Session 44: Doing time

I've been working with the Aperture Rule for two weeks now. The device once again proves the things I have been explaining about vergence and accommodation. This device comes with two plates you can change.

The one with the one hole is to train convergence and the one with the two holes is to learn how to diverge your eyes. Depending on where you put the plate the degree of difficulty changes and there are 12 levels. With both plates I can only reach level 4 but the reason why I can't make it to the next level differ for each one. When I go to level 5 with convergence plate I have to blur out the image to a degree that I don't really see what image is presented and don't really know whether I'm having good fusion or not. When I go to level 5 with the divergence plate the problem is not getting a clear image, the problem is I can't aim my eyes correctly for the images to overlap nicely. So there you have it... Same accommodation and vergence story again. The problem is really evident and so is the solution... It's already been a hell of a ride so why not go that extra mile. Considering everything I have the progress I expected to have so it's just about making that effort and doing that time.

Talking about doing time... I read research the other day that this type of perfectly treatable (but most often ignored) binocular eye conditions is strongly asociated with learning problems and consequently with criminality and low economic and social outcomes. The inmate population has a significantly higher percentage of this problem than the general population. My optometrist also told me about research during which they made inmates do VT and they saw significant behavioral improvements because of reduced stress and frustration. It sure feels like being locked up and reminded me of a funny discussion I had about a year ago with my friend Anja. I was seriously freaking out about having limited options because of graduating with double vision and I needed more time to fix the problem. Fortunately by then I had already figured out how to at least... She commented as a joke: 'You can rob a bank. If it works out you are rich and have time, if it doesn't work out you got time to work on your eyes in prison.' Let's just say the opportunity costs for the individual and society of not making serious work of this shit are huge. More about this later.

PS: A fellow patient peed her pants today, but being a little kid is a good excuse :)

Analysis of strabismus and its symptoms, patient prognosis and success rate of Vision Therapy

My awesome friend and medical student Stephanie Johanns found the success rates of Vision Therapy for me through a medical search engine. She got me the Optometric clinical practice guidlines for the care of patients with accommodative and vergence dysfunction published by the American Optometric Association. She wanted me to have this scientific text aside from inspiring stories like Susan Barry's. 'Accommodative and vergence dysfunction' is a fancy phrase for (manifest as well as latent) strabismus, which in turn is a fancy word for being cross-eyed. This text, aside from being a bit technical, contains a positive message. Basically it says you are going to suffer a lot for a very long time (if not detected and treated early in childhood) but in the end with a lot of hard work most cases can be resolved. Well, relatively positive that is! If you are looking for solid information on binocular vision issues, their effects  and the success rate of Vision Therapy as a treatment, this is the document for you.

 http://www.aoa.org/documents/CPG-18.pdf

I took some snapshots of the parts that I felt were most important to me personally.

 
The above article mainly concerns intermittent strabismus, also known as phorias. Manifest strabismus or tropias can be treated equally successful but generally take longer to deal with. For more studies and further reading on the success rates of Vision Therapy please go to VisionTherapy.ca.