Vision Therapy

[Stix25]

Hello all,
This was mentioned briefly on a previous thread, but there were no helpful responses to it. I had the MEPS physical recently, and discovered that I have 20/70 vision. Right now I am contemplating PRK surgery which may be the way I end up going. However, I was talking to my optometrist and he recommended vision therapy. He claimed he could work with me and that I could be seeing 20/40 or better within a short time frame. Its hard to believe, but when you're desperate you will think about doing anything that offers hope. I am very skeptical obviously, and I would like to know if any of you have first-hand or second-hand knowledge with vision therapy and its results?
Thanks for any info you have to offer

 

[RedFive]

Are you talking about "eye exercises?" Don't waste your time -- I tried it. All it does it make your eyeballs sore. Just get PRK and you'll be good to go.

 

[redmidgrl]

I did vision therapy, but I started at 20/40 in my left eye (20/20 in my right). After a few months of vision therapy three days a week, got my left eye down to 20/20. It worked for me.

~Red

 

[bunk22]

I did vision therapy, but I started at 20/40 in my left eye (20/20 in my right). After a few months of vision therapy three days a week, got my left eye down to 20/20. It worked for me.

~Red

So school me Red, what is vision therapy?

 

[MasterBates]

The opposite of my callsign?

 

[redmidgrl]

My senior year at GDub, I went to a place in DC called the Vision and Conceptual Development Center (VCDC). When I first started going, my left eye was pretty weak and relying heavily on my right eye to do all the work. I couldn't cross my eyes (voluntary convergence), and I had trouble focusing on different points in space with just my left eye. With both eyes open, I could be 20/20, but my left eye was holding me back from being 20/20 in each eye.

The doctor in charge was a former USAF Bombadier who, after leaving the service, helped aircrew keep up their visual acuity. He also worked on the vision of the Washington Redskins in order to improve their passing game. Typical clients were actually young children who had problems in addition to vision such as developmental problems or learning disabilities. The philosophy of this place was that "vision is learned". At first I was skeptical (as many of you are and should be), but after a few weeks I could tell there was a difference.

It was basically like going to the gym for my eyeballs. There were times in the first two months that I would have to go home and take a nap after an appointment because my eyes were so tired that they made the rest of me feel tired. We worked on acuity, saccatic eye movement (getting my eyes to move quicker and more acurately to specific points in space), and voluntary convergence among other things.

I got so good after six months, that they would have me walking on a balance beam away from them as they threw tennis balls at me from behind and I would have to catch them as they came into my vision field while still walking on that thing. They had pages of writing that you could only read if you crossed your eyes at a very specific point in space that I started to conquer at the end.

I continue to do these exercises and my vision continues to improve: when I first showed up in Pensacola for API, the NAMI docs still prescribed me glasses because my left eye was not quite perfect yet. At my last yearly flight physical here in Kingsville, they removed the "needs glasses" from my upchit because I tested 20/20 in both eyes without glasses.

My only disclaimer is that when I started, my vision was good enough that no doc wanted to cut my eyes with PRK (docs typically won't cut you if you're better than 20/50 in an eye). So while I only had some fine tuning to do, it was totally worth it. It was a bit of work and took some time to get where I am now, but if you're in a similar position that I was, I definitely recommend it.

~Red

 

[bunk22]

The opposite of my callsign?

So simply not doing that would be vision therapy huh? Problem is, I'd be completely blind by now if doing "that" were the cause of bad vision

I was just curious red, thank you.

 

[MasterBates]

I've only managed to take myself from 20/15 to 20/20 by living up to my name.. It must be a slow time based function.

 

[Stix25]

I did vision therapy, but I started at 20/40 in my left eye (20/20 in my right). After a few months of vision therapy three days a week, got my left eye down to 20/20. It worked for me.

~Red

That's really interesting... especially since I'm real close to the cutoff (at my doc I tested 20/40 left and 20/60 right). I got a question though. My doc mentioned that even if my vision doesn't improve, I will undoubtedly improve at the Snellen chart and taking eye exams in general. After you were doing vision therapy for around a month, did you notice changes in your ability to interpret the fuzzy little letters on your eye chart? Or were you able to focus better on the chart in any other way?
I'm just about to accept the fact that I have to have PRK done, but I'm not going to do it until i exhaust all options. Thanks for your responses

 

[bunk22]

I've only managed to take myself from 20/15 to 20/20 by living up to my name.. It must be a slow time based function.

About the same with my left eye but not right eye. I'm right handed but the left side of the brain controls the right side, correct? But is it he arm motion or just the action? I should know this by now Anyway, back to the subject.

 

[redmidgrl]

That's really interesting... especially since I'm real close to the cutoff (at my doc I tested 20/40 left and 20/60 right). I got a question though. My doc mentioned that even if my vision doesn't improve, I will undoubtedly improve at the Snellen chart and taking eye exams in general. After you were doing vision therapy for around a month, did you notice changes in your ability to interpret the fuzzy little letters on your eye chart? Or were you able to focus better on the chart in any other way?
I'm just about to accept the fact that I have to have PRK done, but I'm not going to do it until i exhaust all options. Thanks for your responses

It's true that when you look at vision charts frequently enough that you brain is clever enough to try to decipher the shapes that letters make. After a month there wasn't much improvement. After about three, there was a noticeable difference, and it continued to improve quickly after that. I think it was because I was mastering the biofeedback involved in vision -- essentially, I was LEARNING how to see and LEARNING how my make myself see things better.

 

[feddoc]

Hello all,
This was mentioned briefly on a previous thread, but there were no helpful responses to it. I had the MEPS physical recently, and discovered that I have 20/70 vision. Right now I am contemplating PRK surgery which may be the way I end up going. However, I was talking to my optometrist and he recommended vision therapy. He claimed he could work with me and that I could be seeing 20/40 or better within a short time frame. Its hard to believe, but when you're desperate you will think about doing anything that offers hope. I am very skeptical obviously, and I would like to know if any of you have first-hand or second-hand knowledge with vision therapy and its results?
Thanks for any info you have to offer

I don't think it is hard to believe at all.

 

[bunk22]

It's true that when you look at vision charts frequently enough that you brain is clever enough to try to decipher the shapes that letters make. After a month there wasn't much improvement. After about three, there was a noticeable difference, and it continued to improve quickly after that. I think it was because I was mastering the biofeedback involved in vision -- essentially, I was LEARNING how to see and LEARNING how my make myself see things better.

I guess I could look it up but you have been there done that Red...so what specifically are these eye excercises??

 

[redmidgrl]

I guess I could look it up but you have been there done that Red...so what specifically are these eye excercises??

I started a new thread that detailed some of these exercises in the PRK section. I did my best trying to describe how to do them because I'm not there to show you. Let me know if you have any questions so I can try to describe them better.