Eyesight is often taken for granted, and eye health should be prioritised in a daily routine. While people tend to think of vision as an unchangeable constant in their lives, it’s important to note that people can do things to influence their eye health on an everyday basis.

Diet plays an integral role in a healthy body but, more specifically, has a lot of impact on ocular health as well. Many biological processes rely on the vitamins and minerals we obtain through food to function properly, including maintaining excellent vision. For instance, Omega 3 fatty acids are involved in the healthy growth of a child’s brain and eyes during early development, with deficiencies linked to neurological conditions in children. Omega 3’s are usually obtained through fatty fish such as salmon. However, they can also be obtained through nutritional supplements. When buying an Omega 3 supplement, look for adequate dosages of EPA and DHA. These are the specific fatty acids that make Omega 3s the nutritional powerhouses that they are.

Another essential aspect of nutrition for eye health is ensuring sufficient vegetable intake, specifically green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach. These provide the body with zinc, iron and vitamin C. Zinc is involved in the formation of pigments in your retina as well as staving off macular degeneration. Studies have shown that people with cataracts tend to have low levels of antioxidants in their systems, and Vitamin C is a well-known and easy to obtain antioxidant.

Jacqueline Gattegno, a Smart Vision Optometrist at Eyes InDesign Bondi says that proper hygiene plays a crucial role in eye health. “Regularly washing hands can also reduce the risk of infections such as microbial keratitis and corneal inflammation”. In addition, researchers have linked hand washing to decreased rates of reported eye infections. “We touch our eyes more than we realise and can bring in a lot of dirt and bacteria”, says Gattegno.

Another simple daily habit that can help maintain eye health is drinking enough water. The eye primarily consists of fluid and requires water to maintain ocular pressure and lubrication. If there is not enough liquid to produce tears, this can lead to dry eyes and can open the door to infections and irritation of the eye. All of which can ultimately lead to visual degradation.

A good habit to get into is using sunglasses outdoors to protect the eyes from bright sunlight and harmful UV rays. UV radiation damage builds up over time and can lead to the development of cataracts or macular degeneration, even in small amounts. A decent set of sunglasses can minimise the risk of these diseases. Be on the lookout for sunglasses that expressly say that they block UVA and UVB rays. Moreover, polarised shades can further help by reducing the glare from reflective surfaces helping further protect the eyes.

Adding these small daily habits can help protect the eyes from everyday harm and increase their longevity.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600 or the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047, alternatively book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by YDMA News.

Eyesight is arguably the most important of the five senses, and a loss of visual acuity can be alarming. While there are many ways to prevent damage to the eyes, such as wearing proper eyewear to protect your eyes from UVA, UVB and blue light, what can be done to reverse it once there is actual damage?

Gary Rodney, leading Smart Vision optometrist with Smart Vision Optometry, says that while protecting your eyes to mitigate damage in the first place should be a priority, there are steps you can take after the fact to either slow or reverse damage to the eye.

“This all depends on the initial cause of visual deterioration,” tells Rodney. “Not all injuries can be reversed, however; there is new research coming out each day finding new ways to tackle old problems.”

Physical injury to the eye generally requires surgery depending on the severity, while some less serious injuries merely require proper rest and recovery. In these cases, it is best to keep the eye covered to protect it from sunlight as well as infection. A wounded eye is very susceptible to inflammation or infection. This could potentially slow the healing process of scratches or cuts, and it is best to let the eye rest completely hence the eyepatch.

Some age-related issues can be reversed with surgery as well. For example, the eye’s ability to focus either at a distance or on near objects can deteriorate over time, making a person either nearsighted or farsighted. Some are born with these conditions, while some develop them later on in life. LASIK, which stands for Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis, is a surgical process using a tiny laser beam to lift a flap of the cornea’s surface and remove a small layer of tissue in the lens to alter its shape. This surgery has also proved helpful in cases where the patient has presented with astigmatism, where the lens or surface of the eye is irregularly shaped, causing blurred or distorted vision.

However, Smart Vision Optometrists only support LASIK treatment as a last resort after exhausting all holistic wellness treatment methods, as the LASIK is permanent and most often removes the ability to provide holistic treatment.

Certain diseases stem from nutritional deficiencies. In some cases, it is possible to fix the damage caused by these diseases by simply correcting the fault. For instance, a lack of Vitamin A, which is crucial for maintaining the photoreceptors in your retina, can lead to dry eyes and separately, retinal damage eventually leading to total blindness . One of the first signs of Vitamin A deficiency is dry eyes or night vision problems. There are many nutritional sources of Vitamin A such as dairy, carrots and spinach, but to be safe, consume a wide variety of fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy diet.

New research is constantly being published, giving doctors and optometrists hope to correct irreversible eye damage. For example, a study performed by researchers at Harvard Medical school showed that it is possible to reverse glaucoma-like damage in mice by inserting three specific genes into the retina. While this study was not done in humans, it does give hope for the possibility of reversing the effects of glaucoma but does require further research before it can be safely used in practice.

While there are ways to reverse ocular damage, prevention is better than a cure, so take proper steps to protect your eyes and have regular eye health checkups to have intervention before it becomes serious.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in multiple suburbs in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600 or the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047, book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by YDMA News.

With advances in technology changing and shaping peoples lives in so many aspects, it’s not surprising to see that technology also has a role to play in improving eyesight. New processes and technologies are being developed every day to find ways to help patients see better. Smart Vision Optometrists pride themselves on being at the forefront of cutting edge technology to provide patients with the best possible care and service.

Gary Rodney, leading Smart Vision optometrist with Smart Vision Optometry, says that patients looking for a non-invasive alternative to surgery to correct myopia need look no further than Smart Vision Optometry’s Ortho-K process. Orthokeratology or Corneal Refractive Therapy is a unique therapy that uses custom-fitted, oxygen permeable contact lenses that reshape your corneas while you sleep. This method allows patients to see clearly without any daytime interventions as the process occurs overnight. This is great for those unable to wear spectacles or contact lenses during the day, such as surfers and sportspeople with the added benefit of helping to protect the elongation of the eyeballs which causes the long term damage to the health of the eyes and the progression of the myopia (shortsightedness).

Another great use of technology to improve visual acuity is through the use of Vivid Vision Virtual Reality Vision Training. This system utilises virtual reality technology to create a fun and interactive way for children and adults to improve their vision skills and correct visual dysfunctions such as strabismus and convergence insufficiency. There are only 92 practices worldwide that can boast of having this technology available to help patients improve optical efficiency in all areas of life.

Those who suffer from chronic dry eyes and eyelid inflammation (better known as blepharitis) can benefit significantly by using two technological tools available to Smart Vision Optometry patients, namely the BlephEx and Blephasteam systems. BlephEx gently exfoliates the eyelids and eyelashes, removing the exotoxin-laden biofilm that accumulates on the eyelid, providing rapid relief from eyelid inflammation symptoms. This painless procedure effectively removes the scurf and bacterial debris that build up along the lid margin. This debris is responsible for most low-grade inflammatory blepharitis, the primary cause of chronic dry eye disease. Blephasteam is a safe and convenient treatment used as part of our patients’ dry eye treatment plan to relieve Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) symptoms. Blephasteam creates the perfect temperature and environment to increase blood flow, melting the thick secretions within the glands. After each session, the secretions are manually expressed, improving oil flow into the tear surface and thus tear quality.

Smart Vision behavioural optometrists also use some of the most current eye testing technology, such as the Zeiss i.Profiler. This technology measures each eye independently, thus recording irregularities and differences much more effectively. This innovative technique allows Smart Vision optometrists to prescribe bespoke lenses for each eye and help to significantly improve poor-light vision, colour perception and night vision problems.

The Visagraph is a recording system that accurately measures eye movements during reading by using infrared sensors in a pair of goggles that is connected to and analysed by a computer. The results from the assessment give optometrists a considerable amount of information about the movement of the eyes, which otherwise would never have been revealed. For example, they provide many valuable statistics on ocular function and show an illustration of the left and the right eye movements, the number of fixations and the number of regressions. From the assessment, our Smart Vision Behavioural Optometrists can give recommendations on how the child’s reading ability can be improved and prescribe a tailored Vision Therapy program to tackle deficiencies in visual functioning, perception and cognition.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in multiple suburbs in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600 or the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047, book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by YDMA News.

