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[bc_collapse title=”I have crossed eyes (strabismus) and/or a lazy eye (amblyopia), I didn’t know I couldn’t see in 3D.” open=”n”]Neither did I! I thought I could see like everyone else after my two surgeries that cosmetically straightened my eyes. I wore glasses or contact lenses. No eye doctor ever told me my brain repressed the vision in one eye, limiting my depth perception. Unfortunately, our cases are not uncommon. I have met other people who also did not find out that they saw “flat” or in 2D until a friend or family member pointed it out to them.
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[bc_collapse title=”Why don’t optometrists and ophthalmologists tell all of their patients with monocular vision that they have limited depth perception?” open=”n”]I don’t know! It would help us all to know what 2D vision is and that our limited depth perception could potentially lead us to have lots of trouble playing any sports that require hand-eye coordination, walking downstairs, driving, parking, merging in traffic, pouring water from a pitcher into a glass, etc.
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[bc_collapse title=”Should I (or my family member) do vision therapy?” open=”n”]I am not licensed to give optometric or ophthalmological medical advice. I can only speak from my personal experience. There were many side effects I was not prepared for nor warned about. The financial cost of doing vision therapy is a huge factor to consider. You have to weigh the potential gains with the cost, loss of productivity, side effects and your personal and professional obligations.
This is a personal decision you should make only after consulting with a developmental or behavioral optometrist who does vision therapy who can tell you what your potential chances and challenges may be. I can not help people make personal medical decisions.
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[bc_collapse title=”How much does vision therapy cost?” open=”n”]In the US, vision therapy may cost $100 for a half-hour session. A university optometry clinic may be less expensive. My insurance did not cover vision therapy.
In countries with socialized medicine, some vision therapy visits may be covered by the national health care insurance.
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[bc_collapse title=”I can’t afford to pay for vision therapy! What can I do? Should I do the therapy on my own (DIY style)?” open=”n”]If you’re in the United States, you may have the option of a health savings account (HSA) or a flexible spending account (FSA) where you can pay for medical services using pre-tax income. This could be an option to pay for vision therapy if your insurance doesn’t cover it.
An optometry university health clinic could potentially be less expensive than going to a private vision vision therapist. However, there are few optometrists around the country and around the world with experience with binocular vision therapy.
I tried to do a little bit of vision therapy on my own but there is a huge risk involved in doing unsupervised vision therapy exercises, especially those using virtual reality machines. In order to get vision therapy equipment from Bernell Corporation, you have to have a prescription from an optometrist. You cannot buy the equipment or exercises (quoit vectograms, red-green 3D images, color charts, etc) on your own. I have read of people doing vision therapy on their own, and I applaud them for their courage to do this by themselves. However I do have to warn about the risks of doing DIY therapy.
Where do I find an optometrist who does vision therapy?
Visit http://locate.covd.org/.
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[bc_collapse title=”I live in a country where we don’t have vision therapist what can I do?” open=”n”]If there is no optometrist near you who does vision therapy, you might have to travel to a neighboring country for a consultation with an optometrist to find out if you’re a candidate for vision therapy. Ask if it’s possible for you to do vision therapy exercises from home and periodically travel to see the doctor.
I have met people United States who travel from very far to visit a binocular vision specialist in the San Francisco Bay Area. They do vision therapy at home and come periodically to see their doctor.
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[bc_collapse title=”I am fine with my vision as it is why should I change it?” open=”n”]If you are fine with your limited depth perception as-is, no one is going to force you to improve your vision. However, you should keep in mind that if you mostly see from only one eye and suppress the other eye, the suppressed eye may be weak. By not strengthening the weak eye, you run the risk of blindness or very low vision if anything bad happens to your good eye.
You could think of vision therapy as an insurance policy for your future vision. You’ll know that you have a better chance of being able to see from at least one of your eyes.
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[bc_collapse title=”Will vision therapy be a replacement for surgery?” open=”n”]This is a question you have to discuss both with the ophthalmologist (surgeon) and with an optometrist specialized in vision therapy.
Vision therapy did straighten my eyes. (Even after two surgeries, my eyes were still both horizontally and vertically misaligned.)
Some people do vision therapy without needing surgery, while others do surgery and vision therapy together. It depends on the severity of your eye turn.
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[bc_collapse title=”What are the potential side effects?” open=”n”]Not every patient experiences side effects and the side effects vary.
Potential side effects: double vision (diplopia), nausea, headaches, extreme fatigue, loss of mental clarity, mixing up languages (if you’re multilingual), extreme sensitivity to noise, inability to be in a moving vehicle.
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[bc_collapse title=”My eyes appear to be straight. My family and friends don’t believe me when I say I have strabismus and/or amblyopia. They don’t understand why I don’t drive, play tennis or have trouble walking downstairs.” open=”n”]Seeing is not believing!
We have a hidden disability. When people, who are used to having good vision, don’t perceive us as being handicapped, they are only trusting what their eyes tell them, and not what we have said. I hear, “But you look normal. How can you be partially blind?” too often.
We don’t look like Cyclops but when we tell people we’re monocular, they don’t believe us.
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[bc_collapse title=”Do you see in 3D yet?” open=”n”]My depth perception and visual acuity are better than before vision therapy and I still marvel at new things that I can see that I couldn’t see before. However, I do not have complete 3D vision.
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[bc_collapse title=”You suffered a lot to do VT, including the cost of the treatment, loss of productivity, emotional suffering, loss of friendships. Do you regret doing vision therapy?” open=”n”]Not at all. I see the world differently now. I can see small objects and perceive distance better than before. Rewiring one’s brain as an adult is extremely difficult. It is a rebirth to see anew.
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[bc_collapse title=”What is vision therapy?” open=”n”]Vision therapy is like physical therapy for the eyes and brain. In vision therapy, the patient is rewiring their brain to awaken dormant binocular vision cells and to force the brain to fuse the image from both eyes to see in 3D. The book, One-Eyed Princess, shows images of the vision therapy equipment Susanna used and explains the vision therapy exercises Susanna did.
Prism glasses for vision therapy
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