Vision therapy is a specialized field focused on enhancing visual skills and improving how the eyes and brain work together. This non-surgical approach aims to address various visual challenges that can impact daily activities, learning, and overall quality of life. It involves a personalized program designed to retrain the visual system, making it more efficient and effective.
What Vision Therapy Is
This individualized treatment program goes beyond simply correcting refractive errors with glasses or contact lenses. It focuses instead on enhancing the communication between the eyes and the brain, aiming to strengthen and refine visual skills such as eye teaming (how both eyes work together), focusing (the ability to adjust clarity for different distances), and tracking (smoothly following moving objects or lines of text).
This specialized treatment addresses conditions like strabismus (crossed eyes or eye misalignment), amblyopia (lazy eye), and convergence insufficiency (eyes struggle to turn inward for near objects). It also helps with learning-related visual problems, eye fatigue, double vision, depth perception difficulties, and visual processing issues.
How Effective Is Vision Therapy?
For convergence insufficiency, studies show significant success rates, with office-based vision therapy combined with home exercises proving highly effective. One study noted a success rate of 61.9% for adults receiving in-office plus home therapy, which was significantly greater than home therapy alone or a control group. Another study found significant improvements among 75% of children who attended weekly office-based sessions and completed at-home exercises.
Vision therapy is effective in treating amblyopia (lazy eye) in both children and adults. It can significantly improve visual acuity and binocular function by training the brain to use both eyes together. For strabismus, particularly intermittent cases, vision therapy can be effective, with success rates ranging from 75-87% in achieving functional binocular vision and cosmetic alignment. While early intervention in children often yields quicker results due to the brain’s adaptability, adults can also experience significant improvements.
What Happens During Vision Therapy?
Vision therapy programs involve personalized exercises and activities to improve eye-brain coordination. Sessions take place in an optometrist’s office, once or twice weekly, lasting 30 minutes to an hour. Exercises are tailored to the individual’s needs, age, and abilities.
During therapy, a range of specialized tools and equipment may be used, including therapeutic lenses, prisms, filters, eye patches, and electronic devices. Activities include eye movement exercises for tracking, binocular vision exercises for eye teaming, and visual-motor integration exercises coordinating visual perception with motor skills. Patients are often given at-home exercises to reinforce the skills learned during in-office sessions, typically requiring 10-15 minutes of practice several times a week. Program duration varies by condition and individual progress, commonly spanning several months, with some programs lasting three to nine months or even up to a year for more complex cases.
Seeking Vision Therapy
When considering vision therapy, it is advisable to seek out qualified professionals who specialize in this area. Optometrists who focus on developmental optometry or vision therapy are typically the practitioners who provide these services. Professional organizations such as the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) offer board certification for optometrists and vision therapists, indicating specialized training and expertise in vision therapy and rehabilitation.
The initial step in determining if vision therapy is an appropriate treatment involves a comprehensive vision examination. This evaluation goes beyond standard sight tests to assess how the eyes work together, how the brain processes visual information, and to identify any underlying visual challenges. A qualified vision care professional can then advise on whether vision therapy is a suitable option and develop a personalized treatment plan based on the assessment results.