When it comes to taking care of your eyes, you may think it’s enough to wear your sunglasses now and again, not sit too close to the TV and occasionally throw in some eye drops during the dry season. But proper eye care goes far beyond that, and nutrition can be the key to keeping your eyes healthy and happy.

Gary Rodney, leading smart vision optometrist with Smart Vision Optometry, says that “Eyes need a wide range of vitamins and minerals to function well, with some of these being crucial for staving off age-related macular degeneration.”

These vitamins and minerals can be obtained through the addition of some nutritional supplements, but the most effective method is through food. This is because when vitamins are obtained through food, they come in combination with cofactors which can boost bioavailability, making them much easier for your body to absorb and use. So whole food sources are always preferred over supplements.

According to the World Health Organisation, Vitamin A deficiency is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. Vitamin A has an integral role in maintaining the photoreceptor cells in your retina, which allow us to convert light into neurological signals which our brain can then interpret. Symptoms of Vitamin A deficiency can include night blindness and dry eyes. Vitamin A is only found in animal-derived products such as egg yolks and dairy products. However, vegans and vegetarians can get their Vitamin A fix in a slightly different way with plants such as kale, spinach and carrots. These provide a provitamin A carotenoid called beta-carotene, which the body can convert into Vitamin A. While not the most efficient method, it can give some of your daily vitamin requirements.

In general, we hear a lot about a class of vitamins known as antioxidants when it comes to health. Along with protecting our cells from free radicals, they also have a few more specific roles in our bodies, especially when it comes to the eyes. There are two exceptional antioxidants called Lutein and Zeaxanthin, which form part of the retina. They are thought to help protect your vision from sun damage as well as harmful blue light. Studies have shown that the levels of these carotenoids within your eye are proportional to your daily intake. Researchers found that supplementing these daily slowed the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). While these can be found in high amounts in dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, the most bioavailable source is egg yolk. This is due to Lutein and Zeaxanthin being fat-soluble vitamins. If you would rather go the spinach route, try pairing it with oils such as salad dressing or avocado.

“Omega 3 fatty acids can also be great vision protectors,” says Gary Rodney. Omega 3’s are long-chain fatty acids that, besides having a host of health benefits elsewhere in the body, are extremely important for early childhood development of the eye and brain. The fatty acids EPA and DHA, classified as Omega 3’s, need to be taken in adequate amounts as deficiencies have been linked to impaired vision in children. Omega 3’s are most commonly found in fatty fish such as salmon. However, they are very commonly found in health supplements and should be a staple in your daily vitamin regime.

While adding nutritional supplements to diets, the best way to get all these protective vitamins is through your food. So make sure you’re eating in a wide variety of fruits and veg, as they all have a role to play in healthy eyesight. To get information on even more ways to protect your eyes, book an appointment at your nearest Smart Vision Optometry practice.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in multiple suburbs in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600 or the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047, book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by YDMA News.

Many conditions that cause vision loss have various causes, requiring differing interventions to prevent or cure. Some of these conditions include diabetes, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration.

Gary Rodney, the Founder of Smart Vision Optometry and a leading Smart Vision Optometrist at Eyes InDesign Mosman, says there are many ways that we can improve our eyesight through behavioural modification.

“For example, Omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients found in certain foods can help lower your risk of developing cataracts and macular degeneration,” said Gary. “A healthy diet also helps reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease and help prevent age-related ocular degeneration.”

Researchers estimate that around 2.5 million eye injuries occur in the U.S. each year. These have a wide range of causes, but wearing the proper glasses can help prevent some more common vision problems.

Even everyday activities can be dangerous. For example, some of the most common injuries occur while playing sports and performing household chores.

Proper protective eyewear can help prevent injuries and minimise the effects of chemicals and impacts on the eyes during activities. However, wearing glasses in some circumstances is not recommended for safety reasons. If they break, you run the risk of broken glass getting into your eye.

The sun is another potential hazard. UV protection sunglasses are also worn to protect the eyes from the harmful effects of ultraviolet light. Wearing them can help prevent vision loss and ward off cancer.

People who are more commonly prone to suffering from UV light exposure include outdoor sports persons, farmers, and surfers, but anyone who spends a large majority of their day exposed to sunlight can be affected.

Gary Rodney stresses that choosing a pair of sunglasses that provide adequate UV protection is essential. In a pinch, wearing a hat and keeping an eye on the clouds is also a great way to protect the eyes from the harmful rays of UV light.

If you’re concerned about your ocular health, having a comprehensive dilated eye exam is a way to ensure that your eyes are in good condition. This simple test involves using special drops to widen your pupils.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in multiple suburbs in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600 or the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047, book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by YDMA News.

College students spend too much time studying in front of computer screens, and not enough time caring for their eyes. This is resulting in an explosion of progressive eye deterioration globally.

Gary Rodney, the Founder of Smart Vision Optometry and a leading Smart Vision Optometrist at Eyes InDesign Mosman, explains ways students can minimise eye strain and headaches.

Since students spend a substantial amount of time on technological devices, it is important to monitor the brightness and darkness of device to prevent eye strain.

It is also important to have a full functional vision skills assessment rather than a traditional eye sight test to determine exact levels of eyestrain at the computer viewing distance. Appropriate visual stress relieving prescription computer glasses can then be prescribed to minimise the damage from staring the screen for long periods of time.

If technology is constantly used for an extended period of time, it’s also important students take regular breaks. “It can help reinvigorate your eyes and reduce stress,” says Rodney. “Every 5 minutes we should look out the window briefly to view a distant object and every 30 minutes we should have a complete 10 minute break. Hard to do but important for the long term health of your eyes.”

Additionally, a study found that prolonged exposure to blue light can cause long-term damage to the cells in your eyes. The good news is that there are ways to filter out blue light.

Visible light can be divided into three categories: blue light, green light, and ultraviolet light. “The high energy of blue light makes it more dangerous to the eyes than other visible light,” says Rodney. The visible light spectrum has a variety of wavelengths and energy. The blue light, also known as the blue spectrum, has the highest energy level.

Computer eyeglasses can reduce blue light exposure from electronic devices. Computer glasses can help improve your vision for both phone and computer use.

Computer glasses help relieve stress and improve focusing by protecting the eyes from blue light and stopping the eyes from over focussing. They also provide protection from the effects of computer use on the eyes. “A screen brightness filter is a simple and effective way to reduce blue light exposure on your devices,” says Rodney. It works by adding a blue light filter to the screen.

Computer glasses are designed to see objects that are within arm’s length, and should not be worn for driving or other distances-vision needs. “If a person have near-sightedness or far-sightedness, prescription computer glasses can help improve the vision for phone and computer use,” says Rodney.

“Some anti-reflective coating products are used for computer glasses and eyeglasses that protect against blue light,” says Rodney. Persons can also benefit from all-purpose prescription glasses that feature photochromic lenses. These lenses protect the eyes from blue light and reduce glare.

As the use of electronic devices grows, many people are suffering from Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). The condition causes blurred vision and other symptoms.

The angle at which you look is a crucial component of CVS. Ideally, the centre of the monitor should be positioned between your eyes and the objects in front of it.

Take breaks when using a computer or device for long periods of time to prevent eye strain. Also, look away from the screen for 20 seconds and focus on a distant object. People tend to blink about 18 times a minute, while computer users only blink once a fourth of the time. This causes the risk of developing dry eyes.

Tear film is a vital component of keeping you comfortable while using a computer. Its high-resolution camera makes it possible to see the finest of structures in the tear film. Technology can be used as a non-invasive procedure that can evaluate the quality and functioning of tear film. It can help diagnose Computer Vision Syndrome.

A Smart Vision Optometrist can help find the best computer glasses to protect the eyes. Even with the best eye care, it’s still a good idea to get a bi-annual check-up. “Regular eye examinations can help to improve and maintain good eye health, and prevent age-related diseases such as macular degeneration (AMD),” says Rodney. “It’s also a good idea to schedule an exam if you notice any of the following symptoms: red, puffy, and uncomfortable eyes, or fatigueing or headaches or losing your place when reading” says Rodney.

“Getting your eyes checked can help prevent vision problems that can affect both vision and overall health. Myopia control is a massively concerning area of global eye problems and latent hyperopia can cause a great amount of unnecesary symptoms. Astigmatism also seems to increase with unaddressed eye strain”.

Even if you do not need glasses or contacts for regular activities, “a person may still need them if they use a computer or device,” says Rodney.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600 or the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047, alternatively book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by YDMA News.

