Dr William Horatio Bates was born in 1860 in Newark, New Jersey. He received his Medical Degree in 1885 and practised both privately and in various hospitals in New York City.

From 1886 to 1891 he was an instructor in ophthalmology at the New York Postgraduate Hospital and Medical School, and at various times he also acted as advisor to school boards in New York State. From 1907 to 1922 he took outpatient clinics at the Harlem Hospital.

Before the turn of the century Dr Bates had become increasingly dissatisfied with conventional ophthalmological practice, and he consequently began his own research into eyesight disorders, which led to the development of The Bates Method.

As early as 1891 he had learned how to help people out of their glasses.

His dissatisfaction had begun when he observed patients with a refractive error (e.g. short or long sight) that seemed to spontaneously change for the better, sometimes to the point of a complete reversal of symptoms.

This led him to question one of the most basic assumptions of the accepted practice of ophthalmology; namely, that once symptoms of refractive error were present in a particular patient, then nothing could be done other than prescribing glasses.

Dr Bates went on to formulate a new set of theories about eyesight and he developed a method to help people to improve their sight.

The theories developed by Dr Bates are continuing to be taught all over the world, with professional teachers in many countries helping people to see better without glasses, lenses. or disease.