It is one of used methods of improving (or preventing from declining, depending how you look into this) eyesight for children in Ukrainian (and probably many other post-Soviet) clinics.

I'm 30 now, I have been myopic since 6-7 years old. Every year from around 1998 to 2008 I went (well, was forced to go by my mother, she didn't like the idea of glasses) to clinic, where during 10-14 days I and other children did lots of exercises, which presumably had to improve my eyesight. Staring into a device, which emitted red light, was one of such exercises.

It usually happened one time a day, a doctor collected all children (10-15) into a group, we went into dark room, where the doctor pointed a light beam from that device (it was semi-portable) into child's eyes. There were 3-4 sessions, 1-2 minutes each. We were also encouraged to look into the sun in the evening, when it is close to the horizon and is red (for a few minutes each day).

The only problem with all those exercises is that they didn't really worked. I remember that during the first few years I at least was able to see some marginal improvements (like being able to see at the end of 2 week period 5-7 lines out of 10 instead of 4-5 on the standard chart).

However, all subsequent years I (and most children there) just imitated the progress due to the pressure from doctors ("Don't you see that line? You saw it yesterday. Have you watched TV again?") and parents ("Darling, look more carefully, you probably will see at least some letters there."). I still remember the first 7 lines (+ the last line) of that table by heart, more than 10 years since I saw/used it the last time.

Nothing worked:
- neither exercises with lenses (you look though +lenses, then though -ones, than again though +ones and so on)
- nor direct shots of vitamins and actovegin into your butt and under eyes (not as unpleasant experience as it sounds, they just enter a thin needle 1-2 cm below each of your eyes and administer a shot, it doesn't hurt all that much).
- nor special eye treatment, where you hold small reservoirs with hot Riboflavin (vitamin B2) contacting your eyes for 30 minutes each day (there were electrodes there, with small current going through your eyes, probably to make the absorption better)
- nor neck massage (What the hell neck massage has to do with eyesight? We were told, that it somehow improves blood circulation in the neck, and it is somehow better for blood circulation close to your eyes). The most pleasant exercise, by the way, you just seat for 5-7 minutes and a lady doctor does a massage.

Doing that as a child, without parents (I was dropped of in the morning and taken out closer to 16.00-17.00), waiting in queues for all those exercises (sometimes - 30-60 minutes for each). It was as close to hell as I got under my childhood.

The result - I got more or less the same -4 and -5 until I was 20 years old, just as other children, which just wore glasses. A few years after that I did laser correction, since that time I got 100% eyesight.

So, I don't believe in that "treatment". If it does something - the effect is marginal and quickly disappears a few weeks later. Get good/convenient glasses or contact lenses, if you have enough money - wait until 20-22 years and do laser surgery. It will change your life just as it changed mine.