Behavioural optometrists like Jacqueline Gattegno of Eyes in Design Bondi are experiencing the rise of CVS, or digital eye strain as it is sometimes called, first hand. Her branch of optometry involves further study that helps her to look at how people use their eyes, the visual skills they need to develop, and the therapies they may need in order to use their eyes for the tasks that make up a regular day. 

“The most well-known application for behavioural optometry is developmental optometry, where the way children’s visual skills are developing is evaluated, and any issues that may be holding back their schoolwork are addressed,” she says. “But now, increasing numbers of adults are in need of interventions, and many of them are not aware of behavioural optometry as an option. With Computer Vision Syndrome on the rise, this needs to change.”

CVS: Prevalence, Causes, and Symptoms

Depending on which studies one reads, anything from 64 to 90 percent of computer users experience the effects of Computer Vision Syndrome. Curing it is easy. Remove the computer and the problem is solved. Unfortunately, life isn’t that simple. 

For many, the business of making a living is tied to long hours of computer use, and it doesn’t stop there. Staying in touch with friends and family, transacting personal business, and keeping up with the news could all mean even more screen time over and above the time they spend looking at screens during a standard work day. 

The average Australian, regardless of occupation, spends 5.5 hours a day in front of a screen – and that’s enough time to place them at risk of CVS. Additional factors contribute: workplace ergonomics can be an issue, as can age (users over 40 are more prone to CVS), or the presence of pre-existing vision problems.

The symptoms of CVS include tired, sore eyes, headaches, dry eyes, blurred vision, double vision, sensitivity to glare, twitching eyes, and neck and shoulder pain. They’re all linked to the demands that is unconsciously place on the eyes when viewing screens for long periods. 

Evidence shows that people blink less than they ought to when looking at screens. The muscles of the eye are also forced to concentrate on the nearby screen for extended periods instead of frequently working to change focus from near to far to mid-distance as they would in the natural context for which they were evolved. Glare, particularly blue light glare, is also a factor, as well as the rapid flickering of screens owing to their redraw and refresh process. Then there are pixels – the blurring of edges they cause may seem imperceptible, but the eyes do pick it up and have to work hard to compensate for it. 

Add existing vision issues, glasses that aren’t well-designed to work at screen viewing distance, poor posture, and environmental issues like incorrect lighting or airflows that dry out the eyes into the equation and people have a challenge that their eyes simply can’t cope with comfortably. And although Computer Vision Syndrome symptoms are reversible, many experts are concerned that it may be linked to the worldwide increase in myopia (short-sightedness). 

How Behavioural Optometry Helps

With so many factors playing a role in causing Computer Vision Syndrome, individual assessments and interventions are often required, but there are a few basics we can try observing on our own, says Jacqueline. 

“The 20-20-20 rule is worth trying. After 20 minutes of screentime, spend 20 minutes looking at something 20 feet away. You should also be aware of blinking, and blink often. It can be hard to develop these habits, but they will help in reducing strain on the eyes. Computer monitors should be 40 to 50 centimetres away from your eyes and you should be looking downward slightly when viewing them. Lightning shouldn’t be directly overhead, behind, or in front of you or too bright. Good posture also helps.” 

However, these habits, good as they are, might not be enough to solve the problem. “People may need computer glasses,” says Jacqueline. “They should be made for the screen viewing distance and they may be tinted to counteract blue light. And when eye muscles are severely strained, eye exercises can make a big difference in relieving the symptoms of eye strain.”

“There’s no single solution because everyone’s eyes are different. A behavioural optometrist would be able to evaluate both eyesight and the way in which eyes are used, and both could be important in developing a program to combat Computer Vision Syndrome.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Jacqueline Gattegno – Changes in Eyesight Due to a Rise in Stress Levels

For more information on vision therapy and how it works, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Behavioural optometry offers a proactive approach to eyesight that, in certain cases, reduces the chances of vision problems developing in the first place, and when its precepts are applied to children, its benefits can have particularly far-reaching implications.

It would be a mistake, however, to see behavioural optometry as a field that only benefits kids who need help in putting their eyes to work for them. Sportspeople, office workers, and people with neurological problems are among those who might benefit. Not everyone needs intervention from a behavioural optometrist, but those who do are likely to experience its evidence-based medical benefits. 

Beyond Deciding if They Need Glasses

While behavioural optometrists like Jacqueline Gattegno are able to prescribe glasses and contact lenses when they’re needed, their qualifications and experience have progressed further to include the diagnosis and treatment of issues ranging from poor eye coordination to focusing problems, lazy eye, turned eye and difficulties in tracking texts sequentially. 

Behavioural optometrists are also trained to assess what we do with information from eyes: for example, how we use it to coordinate movements, or how we synthesise visual information and auditory information. Finally, the things people use their eyes for are assessed and linked to skills that can be improved and risks that need to be combatted.

In short, behavioural optometry examines the ways in which we use our eyes, and offers therapies that include but also transcend prescription eyewear in order to help us to use vision more effectively. It can even prevent progressive deterioration in vision that may otherwise have led to a need for glasses or glasses stronger than the ones already worn. 

According to the Australian College of Behavioural Optometrists (ACBO), behavioural optometry has three goals: preventing the development or deterioration of eye and vision problems; treating the ones that are already present; and developing visual abilities, particularly those needed by children to fulfil their academic potential.

Jacqueline confirms: “From children striving to get the full benefit of their education, to active adults who realise that visual training may be as important as physical training in boosting performance, office workers who spend long hours in front of computer screens, and older people who are working to take care of their visual health, behavioural optometry can have benefits,” says Jacqueline. “It all begins with an examination in which your visual skills and needs are assessed.”

Specs, and More Than Just Specs

Apart from prescription eyewear, which is sometimes tinted to help address the impact of certain conditions on the eyes, behavioural optometry offers eye health advice, and therapeutic techniques that help with vision and vision-related challenges.

“The diagnostic methods, the therapies, and the options we offer at Eyes in Design Bondi are not unique,” says Jacqueline, “but the general public is largely unaware of them. If they don’t have problems with their eyes, they don’t need to know. But it is of concern that many adults and children are struggling with unaddressed eye-related issues.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Jacqueline Gattegno – Changes in Eyesight Due to a Rise in Stress Levels

For more information on vision therapy and how it works, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

She said the behavioural optometry approach is far from the standard path followed by optometrists who base diagnoses and treatments on the results of a standard eye test for how clearly each eye sees letters which are 20ft away. 

“The problem for behavioural optometrists is that even those children who get a 20/20 test result which indicates perfect acuity in both eyes, can in some instances not have the functional and perceptual vision skills necessary for learning to read, write, solve math problems, or play sport. Nor does that result necessarily lead to good performance or behaviour in the classroom, or on the sports field,” Gattegno says. 

How Behavioural Optometry Tests for Glitches

Behavioural optometrists test and treat eyes by assessing attention and concentration spans, spatial relationships, performance levels and behaviour all of which, if out of sync, can be the result of a glitch in the complex visual system, and can affect how visual information is processed, delivered, received and applied. 

Teamwork in the Vision System is a Must 

According to Gattegno, teamwork is vital between the many different organs, pathways, nerves and neurons in the visual system. Just one hiccup can result in deficits in visual perceptual and functional skills, distorting people’s understanding of what is happening around them, how they see their place in the world, and how they fit into and function in it. 

These can indicate that the two eyes are not operating properly as a team, both with the brain and with each other. And it can show in the eyes ability to focus on the same level and at the same point when directed at a static object straight ahead, follow and track one that’s in motion; and coordinate when shifting the focus smoothly during changes in distance and direction.

Common signs that these hiccups might be present are difficulty paying attention and concentrating for any length of time, avoiding activities like reading or playing sport and reluctance to engage in answering questions, joining in discussions or taking part in social activities. And those don’t only lead to poor performance and behaviour, but also result in a low self-image, confusion, and a feeling of alienation, Gattegno says. 

Correcting the Dysfunctions

Vision therapy uses a number of approaches to correcting, restoring, or developing the visual skills necessary for normal sight and physical action. Depending on the situation and problem involved, correction can take the form of optical devises, special glasses or prism lenses, as well as using a training programme shared between office and home. All are designed to improve the vision skills and processing of visual information.     

