This is true. From what I've learned from my vision therapist that surgery alone isn't the best solution. Vision therapy works best for strabismus because it helps improve how our eyes and brain to work together. Surgery primarily corrects the cosmetic alignment of the eyes, but it doesn't fix the real problem.
Have not tried VT, but want to, and believe it would help significantly. I've taught myself what full binocular vision feels like and can limit eye turn.
My daughter is 4 and has alternate accomodative intermittant esotropia. She crosses when she's looking at things close up, her glasses have corrected the majority of the eyes turning which I am very grateful for. Her eyes started crossing at age 2.5. She is crossing at 50 prism diopters at the moment. We live in the UK, and we feel our only option is surgery via the NHS, because that is literally the only option available to us at her age. I've been exploring vision therapy whilst waiting for the op. The only vision therapist that has got back to me lives abroad and visits the area infrequently (1 hour+ away). She won't work with children under 7 and it seems to me that most vision therapists dont work with younger children. I'm feeling stuck and frustrated. I don't know what to do for the best. I'm grateful that glasses correct the majority of the turns, but there is an obvious crossing of eyes even with them. Do I wait until age 7 to try vision therapy? The NHS say surgeries should take place before this age for maximum results as the eyes go through more of a permenant development phase at age 7/8. I find all of this information so confusing and I don't know what to do for the best im getting mixed messages and the more I look into this the more confused I become, I'm just trying to do the best for my daughter. Can anybody offer any advice on VT vs Surgery please, what would you do? Thanks for reading x
@@RebeccaM8815surgery is great for the visual side, but VT is what will make the eyes working well and stay straight forever and most important keep a good vision
if you can get her into a good developmental optometrist now, they can help prescribe functional glasses that might help her keep her eyes straight and monitor even if they don’t start the therapy right away. I would give that at least six months to a year to see how the different prescriptions can affect the eye turn before doing surgery. But surgery also might make a really big difference, especially with that large angle!
Plz can you answer me i have 5-15PD exotropia after surgery i am doing barrel card convergence exercise from 2 day but i can't do it properly i am not able to see both color together it is normal at initial days does exercise reduce the squint angle
I would definitely recommend getting in with a vision therapy office, it makes a big difference. I can help you find one at strabismussolutions.com/findvt/
Please answer me, I have strabismus like the one you had and when I close my dominant eye the other one gets back to its place .. I'm 32 do I have hope with home vision therapy ?
Home vision therapy isn't as effective for a constant eye turn. It can work for someone with a mild, controlled turn, but for severe strabismus, I recommend in-office vision therapy.
After doing a ton of research on strabismus, especially esotropia, I believe that surgery is not the answer to this problem. No one is born with eye muscles that are attached incorrectly, or too long or short. The answer is in the brain and how it is directing the eyes to work together. Fix that with vision therapy.
@@strabismustostereopsis7799 Yes I am doing it now. I have adult onset esotropia and it seems that it was caused by over correction of my myopia with contact lenses. My current optomotrist reduced my lenses from -5.50 to 3.50 my first visit and I was fine! Your videos are great and really give us the benefit of your experience of your therapy. Thank you so much!
@@aspidoscelis You can rule out physical eye problem if all the testing comes back negative. The brain is the organ that controls how your eyes function together. Syntonics and vision therapy are effective in training or retraining your brain to correctly coordinate eye function.
Development intermittent estropia as an adult. I did VT weekly in office for a little over a year and at home for longer. Lots of prescription changes and TONS of frustration. I have improvement but its not fixed. My near to distance accommodation is always an issue and my fatigue level is a major factor on my control and how much it turns, witch makes finding a good prism amount very hard. Doctors say my eye isn't turning but my double vision is still a major issue. They want me to try prisms and don't recommend surgery. Problem is I only need them in my distance prescription and not my near pair and switching in and out of prisms sucks
@@strabismustostereopsis7799I feel surgery is the only thing left but I'm so scared of making it so much worse, and not finding a doctor that understands my situation. I know they will just give me a frenel prism for a few weeks and suggest sugery. I can have fantastic eye days but its the consistency and constant eye exercises every morning that get to me. Anyway I'm rambling. your channel has been a great help for me especially when i get super depressed about my eyes.
