Moreover, the acuity of fenia is not a reliable indication of the state of refraction. A patient with two diopters of myopia can see twice as much as another with the same refraction anomaly. Survey on the checklist is in fact completely subjective, while conclusions drawn from retinoscopy are completely objective, in no way depend on the patient's statements.

In short, the definition of refraction using a checklist or test lenses is time consuming and can only be performed under certain favorable conditions with results that are not always reliable. At the same time, the retinoscope can be used for all kinds of normal and abnormal eye conditions for both humans and animals. The results of correctly conducted regoscopy always depend on the state of refraction of the eye. Proper retinoscopy means that the retinoscope should not be brought closer to the eye than six feet. Otherwise, the survey object will become nervous, and the refraction, for reasons that will be discussed later, will change, which will not allow us to conduct a reliable survey. If we are talking about animals, then the retinoscope often needs to be used at much greater distances.

For more than 30 years I have been using the retinoscope to study the refraction of the eye. With his help, I examined the eyes of tens of thousands of schoolchildren, hundreds of infants and thousands of animals, including cats, dogs, rabbits, cows, birds, horses, turtles, reptiles and fish. Retinoscope was used when the objects of the survey were resting and when they were in motion( and also when I was moving myself), at the moment of awakening and when they fell asleep. Observations were carried out even when the objects of investigation were under the influence of chloroform or ether. I applied a retinoscope during day and night;at the moments when the objects of the survey were calm and when they were worried;when they tried to see something and when they did not make such efforts;when they lied and when they told the truth;When the eyelids were partially covered, covering part of the pupil;When the pupil was enlarged and when it was narrowed to the size of the pinhead;When the eye moved from side to side, up and down and in other directions.

In this way, I was able to discover a lot of previously unknown facts that it was absolutely impossible to bring into accord with the generally accepted views in this field of research. This made me take a series of experiments, which I already mentioned. Their results fully corresponded to the data of my previous studies, which left me no choice but to refute the whole essence of the orthodox doctrine of accommodation and refraction anomalies.