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Jacqueline Gattegno – Changes in Eyesight Due to a Rise in Stress Levels

For more information on vision therapy and how it works, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

The Visual Skills Children Need to Succeed in School

Being able to focus on an eye-test chart isn’t enough. It’s also important to be able to focus at various distances and change focus easily from one distance to another. Apart from being able to focus, eyes need to be able to track from one thing to the next. For example, when reading, the eyes must be able to scan from one word to the next without losing their place. At the same time, both eyes need to be able to work together as a team.

Over and above these basic visual skills, people need the ability to process spatial information, notice small differences between one thing and another, be able to coordinate what is done in relation to what is seen (eye-hand coordination), and be able to associate what is seen with what is heard. 

Any issues with these visual skills will naturally result in problems with schoolwork. Up to 25 percent of children have visual difficulties of one kind or another, so having a thorough eye examination that includes testing of visual skills is a sensible step to take when children struggle at school.

Not all Optometrists Test Visual Skills

Regular Optometrists and eye surgeons (Ophthalmologists) are trained to test how well one can see, but it takes further training to be able to comprehensively test all the visual skills needed to succeed at school. 

That’s why many parents and educators eliminate issues with vision as a reason for children having difficulty with schoolwork too soon. After all, ordinary eye tests may show that a child has 20/20 vision, but without evaluation of the additional visual skills that will allow children to use their eyesight in learning, parents and teachers can mistake visual processing disorders for learning problems. As a result, the real issue is not addressed, and a child may be unable to fulfil his or her true potential.

Steps to Take When Children Struggle to Learn

Gary Rodney acknowledges that although full evaluation of vision and related visual skills can identify issues that are holding children back, other factors may contribute to difficulties with learning. 

If a child is struggling at school, testing of visual and auditory skills are a good first step. Gary’s practice, Eyes in Design, located in Mosman, will also be able to refer parents to the relevant health practitioners if dyslexia or other learning problems are suspected but have not been diagnosed. Even when a formal diagnosis has occurred, addressing any visual skills difficulties will help children to deal better with the challenges they face. 

“Vision therapy is not a panacea,” says Gary. “However sometimes, it’s all that’s needed to get kids on track. After all it has been shown that 80% of how we learn comes through the visual pathway. In other cases vision may not be the cause of the problem, or it may only be a contributing factor. Either way, Eyes in Design’s vision therapists are ready to assist parents in finding the practitioners they need to help children with the learning challenges they face.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on vision therapy, or to book an appointment for a visual perception test online, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

A Vicious Cycle of Anxiety and Distortion

She says the strange relationship creates a vicious cycle in which those living and seeing in anxiety’s mental world, comprised of threats, fear, and the stress these create, can add strain and various levels of vision anxiety to the challenges already facing those whose eyes are misaligned and therefore unable to work  efficiently as a team. This vision problem, which also affects how people see their world, can, in return, increase the levels of anxiety in the already anxious.

According to Gattegno, vision anxiety shows itself in visual symptoms which include light-sensitivity; double-vision; blurs, floaters and shadows; short shifts in brightness; distorted images; and seeing non-existent shapes which may or may not appear to be moving.

Like anxiety disorders and even occasional stress, vision anxiety can occur before, during or after a particularly challenging period or any change in stress levels. It can also appear out of nowhere, stay for a short or long time, and disappear often or occasionally, only to return at another time. It can always affect the same eye, shift from one eye to the other and back, or affect both eyes simultaneously every time.

Anxiety and Eye Misalignments Impact on Perception

“Anxiety changes people’s perception of life, the world and their place in it, and leads to increased feelings of disorientation and confusion, as well as leading to a sense of being overwhelmed, all of which can have an impact on perceptual vision. This, in turn, can affect the visual system, and especially do so when the eyes already have their own form of perceptual dysfunction caused by eye misalignment,” Gattegno says.

“80% of the information we receive about the world, life, and sense of place are processed through the visual pathway. But when there is misalignment the chances are strong that this information would be compromised.”

She says the body’s visual system is based on the eyes working in sync with each other , with each eye sending its own data on what’s seen to the brain for processing into a single understandable image that’s processed  by the mind. But when the eyes don’t work in sync, their individual ‘reports’ may differ, and affect or distort the processing so much that the information from the weaker eye (or both) may be discarded by the brain as being irrelevant and senseless. This, in turn, can affect people’s perception of what they see, and raise the levels of confusion and disorientation which lead to feelings of anxiety and alienation.

Eye Misalignment: A Mysterious Problem

To see well, the eyes need to act as a team which look in the same direction and focuses on the same object. But eye misalignment, one of the most common eye problems faced by children, and affecting around 4 percent of them under 6, can’t do that. Instead it causes one eye, (sometimes both, and less often, alternating eyes) to turn inwards towards the nose, or away from it; look upwards or downwards instead of straight ahead; and in some instances, to move in more than one of those directions at the same time.

Gattegno says the mystery lies in what causes misalignment. Suggested reasons vary from high levels of farsightedness and thyroid eye disease, to injuries, cranial nerve palsies, and birth, brain or eye development problems. And it’s said to occasionally be a mixture of more than one of these.  

Cutting the Bond

Several options are available for treating eye misalignments, including vision therapy, which uses a structured program of training to improve eye coordination and the teamwork between the brain and the eyes; as well as glasses, contact lenses, prism lenses, and eye muscle surgery.

However, she said that although correcting misalignments (and other eye problems) may reduce or remove vision anxiety, it will not cure the anxiety disorder or stress that appears to increase its impact. That requires rest, relaxation, and therapy of a different kind, aimed at treating the disorder itself.

For more information on vision therapy, or to book an appointment for a visual perception test online, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Children Under Biggest Threat

He says that because 80% of people’s information is received via the eyes, this lack of functionality can affect how children learn to read, write, study, drive, or play sport, and sometimes even make it difficult for them to recognise people in a crowd. And it can lead to loss of self-esteem and failure to understand the space and world they’re in, and how to live in it.

School children are the most vulnerable to poor functional vision, and the worst hit by its effects. This is not surprising, Rodney says, because every day they are faced with learning new things, 80% of which call for good functional vision skills. But one out of four of them don’t have the necessary skills to do so.

He says the absence of these skills is often overlooked; ignored; seen as bad behaviour; poor performance; or attributed to learning disorders, yet many of these problems can be improved or corrected with vision therapy and training. 

Glitches in the Visual System

Rodney says that for vision to function correctly, so must the entire visual system, which is made up of a number of organs, processes, nerves and pathways. The eyes act as receptors of data on what is seen; the brain receives this from each eye separately via pathways, and processes and combines both reports into one accurate, relevant, and understandable image. But this only happens when both sets of data are the same. If the two reports on the same object don’t match, the brain may ignore one of them distorting the image.

The Skills Needed for Functional Vision

To ensure the necessary match is made involves good coordination between the eyes that allows both eyes to focus on and follow a moving object like a ball on a sports field, track letters, numbers and words across a page, or scan a screen full of information, all in perfect sync and without the head being turned.

Both eyes should also be able to shift focus back and forth between objects in the distance and those close-up without losing clarity when assimilating or copying information that’s on a board or screen.

How to Know if a Child Has Functional Vision Problems

Children may get confused between their left and right sides when it comes to directions; twist or turn their heads from side to side instead of moving their eyes to follow text or numbers across a page; squint or close one eye when looking at a book or screen; hold books or objects very close to their face; lose their place when reading or copying work and use a finger to guide them; forget what they have just read; confuse letters like “d” and “b” and numbers like “6” and “9”; skip words; or battle with handwriting.

Physical and behavioural responses can include double or blurred vision; a short attention span; clumsiness; difficulty throwing or catching balls; poor motor skills and hand-eye coordination; as well as headaches in the forehead or temples or dizziness and nausea. The children may also be irritated, and easily tired.

For more information on functional vision therapy, or to book an appointment for a visual perception test online, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

He says that when the human visual system’s processing program operates as it should, it is so efficient that technologists have for decades been producing models of it to boost their technology. But it is not that easy for them to get a totally perfect match.

“It’s a bit like putting together a jig-saw puzzle. The end product is a perfect, colourful and meaningful picture, but that’s only if and when the pieces are all in the right places, fit together perfectly, and the last one isn’t missing. But connecting the different pieces in the complex visual system, is far more difficult,” Rodney says.

How the Visual System Works

The vision system, like in research, development, or journalism, relies on the accuracy and relevance of information provided by various sources which use different approaches and methodology. These are then processed into a meaningful and useful study, report, essay, or product,” says Rodney.

