Vision therapy
Vision therapy is a customisable and personalised treatment programme delivered by an eye specialist to strengthen visual skills. As a result, vision therapy looks different for every individual and can include a range of techniques to retrain and improve the visual system. Because vision therapy can encompass so many different techniques, it is a complicated subject. However, our consultants at AOA体育平台 Eye Centre are experts in this area. They can work with you to understand whether vision therapy could be right for you.
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What is it for?
To strengthen your visual skills by using personalised activities and treatment
What can vision therapy help to treat?
- Eye strain or fatigue 鈥� when your eyes get tired from intense use, such as when staring at a screen or computer.
- Convergence insufficiency 鈥� when the nerves that control your eye muscles don鈥檛 work together properly when you look at nearby objects, which can cause blurred or double vision.
- Amblyopia (lazy eye) 鈥� when there鈥檚 a breakdown in the brain/eye interaction which causes weak vision in one eye. Although, weak vision cannot usually be resolved in adults.
- Strabismus (squint) 鈥� when one eye points straight ahead and the other eye turns inwards or outwards or looks up or down.
- Double vision 鈥� a complication of strabismus, which can cause you to see two of one image.
- Eye teaming problems 鈥� when a breakdown in the brain/eye interaction means that your eyes don鈥檛 work together to allow you to focus and track objects.
- Focusing difficulties 鈥� when you struggle to focus your vision due to eye strain or difficulties with your eyesight including short-sightedness, long-sightedness, or astigmatism (blurred vision at all distances).
- Hand-eye coordination difficulties 鈥� when you struggle to use your hands and eyes simultaneously due to miscommunication within your visual system.
- Visual perception and processing issues 鈥� when you have difficulties processing visual information.
Vision therapy treatment options
- Convergence or fusion exercises 鈥� for example, staring at the tip of a pin at a distance which is gradually brought closer to your eyes.
- Prism lenses 鈥� which can improve the way your eyes work together, helping you to see more clearly.
- Coloured filters 鈥� using yellow or blue filters to see if they can help with reading.
- Electronic targets 鈥� looking at and following targets with your eyes to strengthen the muscles in your eyes.
- Botox injections 鈥� injecting Botox into certain eye muscles can help to align your eyes.
- Squint surgery 鈥� a surgical procedure designed to correct and align the muscles of an eye affected by a squint.
- Dichoptics or virtual reality vision training 鈥� there is research into using devices to try to make the eyes work together to improve the vision in a lazy eye. While the effectiveness is limited in adults, technology is evolving in this area.
* We offer fast appointments Monday - Friday only.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
To determine whether vision therapy could be the right treatment for you, the consultants at AOA体育平台 Eye Centre will conduct a series of tests during an extensive eye examination.
You will likely be assessed by an orthoptist, a professional trained in measuring your eye movements, ability to use both eyes together, depth perception (three-dimensional vision) and focus. They will also be able to explore whether there is anything causing eye strain.
To do this, they may use:
- Hess chart 鈥� a squared grid designed to assess whether your eye muscles are either overactive or underactive.
- Synoptophore 鈥� a tool used to assess the angles of a squint.
- Prism adaptation 鈥� a procedure during which you鈥檙e asked to point to visual targets viewed through lenses which shift in direction.
- Motor fusion tests 鈥� a series of tests designed to assess your eyes鈥� alignment.
They will then discuss your results with a consultant who will come up with a management plan for your eye problems.
Only adults are diagnosed and treated at AOA体育平台 Eye Centre. However, our consultants can arrange to see children at other specialist children鈥檚 clinics. Contact us to discuss how we might be able to help your child with any visual problems.
The length of your treatment will depend on the specific eye condition(s) being treated and the range of techniques being used to treat them.
Visual exercises
Exercises are generally supervised by the orthoptist at AOA体育平台 Eye Centre. However, visual exercises are usually done at home, but you will need to attend the eye clinic to monitor your progress.
You may also need to see your ophthalmologist on a regular basis. This kind of treatment can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months and is based entirely on when you and your doctor begin to see improvements.
Botox injections
Your consultant may propose doing one Botox injection to see if it helps resolve your eye problems. However, the effects of Botox are only temporary. So, if the initial injection was considered effective, they may prescribe a continuing course of injections that need to be repeated every three to six months.
Squint surgery
The timeline for squint surgery depends on the success of the surgery itself and whether you have any other co-occurring conditions. For example, some individuals may find their squint is completely corrected by surgery and others may find it is only partially corrected.
Squint surgery alone cannot correct poor vision in a lazy eye, so you may need to combine the procedure with wearing an eye patch or doing other kinds of eye exercises.
You can use private medical insurance (PMI) to access this treatment. We work with all major PMI providers in the UK and many internationally.
Alternatively, you can pay for yourself (self-pay). If you are paying for yourself, we have finance options available with .
Find out more about paying for your treatment here.
To book an appointment, call us today on: 0203 553 3670