Vision therapy update
Dec. 15th, 2019 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaA couple of years ago I started vision therapy for incomitant (varies with whether I'm looking left, right, up, or down) strabismus (crossed eyes) and diplopia (double vision). I've had the slightly crossed eyes since I was 4 years old, and my brain cleverly coped by blocking input from one eye, which means I didn't have depth perception, but it saved me from double vision.
That was working less well for me and I was seeing double when trying to talk to people (distracting!), plus the lack of depth perception was a problem for driving (which I do very little) and biking downhill fast (which I do often).
I tried a couple of different clinics, and ended up at Pacific University Eye Clinic, being seen by student interns, with a supervising doctor. There is a new set of interns every 3 months, so I interacted with several of them. Overall it was a positive experience, and I appreciate the lower cost of a student clinic, since my insurance didn't cover any of this. They were generous with lending out all the equipment I needed for exercises without charging for it.
On the downside, no one ever gave me an overall summary of how vision therapy works, so I was surprised and disappointed several times. Also, after the first round, I was more familiar with (my) vision therapy than the new interns, which got awkward. My case is atypical, since I see double more at a distance than close-up. The interns are in their 20's and mostly work with children, so they can be more condescending than collaborative.
I thought they could completely fix my eyes. Or rather, that I could fix my eyes with their guidance. This strongly motivated me to do my exercises every day. Sadly, it turns out vision therapy is more like PT. It can strengthen weaker pathways and help compensate for problems, but it didn't affect my baseline eye function at all.
I thought I wouldn't need prisms in my glasses. I tried temporary stick-on Fresnel prisms for quite a while, because I thought I would keep improving. I finally got permanent ones built into my glasses, and I'm very happy with them. I don't see double (mostly) and I have depth perception! In that sense, this whole thing was 100% successful, just not in the way I was expecting.
I thought the in-clinic appointments would create change, which the at-home exercises would support. It's more the opposite, and after a while they said they couldn't do anything for me in the clinic, so I stopped going in for appointments, but continued doing the exercises.
I thought I would do all my exercises the way they told me for a period of time, and then be done. Instead, there is a long tapering off period, and I'm finding that I start seeing double more often when I do the exercises less. Again like PT, I have to keep strengthening those alternate pathways to keep them working.
Overall, I'm pleased with having depth perception now, even if it's mostly because of the prisms in my glasses. I think the exercises did help me take better advantage of them, and probably helped more close-up, since that's the more usual case. I do wonder if there's anything out there that could help more, since I had the ongoing sense that the interns and even the supervising doctor weren't focused on my specific case, but were following their standard protocols.
I suspect my eye/brain coping mechanisms are continuing to degrade as I get older, and that I might need stronger prisms over time. I'm still pleased that I tried vision therapy and wish I had tried it much earlier in my life. I wish I had understood it better from the beginning.
That was working less well for me and I was seeing double when trying to talk to people (distracting!), plus the lack of depth perception was a problem for driving (which I do very little) and biking downhill fast (which I do often).
I tried a couple of different clinics, and ended up at Pacific University Eye Clinic, being seen by student interns, with a supervising doctor. There is a new set of interns every 3 months, so I interacted with several of them. Overall it was a positive experience, and I appreciate the lower cost of a student clinic, since my insurance didn't cover any of this. They were generous with lending out all the equipment I needed for exercises without charging for it.
On the downside, no one ever gave me an overall summary of how vision therapy works, so I was surprised and disappointed several times. Also, after the first round, I was more familiar with (my) vision therapy than the new interns, which got awkward. My case is atypical, since I see double more at a distance than close-up. The interns are in their 20's and mostly work with children, so they can be more condescending than collaborative.
I thought they could completely fix my eyes. Or rather, that I could fix my eyes with their guidance. This strongly motivated me to do my exercises every day. Sadly, it turns out vision therapy is more like PT. It can strengthen weaker pathways and help compensate for problems, but it didn't affect my baseline eye function at all.
I thought I wouldn't need prisms in my glasses. I tried temporary stick-on Fresnel prisms for quite a while, because I thought I would keep improving. I finally got permanent ones built into my glasses, and I'm very happy with them. I don't see double (mostly) and I have depth perception! In that sense, this whole thing was 100% successful, just not in the way I was expecting.
I thought the in-clinic appointments would create change, which the at-home exercises would support. It's more the opposite, and after a while they said they couldn't do anything for me in the clinic, so I stopped going in for appointments, but continued doing the exercises.
I thought I would do all my exercises the way they told me for a period of time, and then be done. Instead, there is a long tapering off period, and I'm finding that I start seeing double more often when I do the exercises less. Again like PT, I have to keep strengthening those alternate pathways to keep them working.
Overall, I'm pleased with having depth perception now, even if it's mostly because of the prisms in my glasses. I think the exercises did help me take better advantage of them, and probably helped more close-up, since that's the more usual case. I do wonder if there's anything out there that could help more, since I had the ongoing sense that the interns and even the supervising doctor weren't focused on my specific case, but were following their standard protocols.
I suspect my eye/brain coping mechanisms are continuing to degrade as I get older, and that I might need stronger prisms over time. I'm still pleased that I tried vision therapy and wish I had tried it much earlier in my life. I wish I had understood it better from the beginning.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-23 12:36 am (UTC)It was delightful to have some depth perception after a lifetime without, but in the end the exercises were too painful. My developmental optometrist was mystified by that pain. Most of my muscles get sore and weak when subjected to a repeated load. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm thrilled with my prisms now -- I can thread a needle! I have some idea of how far away the car is when I'm crossing the street! But they're heavy. The pillow nose pads made a huge difference in comfort.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-23 12:51 am (UTC)I'm glad the prisms are working for you! Good to know about the helpful pillow nose pads. And sorry to hear the exercises were painful.