“It uses all three eyes, the two practical processing organs (the brain and the eyes), and the mysterious and intangible mind, to provide information that is as accurate and relevant as possible, so that the brain can process it into an understandable image. And it does so in as little as 13milliseconds.

The Difference Between the Three Eyes

To kick start vision processing, the eyes collect data about what is seen. Made up of various wavelengths, it’s carried by the sun’s rays into the eyes through the cornea and directed to the retina. There it’s processed into electrochemical signals which are transferred back-to-front and upside down to the brain through the optic nerve, and processed into a usable image which is then sent back to the eye.

The Brain’s Eye

The brain, the chief processor, includes about 30 different visual areas, each of which contain parallel streams of processing and are distinct modules, which kick into operation processing the millions of new signals received every time the eye focuses on something different.

According to Rodney, the brain is selective, so it ignores what it considers to be incomplete or irrelevant, and processes the rest into three-dimensional visual images.  Taken into account during processing are the location, colour, size, shape and texture of the object seen, as well as relevant memories of similar images stored in the brain’s “library” of visual memories.

 The Mind’s Eye

The mental Mind’s Eye is not a processor, and according to neuroscientists share parts of the visual sections of the brain. Rodney says it’s a thinker and dreamer, emotional and perceptive, and a builder of memories and images. And it is increasingly being thought to be what adds reason and perception to the visual process and gives understanding and meaning to what is seen.

While some people don’t have this eye, (its absence is called aphantasia), most see its mental images as dreams or thoughts. Occasionally they are unclear or hazy, as if being viewed through a dirty piece of glass, and are written off as not being real or relevant, but often they will be clear and meaningful even with the visible eyes closed.

For more information on vision therapy, or to book an appointment for a visual perception test online, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

How Vision Therapy Works

Rodney, a fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), says the therapy, sometimes called the “physiotherapy” of vision, is aimed at correcting any hidden (and often unnoticed) glitches in the visual function system and visual processing system which can impact negatively on how people understand, and perform in, the world around them.

And it’s not just a few that face living with the consequences. Statistics suggest that a minimum of 25% of young children are likely to have to deal with undetected and often misdiagnosed vision problems during their first years of schooling. 

Tracking Down the Dysfunctions

According to Rodney, these dysfunctions can’t be identified by taking a standard eye test but can be detected by testing functional and perceptual visual skills and assessing behavioural abnormalities which seem to be out of sync with personality types. He says any irregularities in these can lead to difficulties in learning; reading; sports; concentrating or paying attention. They may also impact on motor-skills and physical development, bring about perceptual and functional confusion regarding a person’s place in the world, and skew their understanding of what’s going on around them.

He says that often these problems are brought about by eye conditions like crossed or lazy eyes; poor eye-teaming and/or eye-tracking skills; depth perception problems; and ocular muscle or focusing dysfunctions, to name just a few.

With such a wide variety of causes, therapy programmes cannot be standardised but instead have to be custom-designed to meet each person’s individual needs. And as the programme is not (nor meant to be) a quick fix, it may involve multiple consultations, special spectacles, regular training using software in the clinic, and a fair amount of time spent at home exercising eye muscles, and learning to identify visual information more accurately relative to age norms.

Results Shown in Case Studies

Rodney says the outcomes revealed in case studies which have tracked training programmes carried out at his Smart Vision Optometry clinics, show noticeable positive changes in perceptive vision, functioning, and performance.

One such case study records how an 8-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who had spent most of her life in a wheelchair, was finally able to stand up straight and unassisted for the first time after completing two of the three blocks of her therapy programme. She had also caught up with her classmates from being two years behind in reading, was comfortably handling maths and starting to take part in class discussions. The next step, Rodney said, is for her to walk unaided, and he believes that moment won’t be far off as her eye-tracking and depth perception problems lessens still further and her understanding of the concepts of space improves.

Another case study tells the story of three siblings, all of which underwent vision therapy some years apart to help treat different problems. The oldest was battling with reading; the middle child, a girl, suffered debilitating headaches; and the youngest finally admitted to his teacher that he couldn’t read the writing on the blackboard in class. In all three cases, the therapy had positive outcomes.   

For more information on vision therapy and how it works, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Putting the Picture Together

Rodney, a Master of Optometry holder and fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), says treating nearsighted (myopic) children has shown him what happens when that data is faulty or incomplete. These children, who can only see close objects clearly, will see anything as a blur if it’s in the distance, and will be totally unable to put that blurred image into a “frame” of perception.

He said the brain normally interprets the eyes’ signals by using built-up memories of shapes, textures, colours and locations, and transforms this into thought processes which enable us to perceive what we are seeing and make use of the information. This process is what distinguishes perceptual vision from eyesight. It puts what’s seen into perspective by providing a picture that’s set in the context of its construction, colour and environment, all of which give the image a meaning which the viewer can understand, react to, and use.

When the Message Fails, the Picture Blurs

When it comes to the millions of people around the globe who see the world through the blur caused by nearsightedness, Rodney says the messages to the brain would be compromised, providing data only about a blur of sorts, and without the detail and clarity the brain needs in order to process the signals into a picture that’s placed in a context which can be easily understood.

With eye impairments, and especially refractive ones such as myopia, the data carried by the light can be compromised. Due to changes in the shape of myopic eyes, the the eyeball gets longer causing the light rays to focus in front of the retina, instead of on it. This changes the range of vision, and affects the distance focus, resulting in less clarity and detail in the data amassed for the brain.

Progressive myopia, Rodney says, can worsen as a child grows, continuing to do so until they reach their late 20’s, and in severe cases can lead to the formation of cataracts and in some instances, blindness. It can also impact on social development, skills like reading and maths, school performance and behaviour in the classroom.

Dealing With the Blur

Incurable, myopia can be treated in various ways, including using Orthokeratology, a treatment which is showing excellent results using nighttime contact lenses to temporarily reshape the cornea, and so lessen the refraction errors which result in confused vision. Vision therapy, during which myopics receive training in how to see what they are looking at and determine its relevance, is also proving to bring about dramatic changes in the visual worlds of many children who are treated at his Smart Vision optometry clinics in Sydney, Australia..

For more information visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Keeping Your Eye on the Ball is Not Enough

According to Rodney and Gattegno the key to top performance on the sports field lies in perceptual vision, and not just in the good eyesight determined by the Snellen charts of letters and numbers used in standard eye tests. Nor is perceptual vision purely about “keeping your eye on the ball”.

Instead it involves how athletes perceive, interpret and make sense of what they see, and how they process and respond to the “information” of the ball and its immediate surroundings. Any shortfalls in these areas of perceptual viewing can impact considerably on athletic performance levels if ignored.

“It’s not that people can’t take part in sport with perceptual vision problems. And they may even perform well. But there’s a good chance they will perform better, and be more committed to their involvement in the game, if those perceptual shortcomings are addressed,” Rodney, the founder of Smart Vision in Sydney, said.  

HEAR: Gary Rodney Interviewed By David Wood Ultra106five.com

How Sports Training Works

Rodney said players’ ability to keep their eye on the ball remains vital, but they also need to be able to judge where it is; track where it is going; and have a good idea of how fast it will get there, in order to time their response. And they also have to be aware of the environment in which the ball is travelling and any activities occurring which might affect their choice of how to respond. This involved a wide range of visual functions beyond dynamic vision.

He said perceptual vision can be improved using state of the art technology blended with the simple exercise that vision therapy provides. Programmes can be specially tailored to fit individual athletes and the sports they take part in, each of which have their own needs. These include hand-eye, eye-body and eye-foot coordination which power bodily movements as a response (tennis), excellent peripheral awareness of actions taking around them (team games) and other vision connected factors like reaction time, visual alignment, balance and depth perception. 

Support for Sports Vision Training Growing

According to Rodney, vision therapy, which tweaks any shortcomings in perceptual vision, is increasingly winning support from professional coaches and trainers operating at everything from Olympic level to those moulding the Olympic and national sports stars of tomorrow on today’s school and public fields. It’s also winning the attention of parents wanting to understand whether vision issues are behind why their children are avoiding sporting activities.

It’s also attracting the attention of researchers, who are increasingly looking at the concept of perceptual vision and its connection to performance on the field. This has resulted in the publication of several studies and papers on both the prevalence of perceptual shortcomings in players, the therapy and its level of success.

