Vision Therapy for Anisometropia
What is Anisometropia?
Anisometropia is a condition in which the eyes have significantly different refractive power: One eye sees very well while the other doesn’t. This discrepancy causes the brain to receive two very different images, resulting in eye strain, squinting, and headaches. Anisometropia can lead to a serious condition, amblyopia, also known as “lazy eye,” that causes the brain to compensate for the imbalance by essentially ignoring one eye and seeing solely with the other eye.
When the brain ignores one eye, communication between that eye and the brain becomes much weaker — a problem that should be addressed immediately by contacting Dr. Lisa Roach.
Anisometropia can result from:
- A large difference in the optical prescription between the two eyes
- Strabismus, with the eyes not aligning properly
- Accommodation difficulties, with one eye doing more of the focusing
- Ptosis, when the upper eyelid droops and blocks vision
- Diseases affecting the eyes or surrounding ocular structures
- A detached retina
It also can occur when the eyes are not the same size, shape, or curvature. As a result, when a person stares at an object, each eye perceives the object as a different size, causing it to appear blurry.
What Can be Done About Anisometropia?
If the visual acuity difference between the two eyes vary widely, this may not be correctable with eyeglasses. However, contact lenses may prove to be more effective as they sit directly on the eyes. LASIK surgery also is an option.
During childhood, anisometropia is best addressed through vision therapy, which is a personalized regimen of exercises managed by Dr. Lisa Roach. Vision therapy for children with anisometropia might include the following:
- Customized exercises to stimulate the brain’s connection with the weaker eye
- Wearing a patch over the favored eye so the patient has no choice but to see with the weaker eye
- Wearing prisms while doing homework, watching TV, or playing video games
- Eye drops that temporarily blur the favored eye, again leaving no option but to rely on the weaker eye.
Vision Therapy Center At Eye Trends provides vision therapy for those with anisometropia from Houston, Spring, Woodlands, Conroe, and throughout Texas.
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