Vision therapy is not one singular thing. This type of treatment is a customized program created by an eye doctor and performed under his or her supervision. Vision therapy encompasses exercises and activities that are non-surgical and they aim to correct certain vision problems or vision-related skills.
The confusion over vision therapy tends to come from many sources on the internet that claim to help people get rid of their refractive errors. It is not uncommon to see posts and articles about how someone used “eye exercises” for some seemingly short period of time and then magically they don’t need glasses any more. They have 20/20 vision now, right? If only that were true!
Can you train yourself to see better?
It is not possible to do simple exercises from the internet to “train” your eyes to no longer have a refractive error. Refractive errors stem from irregular shapes of the eyeball, shape of the cornea, or elasticity of the eye lens. Moreover, this is not vision therapy. Vision therapy is done with a trained eye doctor and does not claim to change the lens of the eye.
Instead, vision therapy is usually coordinated by an experienced eye doctor for someone with an eye disorder relating to eye muscles, and other structures that have to do with focusing, eye alignment, and how your eyes work with other parts of your anatomy to complete complex tasks and develop certain skills.
Because of the confusion with internet and mail-based “treatments” that have seen a rise in the last several years, we feel it is especially important to make sure patients understand vision therapy. If you have any questions about this or have concerns about your eyes or the eyes and visual development of your children, contact us to schedule an appointment. We will be happy to help!