Research Results

These have lead to wide-ranging conclusions, including statistics showing that athletes taking the medals at Junior Olympic and Olympic levels sported the best overall vision. At the same time, as many as one out of three of those who didn’t make the podium had less than perfect eyesight, and one in four scored lower when screened for depth of vision and eye-hand coordination. And a relatively small section even battled with keeping their eye on the ball.

Other studies and tests have shown vision training to produce better results, particularly in team games and those involving bats and balls. One such study, where cricketers were grouped separately for cricket and vision training, showed those given the vision training showed greater performance improvement than the others. Another showed 30% improvement in baseball batting averages after vision training.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics in Sydney focus on providing eye care for a number of vision problems with particular focus on children and myopia, and on determining the best treatment for each case. Visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision to find more information provided by the Smart Vision behavioural optometrists and for information on the precautions applied during COVID-19.

Click here to book an appointment online or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047, or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.  

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Entering the School Years a Step or Two Behind

Rodney and Gattegno agree this means that many children head off to school a few steps behind their peers, simply because they do not see the world or anything in it in the same way their classmates do. Instead everything is blurred or not processed appropriately visually. This can lead to a number of learning problems as well as causing the children to feel uncomfortable in several areas.

“They’re facing a whole new world when they enter school, and tend to lose confidence when they feel they are not performing as well as their new friends. Reading can become difficult and other learning skills can lag, and they don’t know why this is happening. So many of them may start to show behavioural problems or avoid engagement with a process that seems too hard. Some don’t want to read, and many don’t want to take up sports,” Rodney and Gattegno explained.  

A Question of Distance

Two of the most commonly known of the eye problems, which together with other eye problems affect around 22% or more of Australians under 14, are myopia and hyperopia. Both cause children to have blurry vision, either when trying to view something at a distance, which is the case with myopia (nearsightedness), or when looking at something close up, when they are farsighted (hyperopia). Both are refraction errors caused by the light rays focus in front of the retina or behind it, but not on it as it should.

On school screenings however, Rodney and Gattegno have found that optical blur only accounts for 11% of all other vision problems. There are far more issues with both functional vision skills and perceptual vision skills. So looking at refractive error alone will not identify the vast majority of vision road blocks to reading and learning.

How to See the Signs 

Parents can be on the watch for certain give-away signs that their children have problems with visual function or visual processing of things at different distances. Some are easily visible in physical actions.

These include a tendency to move very close to what they are trying to see, like when watching TV, or bring books close to their eyes when they are trying to read.  Children with eye problems may also lose their place while reading a book, let their eyes follow the words using a finger to guide them, or take to avoiding the things its too difficult to do. This could include books or perhaps sports because the blur creeps in and makes it too difficult because the focus called for is not comfortable for them, according to Rodney and Gattegno.

They may also squint, or tip their head to one side to allow the stronger eye to do the work, so allowing the weaker eye to become “lazy” and deteriorate even more.

Rodney said that difficulty focusing could also lead to frequent headaches, light sensitivity and complaints about “sore eyes”. It can also result in avoidance in response to suggestions that they read a book, or work on a computer, a while this might sometimes be taken as bad behaviour, it could turn out to be the very real effect of an eye problem.  

What Parents Can Do

Armed with these warning signs, they can then approach leading optometrists like those at Gary Rodney’s and Jacqueline Gattegno’s Smart Vision clinics in Sydney, or call one of the Eyes In Design NSW clinics at Bondi (02) 9365 5047 or Mosman (02) 9969 1600.

They can also visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision to find more information provided by the Smart Vision behavioural optometrists whose major focus is on the effects of perceptual and functional vision problems in children.  

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

If you google Virtual Reality and Vision Therapy you get tonnes of research, videos, publications, media links and case studies. If you want to know specifically about Vivid Vision VR training their website (seevividly.com) has heaps of links and data, as does our Smart Vision Optometry website.

I’m not writing this blog to give you this information though. Put simply, we wouldn’t have bought and used the system (successfully might I add) if there wasn’t a scientific and evidence-based foundation to it. Instead, I’m going to tell you the story of our first encounter with VR in the Vision Therapy room and how we decided Vivid Vision was going to be a good fit for Thompson Larter, Smart Vision Optometrists.

A few years ago we were approached by the Vivid Vision team. They had a VR headset, a computer and a lot of big promises. They said that we could treat strabismus (eye turn), fix amblyopia (lazy eye) and pretty much cure convergence insufficiency (poor eye teaming up close). They showed us the games and impressed us with the technology. But I had a request…well a demand really: prove it works.

I asked one of my most challenging patients into the office. 14-year-old Abigail had never seen the world in 3D and while we had been making gains in Vision Therapy, I desperately wanted to do better for her. I told the Vivid Vision team that if they could show me it work on her we would buy it. A big statement considering I don’t really own the company or pay the bills but lucky my bosses trust me eh?

Tuan Tran, chief optometrist and founder of Vivid Vision, never gave my request a second thought. You see in 2014 James Blaha (now Vivid Vision CEO) had a very big goal to correct his own strabismus and amblyopia, he had programmer Manish Gupta to help him but he needed someone with eye care expertise. These three men created this program and then travelled the world literally watching it work for everyone that tried it. So what I was asking really didn’t faze him in the slightest.

Abigail used the system for 10 minutes. Tuan fitted the head set to her, we all laughed at her reaction to her robotic hands and she dodged a bunch of meteors flying at her in space. 10 minutes was all it took. When Abigail came out of the VR headset I distinctly remember her reaching out and touching the chair in front of her, and then the table, feeling the sides and backs of them. Then she looked at her mum and started crying. She was seeing in 3D for the first time in her entire life. She was crying, mum was crying, and I’m not going to lie Gary and I were feeling pretty emotional too.

I’ll never forget that day. As a Vision Therapist I become so invested in my patient’s lives and well being. I love helping them and I love watching them succeed. Abigail was the first of many patients that I have been able to help using Virtual Reality combined with our unique in-office Vision Therapy programs and I am thankful every day to the Vivid Vision team!

Have you ever heard the saying “keep your eye on the ball”? For superior sports performance (and concussion avoidance – whatever floats your boat), this is completely true. One must be able to see moving targets (people and balls) clearly. They must be able to track the target as it moves, change focus from one target to another, judge the speed and the distance of the target, be aware of what is going on around them and have pretty adequate eye-hand coordination. All. At. Once.

So it makes sense then that many of our Vision Therapy patients are future sports stars in training. We have cricketers, footballers, horse riders, netballers and some pretty impressive handballers! Some patients see us because they are already pretty good at their favourite sport but their vision is holding them back from being the best. Other patients are completing vision therapy because they want to be able to play sports with their friends and keep up with the other kids. There are also the patients that simply want to navigate the school playground without constant fear of flying objects.

Now don’t be fooled, just because kids make up a large proportion of our patient cohort we aren’t limited to the younger age groups. We see also women who want to be able to play tennis with their friends on a Wednesday, men who want a better edge when competing with their football team on the weekend and a couple of older patients who want to improve their balance and coordination so they can throw a ball around with the grandkids when they are babysitting.

But you don’t have to take our word for it. A team of psychologists studied a group of baseball players and found that after completing a little over 24 vision therapy sessions, the players batting averages and reading accuracy improved by 30%. Another study examined a group of college students who received cricket training and a group who received visual training. The vision training group performed significantly better and the researchers concluded that vision therapy results in improved sports performance. Even famous American footballer Larry Fitzgerald admits that he would not have had such a successful career as a sports star without the help of vision therapy.

Sports vision training is done on a sport-specific basis with a custom-tailored program for each sport and athlete. If you are having trouble getting to the next level in a particular sport or simply wish to enhance your performance, contact one of our Behavioural Optometry practices in Sydney today.

M-EYE HEAD HURTS

Migraines can occur as a result of poor sleep patterns, poor diet, neck and shoulder tension, stress, teeth grinding and vision problems. Unsurprisingly, this last trigger is what interests us as Behavioural Optometrists, mostly because we can treat it. Yes, you read that right – we can help treat, cure and even prevent migraines!

So how are migraines and the visual system related? Well the relationship, as with most in life, is a two-way street. Migraines can cause visual disturbances and lead to ocular discomfort and blur.