I'm 21 and I was born with internmitent strabidmus in both eyes. But instead of the sirugy I did VT since I was child. Also I didn't glasses as I see properly. However, now being 21 i want to have the sirugy ti correct it totally as it appers when I am really tired, distracted or sleepy. So what should I do? I want to correct totally but as I said it isn't notorious. Would it be right to take the rest? I do not want it to look worse. As really progress in this years
Some in your situation have had great success with surgery, but it is not a guarantee. I usually don’t think surgery is a good option if the eye turn is intermittent, but if you’ve done years of therapy already, it may be time.
Thanks for putting this video out. Very encouraging to those who are not convinced VT will work. I actually have a question about your other video on "Vertical Prism Rotation" exercise. I already posted my question on that video, but since it was put out 1 year ago, so I'm not sure if you will notice it there. Here's the question again. "Hi, I'm very interested in this exercise. My question is this: if your L eye is higher than the R eye, do you place BD or BU prism in front of the L eye, or it does not matter?". Thanks.
It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you are working towards getting fusion and need extra help, you would use base up, which would help the eye move down. if you are trying to make the eye stronger and give yourself a challenge then you would go With base down. It is definitely an exercise you should talk to your eye doctor about first! It is amazing, but can also make a mess of your vision if done wrong.
@@strabismustostereopsis7799 I apologize if my follow-up question is a bit long, but I hope your answers to these questions will benefit anyone who reads it. First of all, thanks so much for your response. Your explanation makes a lot of sense. When I did my vision therapy (VT) at a neuro-optometrist’s office for 9 months (now doing it myself at home), I was given a somewhat similar exercise for my L hyperphoria called “Vertical Prism Fusion”. It’s very similar to the later part of your “Vertical Prism Rotation”. The therapist instructed me to hold a prism (BU and BD) in front of each eye (L and R eye), but never explained the rationale. I’m a very inquisitive VT practitioner and always like to know the purpose of each exercise. So I figure if we have exophoria (outward), then we do more convergence exercises, and if we have esophoria (inward), then we do more divergence exercises - always the opposite of the direction of the deviation. By the same token, if one eye (L) is higher than the other (R), then we should use BU prism to shift the image DOWN, forcing the L eye to also move DOWN to fuse the image. This makes sense as we try to move the L eye DOWN - in the opposite direction of its deviation (UP). What I find a bit counterintuitive is that we also use BD prism on the same eye (L eye) to shift the image UP and also move the L eye further UP, making fusion more difficult. Why? Your answer has explained why. You said that if the L eye is higher (I have left hyperphoria), then (A) placing a BU prism will help the eye move down, making fusion easier, but (B) placing a BD prism will force the eye to move up further, making fusion even harder. I know that it’s more difficult to treat vertical than horizontal misalignment, but it’s still possible to reduce or even eliminate the associated symptoms (eye strain, dizziness) if we can build up sufficient “vertical vergence range” to compensate. If this is true, which one, (A) or (B) as mentioned above, will be responsible for strengthening the vertical vergence range? As far as I know, the “vertical prism fusion” as in my VT training is to help vertical fusion because of the BU/BD prism. What then is the purpose of the “vertical prism rotation” exercise shown in your video? Finally, are all the exercises in your channel designed only for people with strabismus? I have some exophoria and L hyperphoria. After 9 months of office VT and about 6 months of home VT so far, the exophoria has reduced significantly from 20+ to < 2D, and the left hyperphoria has also reduced from 3.5 to < 2D now - which is quite encouraging. Will I (or someone with H and V heterophoria) benefit from the exercises in your channel? What about the online courses on your website? Again, TIA for your insight and for taking the time to reply.
