General vision examination: a comprehensive examination for children and adults that evaluates the patient’s basic visual needs and eye health. This 45-60 minute assessment explores the patient’s visual well-being and potential need for treatment to allow the patient to see, feel, and function better. External and internal eye health is examined as glaucoma and other eye diseases are screened for.
Developmental vision examination: patients who are not performing to their optimum level visually may opt for a developmental examination. This examination is for the patient who experiences visual discomfort or under-performance despite having “20/20” eyesight. It includes the general vision examination plus sensorimotor (eye movement, eye teaming, focusing, and fusional abilities) and perceptual (visual thinking) testing. Although most patients are children, adults are not excluded as potential candidates.
Patients with the following common symptoms may consider this extended evaluation:
Occasional blurred or double vision
Tires easily or develops headaches frequently when reading or doing other near activities
Frequently loses place or skips lines when reading or uses a finger to maintain place
Poor reading comprehension
Poor handwriting, drawing, and/or eye-hand coordination, clumsiness
Poor depth perception
Eyes that do not point together or have trouble maintaining fixation
The examination of children includes 1.5 hours of testing followed by a separately scheduled 45-60 minute conference with the patient’s parents or guardians. Please make arrangements for your child as it is highly recommended for the child patient to not be present for the conference.
Adult developmental examinations and conferences are completed in one session and require 1.5 to 2 hours. There is always flexibility to break up this evaluation into two appointments as well, as potentially the case with highly symptomatic patients, such as those with brain injury.
Treatment
Eye wear: for patients needing glasses, we offer complete optical services. We have a wide selection of frames for any budget. Brand names such as Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Nine West, Converse, and Jones New York are available as well as boutique lines such as OKO by OKO, NW 77th, and Eckers. Also, we are an official Liberty Sport Eye Injury Prevention Center.
Contact lenses: we offer a comprehensive array of contact lenses to suit each individual patient’s needs. Daily disposables, daily wear and extended wear soft lenses and gas permeable contact lenses are offered. We offer regular and custom or specialty lens service for both healthy and difficult to fit patients.
Orthokeratology: “ortho-k” for short, is an FDA-approved non-invasive modality for the treatment of myopia or near-sightedness. Custom gas permeable contact lenses are worn overnight to alter the focus of the entering light rays by flattening the central corneal surface. The lenses are removed in the morning and the molded corneas maintain their shape for the remainder of the day. Similar to orthodontists using braces to reshape teeth and jaw structure that takes months or years, orthokeratology contact lenses can often restore acuity to 20/20 after one night of wear. Patients often enjoy their entire day with functional acuity without the need for compensatory optical devices. This well-tolerated and reversible treatment is a viable alternative to permanent vision correcting surgery, such as LASIK and PRK. It is also an excellent option for the developing myope as it is proven to be the most effective treatment for preventing the progression of myopia in children.
Optometric Vision Therapy: VT or OVT, for short, is an individually-programmed, developmentally-appropriate sequence of activities and procedures that develop and enhance fundamental visual abilities and skills. Activities and procedures are performed under the supervision of an optometrist and may incorporate optical lenses, prisms, filters, and/or stereoscopic instruments. Patients spend time integrating vision with other sensorimotor systems with special emphasis on the integration of vision with the proprioceptive, kinesthetic, vestibular, and auditory/verbal mechanisms. Through the self-discovery and self-awareness provided by optometric vision therapy, patients learn to use their visual systems more efficiently and effectively.