Researchers Doyle, Vote and Casswell (2004) actually studied a 22-year-old male who loses sight completely in his left eye for ten minutes with each migraine episode. Every 2 to 3 months, this poor guy gets a migraine, loses sight for ten minutes, returns to 6/9 sight after two hours and eventually back to 6/6 sight by the time he feels up to paying his optometrist a visit (after leaving the emergency room, of course). Luckily, his experience isn’t terribly common but other vision disturbances are. Many people that experience regular migraines report an aura involving flashing lights and blind spots in both eyes.

Now, remember I said this was a two-way street. Interestingly, poor vision skills can lead to migraines as a symptom of a much larger visual deficiency. The good news is that this visual deficiency is usually treatable.

In fact, for 48-year-old Lisette it was treatable AND curable – even better, right? Lisette came in to our Thompson Larter practice for an assessment with Behavioural Optometrist Jacqueline Gattegno a few years back. She was prescribed glasses and a course of Vision Therapy. I worked with Lisette for 16 weeks in total, but after only a few weeks the migraines started to lessen and in the end stopped completely.

You see, Lisette, like many of us in this wonderfully technological age, was spending A LOT of time on screens, over focusing and pushing her eyes to work hard at close distances for long periods of time. For a presbyopic (aging) visual system, this was putting too much pressure on Lisette’s visual setup and it started to break down as a result. Vision Therapy combined with her prescribed lenses helped to set up more stable vision skill foundations and bring about more efficient processing skills to reduce visual stress.

This is just one example of one of the many patients we have been able to help over the years.

If you or someone you know is experiencing migraines and would like to put an end to it, give us a call and let us see if we can help.

TOE WALKERS

You have probably seen them at your child’s school or at afterschool sports. Their heels do not strike the ground well, if at all, and they bounce their way through life. There are lots of different treatments for toe walking, including physiotherapy, medical casting and stretching. But did you know that in some cases, fixing the vision can fix the feet?

At Smart Vision Optometry, our Vision Therapists work a lot with prisms – funny shaped lenses that change your view of the world. Yoked prism lenses, specifically, allow us to alter the patient’s space world, asking for a perceptual shift in how they see things around them.

By using lenses to shift everything down, the patients feel as though they are walking down a hill and so their posture changes to become more introverted and hunched. They then walk toe first down the hill, avoiding a heel strike, just as you would if walking down a steep decline. Alternatively, by using yoked prism lenses to shift the world up, the patient feels as though they need to walk up a hill. Their posture changes and becomes much more open – they march up the hill, heels first!

Doctor of Optometry, Robert S. Fox, published a powerful research article all about the use of prisms in vision therapy and how critical they are for bringing about eye-mind-body changes. There is also a wonderful mother in the United States who wrote a fantastic blog about how Vision Therapy is saving her daughter, Stella’s, toes.

A couple of years ago, I myself began Vision Therapy with a patient who had poor binocular skills and could not see in 3D. I used the yoked prism lenses to force visual concentration and shift her space world. As soon I put the lenses on, shifting her world up, she sunk to her heels. She looked at me stunned as she had been seeking a solution to her toe walking all her life (she was 36 years old) and I had just allowed her to stand flat by making her wear glasses that made her look like a minion! Pretty amazing stuff.

If you would like more information on toe walking and how it can be related to the visual system, feel free to contact us.

EYE HAVE ANXIETY

Nearly 12 million Australians have reported having a long term eye condition. 1 in 5 children suffer from an undetected vision problem and 80% of people with vision problems could have had these issues prevented had they have been treated earlier ^[2]. 

But how are anxiety and vision problems related?

It is no surprise that the eyes are sensory organs and that anxiety symptoms are often the result of heightened senses due to a stress response. As Behavioural Optometrists we understand that our eyes and brain work together to allow us to process and react to what we see. These reactions are where the behavioural component of what we do comes into play. They might be a fight or flight response as the body attempts to cope with stressors in the environment. This response and the coping mechanisms associated with it are at the root of many anxiety symptoms.

Anxiety commonly leads to various vision distortions. Elevated adrenaline levels puts pressure on the eyes and can result in blurred vision. Visual irregularities like seeing stars, shadows or flashing spots can occur as a result of anxiety onset. Individuals with anxiety often report that they notice things out of the corner of their eye that aren’t there or experience diminished peripheral vision and narrowed or tunnel-like sight. These occurrences can be quite concerning and lead to heightened levels of stress.

But it goes both ways. Often vision problems lead to many anxiety symptoms. When the two eyes do not work well together as a team (binocular vision disorders), tasks such as copying from a board at school become increasingly difficult causing visual fatigue, headachesand poor comprehension levels. This can lower academic performance, consequently adding extra demand on the child to work harder and increasing anxiety levels. Other visual problems like cataracts and glaucoma make tasks such as driving at night and navigating through crowds of people very difficult and so everyday tasks become sources of great discomfort and stress for the individual.

It is important to remember that visual problems and anxiety symptoms can come and go rarely, occur frequently, or persist indefinitely ^[3]. They can be debilitating and make day to day life difficult. Importantly, though, help is only ever a phone call away. If you are living with anxiety and suspect that your visual system could be at fault or at a least a contributing factor, please contact us and take comfort in knowing that these types of symptoms can be managed. 

^[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results, 2007. Cat. no. (4326.0). Canberra: ABS (http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4326.0)

^[2] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (www.aihw.gov.au/eye-health)

^[3] Anxiety Centre (https://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms/eye-vision-problems.shtml)

WHAT IS SCREEN TIME DOING TO YOUR EYES?

If you’re reading this on a screen, there’s a good chance your eyes haven’t had a break in hours. Australians spend on average 10 hours a day using electronic gadgets. While TV time is slightly declining, new platforms have come into play and the portability of smartphones have turned them into everything from flashlights to credit cards to health monitors. If you use your smartphone as an alarm clock, your eyes look at a digital device the second they open.

Just how much strain does technology put on our eyes? A lot. Headaches, sore eyes, blurry vision and increased sensitivity to light are all signs of what we call computer eye strain or computer vision syndrome. Unlike words printed on a page, electronic characters are made up of pixels and have blurred edges. This makes it more difficult for the eyes to maintain focus. Unconsciously, the eyes repeatedly attempt to rest by shifting their focus to an area behind the screen. This constant switch between screen and relaxation point causes the eyes to feel fatigued very quickly and may lead to visual deterioration in the long run. Another factor is the impact of screen time on blinking. When you look into a screen for any amount of time, you blink around three times less than usual, which can result in dry and irritated eyes.

And that’s not all – our eyes are also exposed to increased amounts of blue light. Blue light is emitted by the sun and artificial light sources, including digital screens such as your smartphone, tablet and computer. Blue light is beneficial to our eyes in moderation as it is necessary for regulation of the sleep/wake cycles, mood and cognitive performances, but it can also be the cause of premature eye ageing. Overexposure to blue light can damage the retina and potentially increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration.

So how can you reduce the impact of eye strain symptoms? There are a few steps you can take to perform more comfortably while preserving your vision, including adjusting light exposure and adhering to the ‘20-20-20’ rule: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet (6 metres) away (see more on our website). However, it may not just be screen time hurting your eyes, but the lack of proper glasses while looking at the screen.

Today, there are anti-fatigue lenses that use breakthrough technology to give clear sight to a longer focal range, which ultimately is better for your eyes than using a prescription that is too strong. These lenses offer all the benefits of single vision lenses, but encourage a more comfortable range of sight for computer users. This means you can use devices looking through the correct prescription rather than through your reading prescription, which will be too strong for those more intermediate requirements. As a result, your glasses are more versatile and functional.

These anti-fatigue lenses, coupled with anti-reflection coatings, help prevent long-term damage to your eyes. By selectively filtering harmful blue light emitted by digital screens, these lenses block out the bad and let in the good, improving contrast on your screen regardless of its brightness. 

Now, has it been 20 minutes since you started reading? Don’t forget to look away.

CHANGING THE WAY YOU SEE THE WORLD

I asked him to get up and walk over and sit on the chair. He did so easily, and continued to believe there was no method to my madness. So I asked him how he walked there. I asked him where he looked as he walked, I asked how many steps he took, I asked him if he turned to the left or the right as he sat, I asked him if he used his hands or the backs of his legs to feel the position of the chair before he sat on it. And wouldn’t you know it… he had absolutely no idea. He couldn’t answer one question. So I asked him to walk back to his original chair and repeat the same movement, thinking about the process behind the action. Over and over again. We walked and sat, walked and sat.