You have made some amazing progress already with vision therapy. Are you still checking in with your OD on occasion for maintenance? I don't feel comfortable telling you how to use the prism for your individual case because I'm not a doctor and don't know your history, etc. I will say that prisms are a great way to build ranges and flexibility with the eyes in all directions! The goal is fusion. If you get fusion easily, make it more challenging. If you can't get fusion, make it easier. Have you tried any Virtual Reality? I would think you would be a great candidate.
@@strabismustostereopsis7799 Yes, I agree my progress is considered rapid especially with my EXO. I hope it'll encourage others to at least try VT. I have to admit that I see a much slower progress for my HYPER. That is why I'm concentrating on doing more exercises on it now. Based on the instruction of my VT therapist, I'm supposed to hold one prism lens (BU and BD) in front of each eye (R eye and L eye) and see how quickly I can fuse the image; then remove the prism lens and see how quickly I can regain fusion. I have been following this procedure, but just curious why use both BU and BD, instead of just one of them depending on whether you have L or R hyperphoria. Btw, I have L hyperphoria but I don't see double as my eyes/brain fuse image automatically. I understand your being cautious in suggesting anything to viewers not being a doctor. Actually, what I'm asking is just to explain why we need to use both BU and BD prism regardless of whether it's your L or R eye that is higher. Finally, you said I can be a good candidate to try Virtual Reality. Is this something that I can do it online somewhere? Any website links you can kindly share. Thanks again for your attention and any explanation you are able to offer.
Yes, for some people. I notice that I squint my lazy eye, especially when it is bright outside. After doing that for 38 years, I feel like it is permanently smaller.
I had an eye turn and VT alone helped me ! It definitely does help reducing it
That is awesome! I'm so happy for you and I love to hear this!
This is true. From what I've learned from my vision therapist that surgery alone isn't the best solution. Vision therapy works best for strabismus because it helps improve how our eyes and brain to work together. Surgery primarily corrects the cosmetic alignment of the eyes, but it doesn't fix the real problem.
Yes!!! You get it. Good luck in your therapy!
Have not tried VT, but want to, and believe it would help significantly. I've taught myself what full binocular vision feels like and can limit eye turn.
My daughter is 4 and has alternate accomodative intermittant esotropia. She crosses when she's looking at things close up, her glasses have corrected the majority of the eyes turning which I am very grateful for. Her eyes started crossing at age 2.5. She is crossing at 50 prism diopters at the moment. We live in the UK, and we feel our only option is surgery via the NHS, because that is literally the only option available to us at her age. I've been exploring vision therapy whilst waiting for the op. The only vision therapist that has got back to me lives abroad and visits the area infrequently (1 hour+ away). She won't work with children under 7 and it seems to me that most vision therapists dont work with younger children. I'm feeling stuck and frustrated. I don't know what to do for the best. I'm grateful that glasses correct the majority of the turns, but there is an obvious crossing of eyes even with them. Do I wait until age 7 to try vision therapy? The NHS say surgeries should take place before this age for maximum results as the eyes go through more of a permenant development phase at age 7/8. I find all of this information so confusing and I don't know what to do for the best im getting mixed messages and the more I look into this the more confused I become, I'm just trying to do the best for my daughter. Can anybody offer any advice on VT vs Surgery please, what would you do? Thanks for reading x
The best thing is to do both I think
@Jean-masu Thanks for replying. What brought you to that conclusion if you don't mind me asking? x
@@RebeccaM8815surgery is great for the visual side, but VT is what will make the eyes working well and stay straight forever and most important keep a good vision
if you can get her into a good developmental optometrist now, they can help prescribe functional glasses that might help her keep her eyes straight and monitor even if they don’t start the therapy right away. I would give that at least six months to a year to see how the different prescriptions can affect the eye turn before doing surgery. But surgery also might make a really big difference, especially with that large angle!
Can glasses alone solve it ?
