We have begun a 10 week vision therapy program for patients with Macular degeneration. This program can either be done by having one therapy session a week for 10 weeks or for out of town patients they can have 2 sessions a day for 5 days program. What can this program do for you? It will help improve your functioning vision by helping you improve basic eye skills that you have lost during the course of your macular degeneration. Don’t delay! Please call the office to see if you qualify for this new program! 800-430-9328
Italian Equipment
Many have you have inquired what type of equipment I purchased in Italy to help with the vision therapy program for macular degneration. VTE an Italian company has the reputation of manufacturing exquisite vision therapy equipment. While I was in Italy I had the pleasure of attending the annual Puccini festival. I love Italian opera especially anything written by Puccini especially the opera Turandot. You can listen to one of my favorite arias sung by Paul Potts who won Brit got talent several years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
Here is a list of a few of the items I brought back from Italy. This equipment will help improve the following skills which are essential for good vision.
Fixation– the ability of the eye to aim at a spot or target and hold focus on this spot or target without moving.
Pursuits – the ability of the eye to follow a moving target. It is essential that this done smoothly and accurately to maintain the focus on the target.
Saccades- changing fixation from one point to another. This is a basic skill for reading.
Central and peripheral – these are two types of vision. These both may be developed to have good functioning vision
Peg Board Rotator- It is rotating board with holes located inside various targets. The board can be stationary or rotate at different speeds while the patient inserts “golf tees” into the holes. This exercise helps to develop accurate hand eye movements, peripheral and special awareness and dynamic visual acuity.
Space Fixator – This is a translucent disk that has blue dots located around the edge like the markings on a clock. Patients look at the red dot in the center of the disk and then become aware of peripheral blue dots. Patient learns to develop simultaneous perception of the center and peripheral dots. They also learn to develop eye movements from one target to another accurately and efficiently. It also helps to integrate eye movements and spatial judgment.
Vectogram– 2 Translucent sheets of a matching image are placed in this device. Patients see one sheet with one eye and the second sheet with the other. The brain fuses the images into one single 3 dimensional image. The distance separating the sheets can be varied to change the difficulty of this task to perceive depth perception. This exercise helps to develop strong use of both eyes (binocularity) at all times and in different directions of gaze. This is one of the most valuable tools for the rehabilitation of patients suffering from Post Traumatic Vision Syndrome.
