Vision Therapy

Vision therapy is a new and emerging field within vision care. It is a therapeutic process much like physical therapy for the eye. The success of a visual therapy program is dependent on the active engagement of your child’s ophthalmologist, the child’s parents, and the child him/herself.

Rather than the traditional methods used to treat certain refractive vision problems (such as contacts, glasses, or even surgery), vision therapy aims to tackle these problems by way of training the visual eye system (the eyes and brain) through a series of exercises in order to work more efficiently together and correct themselves.

Visual therapy can be effective for a variety of vision problems such as:

• Eye movement disorders, also called oculomotor dysfunction.
• Focusing problems, also called accommodative problems.
• Certain types of squint, also called strabismus.
• Lazy eye, also called amblyopia.
• Minor eye alignment problems, also called phorias.

Symptoms

In children, vision problems may affect their learning process, and in-turn, their self-esteem, and quality of life in general. If you notice the following signs in your child then he/she may need visual therapy.

• Constant tearing and pooling of tears.
• Redness, swelling or fever due to an infection.
• Crusting around the baby’s eyelids.
• Mucus or pus discharge in the babies eyes.

Symptoms for a blocked tear duct have commonalities with other conditions. So be sure to bring your child to the Orbit eye Center to get a proper diagnosis by an experienced pediatric ophthalmologist.

Treatment

At the Orbit Eye Center, we customize visual therapy programs according to your child’s specific vision problems and needs. This is done by incorporating a variety of equipment and exercises to train the eye-brain coordination. Some of the equipment and such as:

• Specialized lenses, prisms, filters, patches, balance boards.
• Paper-based charts and workbooks
• Computer simulations
• Special bead-and-string device called a Brock string

Improvements can be experienced from as little as a few weeks to six months. Treatment sessions could take place at our center or at home once or twice a week under the supervision of Dr. Walid Abdalla.

Vision Therapy Department

Vision Therapy Department at Orbit Eye Center

The Vision Therapy Department at Orbit Eye Center in Dubai provides highly customized, cutting-edge treatments for your child. Our vision therapy equipment is world-class. We have specialist orthoptists and optometrists. Ms. Nabeela Sharif heads this department.

Ms. Sharif graduated in Optometry from the University of Health Sciences Pakistan. She did Master’s in Special Education with specializations in Visual Impairment and Mental Retardation.

Her areas of Expertise are Optometry, Orthoptics and Vision Therapy towards the measurement, management and rehabilitation of patients suffering from Strabismus and Binocular Vision problems as well as children with learning disabilities.