Plz can you answer me i have 5-15PD exotropia after surgery i am doing barrel card convergence exercise from 2 day but i can't do it properly i am not able to see both color together it is normal at initial days does exercise reduce the squint angle
I would definitely recommend getting in with a vision therapy office, it makes a big difference. I can help you find one at strabismussolutions.com/findvt/
Please answer me, I have strabismus like the one you had and when I close my dominant eye the other one gets back to its place .. I'm 32 do I have hope with home vision therapy ?
Home vision therapy isn't as effective for a constant eye turn. It can work for someone with a mild, controlled turn, but for severe strabismus, I recommend in-office vision therapy.
After doing a ton of research on strabismus, especially esotropia, I believe that surgery is not the answer to this problem. No one is born with eye muscles that are attached incorrectly, or too long or short. The answer is in the brain and how it is directing the eyes to work together. Fix that with vision therapy.
Have you tried vision therapy?
@@strabismustostereopsis7799 Yes I am doing it now. I have adult onset esotropia and it seems that it was caused by over correction of my myopia with contact lenses. My current optomotrist reduced my lenses from -5.50 to 3.50 my first visit and I was fine! Your videos are great and really give us the benefit of your experience of your therapy. Thank you so much!
Yes and I am doing Syntonic light therapy in addition.
Suggesting that there is never a physical problem and it can always be fixed with vision therapy is just not realistic.
@@aspidoscelis You can rule out physical eye problem if all the testing comes back negative. The brain is the organ that controls how your eyes function together. Syntonics and vision therapy are effective in training or retraining your brain to correctly coordinate eye function.
Development intermittent estropia as an adult. I did VT weekly in office for a little over a year and at home for longer. Lots of prescription changes and TONS of frustration. I have improvement but its not fixed. My near to distance accommodation is always an issue and my fatigue level is a major factor on my control and how much it turns, witch makes finding a good prism amount very hard. Doctors say my eye isn't turning but my double vision is still a major issue. They want me to try prisms and don't recommend surgery. Problem is I only need them in my distance prescription and not my near pair and switching in and out of prisms sucks
accommodative esotropia is always a tricky one! Have you considered more VT or a surgery?
@@strabismustostereopsis7799I feel surgery is the only thing left but I'm so scared of making it so much worse, and not finding a doctor that understands my situation. I know they will just give me a frenel prism for a few weeks and suggest sugery. I can have fantastic eye days but its the consistency and constant eye exercises every morning that get to me. Anyway I'm rambling. your channel has been a great help for me especially when i get super depressed about my eyes.
I'm 21 and I was born with internmitent strabidmus in both eyes. But instead of the sirugy I did VT since I was child. Also I didn't glasses as I see properly. However, now being 21 i want to have the sirugy ti correct it totally as it appers when I am really tired, distracted or sleepy. So what should I do? I want to correct totally but as I said it isn't notorious. Would it be right to take the rest? I do not want it to look worse. As really progress in this years
Some in your situation have had great success with surgery, but it is not a guarantee. I usually don’t think surgery is a good option if the eye turn is intermittent, but if you’ve done years of therapy already, it may be time.
Thanks for putting this video out. Very encouraging to those who are not convinced VT will work. I actually have a question about your other video on "Vertical Prism Rotation" exercise. I already posted my question on that video, but since it was put out 1 year ago, so I'm not sure if you will notice it there. Here's the question again. "Hi, I'm very interested in this exercise. My question is this: if your L eye is higher than the R eye, do you place BD or BU prism in front of the L eye, or it does not matter?". Thanks.
It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you are working towards getting fusion and need extra help, you would use base up, which would help the eye move down. if you are trying to make the eye stronger and give yourself a challenge then you would go With base down. It is definitely an exercise you should talk to your eye doctor about first! It is amazing, but can also make a mess of your vision if done wrong.
@@strabismustostereopsis7799
I apologize if my follow-up question is a bit long, but I hope your answers to these questions will benefit anyone who reads it.
