I get hundreds of questions from people about their particular eye situation. When the answer would also help others, I address the topic in this column. Other questions require personalized advice. Email me with your question and I'll either answer it in a future column or tell you how to get the personal advice you need.

THIS MONTH'S QUESTION:

Q. Why are so many people skeptical about the possibility of improving vision naturally? I've personally seen results, but I've stopped spreading the word because most people think I'm nuts!

A. That's a great question because I hear from so many others who stop themselves in the same way - even when they're amazed at the changes in their own sight.

Although natural eye care has been around for thousands of years - the ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Romans had methods for improving sight - most people still consider it something new.

In the early 1900s, eye exercises were popularized by Dr. William Bates, and the Bates Method still has many adherents.

Vison training, as practiced by optometrists, began in earnest during World War II. Dr. Samuel Renshaw was hired by the U.S. Armed Forces to train the vision of pilots.

The Armed Forces weren't interested in improving nearsightedness or reducing the need for glasses. Instead, they wanted to train the pilots' ability to visually recognize - in a split fraction of a second - whether the other plane they were seeing in the sky belonged to the enemy or not.

Increasing the speed of visual recognition in a life or death situation is obviously very crucial.

Dr. Renshaw's training was so successful that he was officially credited with saving thousands of lives and was honored by the Navy for his work.

Yet, the more surprising result of Renshaw's training is that many pilots did, in fact, improve their nearsightedness, in addition to training their visual recognition.

This is just one specific example. There's literally a boat load of research that has been done over the last 60-70 years that demonstrates, time and time again, that visual skills can be trained and improved.

And more is being learned every day. Scientists used to think that strabismus could only be improved in young children. Recent research suggests that adults can improve as well.

So, why is vision training still a secret, or worse, treated with disdain?

For one, it takes time to change the mass cultural mind.

Think back fifty years. Then, doctors told you not to bother to exercise - it had no health benefits. The same doctors told you that you needn't bother watching what you ate - there was no proven link between proper diet and health.

So, it's partly a matter of time for the recognition and acceptance of vision training to build.

And, it is building:

More and more athletes are using vision training to improve their skill. The National Eye Institute recommends nutritional supplements as the only effective way to stabilize Macular Degeneration. It's even been reported that Martha Stewart does eye exercises!

Even though vision training and vision improvement are gaining in recognition, they are not mainstream, certainly not yet.

The cultural awareness will change - two eyes at a time.

When you improve your vision - even a little bit - you're an Eyesight Miracle: You're doing something that most everyone thinks you can't. Your vision is getting better and most people think the only way vision can change is when it gets worse.

Some people you tell will be excited by your miracle, others inspired to get it for themselves, and, unfortunately, others won't care.

Regardless of their reaction, I believe you must tell other people. You don't need to try to change their mind or force them to do what you're doing, but the mere act of speaking about vision in a positive, hopeful way is one small, but very important, step towards changing the cultural mind.

These small steps will build and someday people will start to wonder about vision.

If there were so many people walking around with legs that didn't work, or arms that didn't work, we'd all stop and take notice, and insist that something be done!

Yet, more than half of the people in the United States need glasses to see, and the other half think it's perfectly normal.

Until that day, it's still the problem that nobody sees.