At this point I am sure you are thinking what a bizarre activity and how this could possibly be of benefit. Well stick with me, we are getting there. So once he was completely confident that it took exactly 4 steps, a turn and then he could sit without looking at his feet or the chair, I changed things up a bit. I got out some wonderful glasses with yoked prism lenses in them – which, in English, pretty much means I make the child look like a Minion! These great goggles allow me to shift the patient’s world at different angles. It makes it look as though they are walking up or down slopes, or it can make everything seem shifted to the left or the right. They force visual concentration and ask the patient for a perceptual shift in the way that they see and respond to what is around them.

I put these on my patient and, again, he looked at the chair across from him. I asked him what had changed. He said the chair looked further away and that the ground was sloped. But it wasn’t. Nothing had changed. He knew I didn’t move the chair further, he knew I hadn’t suddenly developed magical carpentry and architectural skills to redesign the room around him in a split second and he knew that it had to be his vision that was causing the issue.

So I asked him to trust me (I’m still slightly surprised that he did). I also asked him to trust himself. I asked him to make a judgement call on what he was looking at and to decide that if he stuck to his guns and simply repeated the 4 steps and a turn he could do it. With his mother cheering him on from the sidelines, I encouraged him to believe wholeheartedly that he was more than capable of walking over to that now terribly daunting chair and sitting on it. After only half a minute of deliberation, he stood up, took his (I say ‘his’ because he had now taken personal ownership of this action) 4 steps, turned and sat. And you should have seen the smile on his face!

We repeated the process a few more times and – bless his cotton socks – he always succeeded. He was able to stop, think about what he needed to do, how he would need to do it, plan the action and then carry it out. At the end of the session I asked him one final question: “You know how sometimes at home when you are trying to do your homework and everything looks like a mess and you don’t think you can do it so you give up? Do you think if you sat back, took a breath and planned out what was being asked of you in your head you might be able to do it?” Cue lots of nodding from mum. To this he answered, with another wonderfully detailed response, “Yeah, probably’… Well, that was good enough for me!

UNLEASHING THE LOVE OF READING THROUGH VISION THERAPY

Despite being a common vision problem in school-age children, convergence insufficiency has no obvious sign and frequently goes undetected in routine eyesight tests and/or standard school screenings. That is because a child can pass the 20/20 eye chart test and still have convergence insufficiency. However, for the visual system to function properly, we must use our two eyes together in a very precise and coordinated manner – an ability referred to as eye teaming or eye coordination.

Children, teenagers and adults who remain undiagnosed and untreated tend to avoid reading and close work as much as possible or use various strategies to combat symptoms, such as using a ruler to keep one’s place while reading or taking frequent breaks. The good news is that convergence insufficiency can be diagnosed by a comprehensive vision skills assessment and effectively treated through an individually designed vision therapy program.

In 2005, a 12-week, multi-site randomised clinical trial supported by the U.S. National Eye Institute [1] resulted in evidence to suggest that the best treatment for convergence insufficiency is supervised vision therapy in a clinical office along with home reinforcement. The scientific study included children aged 9 to 18 and showed that approximately 75% of those who received in-office therapy by a trained vision therapist and at-home treatment reported fewer and less severe symptoms related to reading and other near work. A later study, published in 2012, confirmed that orthoptic exercises led to longstanding improvements of convergence insufficiency symptoms in both adults and children [2].

The Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial also showed that 45% of children with convergence insufficiency reported attention problems. This potential link between convergence insufficiency and attention disorders has important practical implications for educators, psychologists, and other health professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

For more information on learning-related vision problems, please watch Dr. Vicky Vandervort’s inspiring TED Talk. It is an encouraging video for parents, educators, and anyone who may know a child presenting symptoms related to convergence insufficiency.

[1] Scheiman M, Mitchell GL, Cotter S, Cooper J, Kulp M, Rouse M, Borsting E, London R, Wensveen J; Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial Study Group. “A randomized clinical trial of treatments for convergence insufficiency in children.” Arch Ophthalmol. 2005 Jan;123(1):14-24.

[2] Matti Westman; M. Johanna Liinamaa (May 2012). “Relief of asthenopic symptoms with orthoptic exercises in convergence insufficiency is achieved in both adults and children”. Journal of Optometry 5 (2). pp. 62–67.

WHEN THE PARENT BECOMES THE THERAPIST

We like to encourage the parents of our patients to sit in on each session. Not only to observe, but to participate. When they can see exactly what their child is struggling with, they are more readily able to understand what is going on in terms of their child’s visual issues. It is often a very ‘eye opening’ experience for the parent to complete an activity alongside their child and hear first-hand that some of the things that the child is looking at are disappearing entirely or look completely different to how the parent sees them. Every parent wants their child to succeed, and when they are able to see exactly why it is so hard for their child to simply read a sentence without losing their place, we often find that there is an ‘ah-ha’ moment. This moment is the key to success with vision therapy. After all, if you have no awareness of the fact that there is something that needs changing, how on earth can you be expected to change it?

Each week, two or three short activities will be sent home to work on. The parent is most often required to supervise these and ensure that they are done correctly. However, it is not enough to just watch. The parent must continually challenge the child, asking them questions that will stimulate them to assess their achievements. It is not beneficial to simply tell the child they are doing something wrong. If they are to correct their action, then they need to know how they could do it better and why this would be a good idea. Asking how they are doing is so much better than judging on a right or wrong basis. The parent must encourage and emphasise mastery of tasks rather than success, effort rather than outcome, experience rather than achievement, and enjoyment rather than having something to prove.

When the parent learns to guide the child to their own achievement, then they have truly become the therapist. They have enabled the child to rediscover and redirect their visual responses in such a way that they are aware of what they have accomplished. This means that the child is able to come back each week and explain to the vision therapist exactly how they went at home, giving them a sense of control of the process of vision therapy. They are able to feel like an active participant and understand there will always be support, whether at home or in vision therapy, inspiring confidence in their abilities. The parent and child are able to grow together, making the process of vision therapy not only beneficial, but also an enjoyable experience.

VISION THERAPY AND EYE-HAND COORDINATION: LET’S JUGGLE!

Not long ago, a little girl walked into my vision therapy room. It was not the first therapy room she had been in. It will not be the last. But according to her parents, it was the first one that she was able to walk away from and say: “Hey, I learnt something!” This is not to say she did not learn anything elsewhere. Quantifiably her speech and language skills had improved, her gross motor control had improved and her school reports had improved.

But numbers on pages do not mean much to children. They don’t care that they climbed from the 2nd percentile to the 50th percentile. They care that they are able to keep up in class; that they can play handball with the other kids; that they feel like they fit in. For this little girl in particular, she cared because I taught her something she could do at her school talent quest. Something that would make all the other kids think she was cool and something that would make her feel special. What did I teach her, you may ask? I taught her how to juggle.

Now please don’t go thinking I am going to run off to join the circus with all of my vision therapy patients. I am in no way that talented (what a shame!) There were only two bean bags involved, there were a lot bean bags thrown haphazardly across the room and there was lots of laughter. Slowly, but surely, this shy little 8-year-old girl learnt how to track the bean bags back and forth between her two hands. She learnt to cross her body midline in an efficient way and learnt how important it was for her eyes to maintain consistent fixation on a moving target. She learnt how to locate that target in space and how to remember a sequence of steps that would ensure success – up, grab, catch.

When she was able to follow the steps accurately and maintain her concentration, she was able to complete the task. In the end, she was running off to show both parents, the staff at reception and anyone who would listen in the waiting room. She became excited, confident in her ability and the bit I liked the most? She smiled. She walked away smiling to herself knowing she had just achieved something. And that is the crux of it – no matter how big or how small, every success should be celebrated, admired and broadcasted. For me that was only 20 minutes of a 45-minute session of an 8-hour day. For her, the whole world stopped and she realised that she was good at something. She could do something special. And if she could learn to juggle in 20 minutes, then what is to stop her from learning all the other skills I have planned over the course of her vision therapy program?

[1] Kenefick, J. Behavioural optometric care for rehabilitation of CVA trauma and other stable brain compromised vision disorders. Behav Optom 1990; June/July: 23-26.

[2] Bergland, C. Hand-eye coordination improves cognitive and social skills: researcher’s link hand-eye coordination to learning, cognition and sociability. The Athletes Way 2013.