First of all, thanks so much for your response. Your explanation makes a lot of sense. When I did my vision therapy (VT) at a neuro-optometrist’s office for 9 months (now doing it myself at home), I was given a somewhat similar exercise for my L hyperphoria called “Vertical Prism Fusion”. It’s very similar to the later part of your “Vertical Prism Rotation”. The therapist instructed me to hold a prism (BU and BD) in front of each eye (L and R eye), but never explained the rationale. I’m a very inquisitive VT practitioner and always like to know the purpose of each exercise. So I figure if we have exophoria (outward), then we do more convergence exercises, and if we have esophoria (inward), then we do more divergence exercises - always the opposite of the direction of the deviation. By the same token, if one eye (L) is higher than the other (R), then we should use BU prism to shift the image DOWN, forcing the L eye to also move DOWN to fuse the image. This makes sense as we try to move the L eye DOWN - in the opposite direction of its deviation (UP). What I find a bit counterintuitive is that we also use BD prism on the same eye (L eye) to shift the image UP and also move the L eye further UP, making fusion more difficult. Why?
Your answer has explained why. You said that if the L eye is higher (I have left hyperphoria), then (A) placing a BU prism will help the eye move down, making fusion easier, but (B) placing a BD prism will force the eye to move up further, making fusion even harder.
I know that it’s more difficult to treat vertical than horizontal misalignment, but it’s still possible to reduce or even eliminate the associated symptoms (eye strain, dizziness) if we can build up sufficient “vertical vergence range” to compensate. If this is true, which one, (A) or (B) as mentioned above, will be responsible for strengthening the vertical vergence range? As far as I know, the “vertical prism fusion” as in my VT training is to help vertical fusion because of the BU/BD prism. What then is the purpose of the “vertical prism rotation” exercise shown in your video? Finally, are all the exercises in your channel designed only for people with strabismus?
I have some exophoria and L hyperphoria. After 9 months of office VT and about 6 months of home VT so far, the exophoria has reduced significantly from 20+ to < 2D, and the left hyperphoria has also reduced from 3.5 to < 2D now - which is quite encouraging. Will I (or someone with H and V heterophoria) benefit from the exercises in your channel? What about the online courses on your website? Again, TIA for your insight and for taking the time to reply.
You have made some amazing progress already with vision therapy. Are you still checking in with your OD on occasion for maintenance? I don't feel comfortable telling you how to use the prism for your individual case because I'm not a doctor and don't know your history, etc.
I will say that prisms are a great way to build ranges and flexibility with the eyes in all directions! The goal is fusion. If you get fusion easily, make it more challenging. If you can't get fusion, make it easier.
Have you tried any Virtual Reality? I would think you would be a great candidate.
@@strabismustostereopsis7799
Yes, I agree my progress is considered rapid especially with my EXO. I hope it'll encourage others to at least try VT. I have to admit that I see a much slower progress for my HYPER. That is why I'm concentrating on doing more exercises on it now.
Based on the instruction of my VT therapist, I'm supposed to hold one prism lens (BU and BD) in front of each eye (R eye and L eye) and see how quickly I can fuse the image; then remove the prism lens and see how quickly I can regain fusion. I have been following this procedure, but just curious why use both BU and BD, instead of just one of them depending on whether you have L or R hyperphoria. Btw, I have L hyperphoria but I don't see double as my eyes/brain fuse image automatically.
I understand your being cautious in suggesting anything to viewers not being a doctor. Actually, what I'm asking is just to explain why we need to use both BU and BD prism regardless of whether it's your L or R eye that is higher.
Finally, you said I can be a good candidate to try Virtual Reality. Is this something that I can do it online somewhere? Any website links you can kindly share.
Thanks again for your attention and any explanation you are able to offer.
Can strabismus caused one more eye appear bigger than the other
Yes, for some people. I notice that I squint my lazy eye, especially when it is bright outside. After doing that for 38 years, I feel like it is permanently smaller.
@@strabismustostereopsis7799 does vision therapy improve the Appreance larger and smaller eye