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Vision therapy improves hand-eye coordination in athletes. Photo:DGnews
Have you wondered how you can improve your vision without surgery? What if you already had surgery or are wearing glasses and contacts and would like to see better? Vision is one of the most important senses we have. It is a very complex process that involves multiple components.
Excellent eyesight involves proper functioning of:
• Eye optics - cornea and lens that focus the image
• Neurologic components of the eye - retina and optic nerve that transmit the image to the brain
• Brain centers devoted to interpretation of the image and object recognition
• Eye muscles that function to keep the two eyes working together.
Improper functioning of vision components can result in:
• Blurry vision
• Seeing double images or ghosting
• Glare and haloes at night
• Eye fatigue, especially when doing tasks at near – such as reading or working on the computer.
Several methods exist to improve vision without surgery. One method, called Vision Therapy, aims at improving the way eye muscles function to transmit the image to the brain. The other method, called RevitalVision, aims at improving the way the brain interprets this image.
Vision Therapy:
• A neuromuscular training program that works by improving the alignment of the eyes, and strengthening of the hand-eye coordination.
• Can be done either at the eye doctor’s office or at home using computer program that teaches the eyes to refocus rapidly and work together better. Computer sessions typically last 30 minutes each and are typically done once or twice a week.
• Can improve symptoms of eye strain, headache, and blurry vision associated with working at the computer and reading.
• Can help improve athletic performance, especially in sports requiring strong hand-eye coordination, like baseball, tennis, and golf
• Can help children perform better in school. Often, children are misdiagnosed with dyslexia or learning problems when their actual problem is the way their eyes work together. When the eyes aren’t aligned properly, blurred vision can follow, and children will work so hard to keep words in focus that they can’t grasp the context. Vision therapy trains the eyes for better binocular coordination. Better reading, better comprehension, and better performance at school can be achieved.
RevitalVision:
• A computer program designed to enhance the way brain interprets the image
• Presents the participant with a series of precise visual tasks consisting of patterned images with subtle differences in orientation, size and contrast. Through repetitive practice the brain is trained to be more efficient and to improve visual processing.
• Consists of 20 sessions, 20-30 minutes each, designed to be done 2-3 times per week
• Can improve near vision to reduce the need for reading glasses
• Shown to improve vision in dim lighting and reduce halos, starbursts and glare at night.
• Used to fine-tune results after LASIK and cataract surgery
Do’s and don’ts of non-surgical vision correction:
• Do have a complete eye evaluation first, to make sure that your vision problem can be treated by a non-surgical method
• Do find a professional specializing in vision therapy and non-surgical vision correction
• Do make sure that the eye specialist is F.C.O.V.D. – Fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development
• Don’t give up too early. Non-surgical vision correction requires multiple sessions and the results may take time to become apparent.
Pacific Vision Institute www.pacificvision.org
Gemstone Foundation www.gemstonefoundation.org
Revital Vision www.revitalvision.com
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