Vision therapy is a form of physical therapy to treat the visual system, which includes the eyes and the brain. Through a progressive series of therapeutic activities and procedures, you can develop or even recover your normal visual. Vision therapy is successful at rehabilitating all forms of binocular vision impairments. Some believe vision therapy is more effective than wearing glasses or having surgery alone.
What Is Involved
Vision therapy involves a progressive series of vision exercises which are all supervised by a physician. Your doctor will establish an individualized program to match your visual needs. Typically, vision therapy also encompasses one to two weekly in-office sessions of 30 minutes to an hour of therapy. Supplement procedures to be performed at home between doctor visits, also referred to as home reinforcement or, simply, homework, are also required. In some cases, your doctor may also give you a prescription to assist you in developing and improving your fundamental visual abilities and skills, visual comfort, efficiency and ease, and ability to change how you process and interpret visual information.
The in-office vision therapy will be supervised by your doctor or eye specialist. Many types of devices for treatment will be used. Examples of devices include corrective, prism and therapeutic lenses (which are all regulated medical devices), optical filters, occluders or eye patches, electronic targets, vestibular equipment, computer software, and training devices for visual, motor and sensory integration.
The first thing done in vision therapy is a comprehensive eye and vision exam. Following your evaluation, your eye specialist or vision care professional will advise you if you are a good candidate and if vision therapy is the right treatment for you.
Who Can Benefit
Patients of all ages, male or female can benefit from vision therapy. Vision therapy can treat and improve binocular coordination, stereopsis, eye teaming skills, stereoscopic vision, binocular fusion, depth perception, convergence, eye tracking, visual acuity, fixation skills, visual memory, focusing skills, hyperopia, visual motor integration, and visual form discrimination.
Long-Term Effects
After completing vision therapy, the benefits of the program will last you a lifetime. You will be better able to accurately focus and use your eyes together efficiently. Self-monitoring procedures may be prescribed at the conclusion of your therapy. Your therapy will prepare you for a lifetime of learning and will generally improve your visual abilities and skills.
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