Syntonics, also known as Optometric Phototherapy, has been used clinically for over sixty years in the field of optometry. It is the branch of ocular science dealing with the gentle and safe application of selected visible-light frequencies through the eyes. It is an alternative to traditional eye care. It is used for eye conditions like focusing problems, ocular discomfort and headaches, light sensitivity, visual field constriction, visual attention difficulties, stress or emotional related visual disorders, and certain visual problems related to traumatic brain injury.

The goal of Syntonics is to improve vision problems by balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. The yellow, orange and red ends of the visible spectrum stimulate the sympathetic nervous system; and the blue, indigo and violet ends stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. Green is the balance frequency stimulating the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems equally.

Light entering the eyes not only serves vision, but also travels to other important brain regions. It is believed that applying certain frequencies of light by way of the eyes can restore balance within the bodyÐs regulatory centers, thereby directly affecting the source of visual dysfunctions. This balance is referred to as syntony.

Interest in phototherapy has increased in recent years, with research showing that color changes the interaction and timing in the visual-processing system; and also with the discovery of a condition known as úseasonal affective disorderî a psychological depression occurring during the winter months, which responds to phototherapy.

Since 1992 more than 5,000 articles have been published in the medical literature describing lightÐs effect on the brain and visual system, of which roughly 1,100 studies involved the use of color.

At the 1999 Syntonic Conference, Dan Oren, MD PH D, researcher for Yale University and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicated that 50% of the entire blood volume in the body passes through the eyes in 40 minutes, and that there is a biochemical mechanism of light involving hemoglobin within the blood, allowing the eyes to be an appropriate portal for phototherapy treatment.

Dr. Rummel is a member of the College of Syntonic Optometry.

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