Anyone Tried Vision Therapy?

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   TMinutposted 14 years ago

   I see ads all over the place for vision therapy and am wondering if anyone here has tried and been successful with it. I'm willing to be a guinea pig for it myself but don't really have any business spending $$ right now. I've tried to make my own experiments but don't even know where to start - do I try to correct my focus, shorten my eyeballs, exercise my eyes, relax my eyes?
   So has anyone had any experience with any sort of vision improvement?

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      cosetteposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      "shorten your eyeballs"?

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      WaffleCheeseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I had Lasik surgery 2 years ago. I'm a pilot so my eyesight is very important.
      
      All I can say is: SOoooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOO worth it!
      
      
      Best decision ever.

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   wychicposted 14 years ago

   Depends...are you talking about surgical correction or therapy such as eye exercises? I had eye exercises for about a year when I was younger to correct a lazy eye, no one can tell it was ever lazy now.

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   TMinutposted 14 years ago

   Yeah, 'shorten my eyeballs', sounds bizarre right? An eye doctor once told me, "You have the longest eyeballs I have ever seen." (I've been told other weird things too, for example - "No one can be alive with blood pressure this low" and "Nobody has more than one blood type so we'll just ignore these results", so many things I honestly wondered at times if I'm human! After all, I was born in the basement of a military research hospital in the early 60s under some strange conditions.)
   
   I'm thinking of vision therapy, exercises, natural things. Mostly I'm tired of being so afraid of what would happen if my glasses break; there should be a way to correct this instead of just compensating. So I'm wondering who has successfully tried this.
   
   wychic, i hadn't thought about that, I knew kids who had one eye taped over to correct lazy eye. If that works, why shouldn't focus adjustment for normal nearsightedness?

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      cosetteposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      hmm
      
      that is interesting.
      
      i also believe in the natural approach to good health. i would not be comfortable with my eyes being sliced. i hope you find answers...

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   wychicposted 14 years ago

   I imagine natural kinds of adjustment would have some limitations. For instance, it did fix my lazy eye but I am still extremely nearsighted. I'd heard that for some people exercises can help the actual prescription though, I wonder if that works?
   
   I also hate relying on corrective lenses...without them I can't even go outside because I get nasty vertigo from not being able to see anything at all clearly. I have considered less-natural therapies for myself...Lasik...but won't know for a few more months if it's even an option for me, the doc says it all depends on if my cornea is thick enough for them to be able to fix that severe of a loss.

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   TMinutposted 14 years ago

   My dad had lasik surgery, now he keeps telling me I should too. But what happens when your eyesight continues to naturally deteriorate? Do you need to do it again every couple of years? I'm not willing to take that chance yet; I can still get around inside, mostly it's that I can't drive and can't see the babies if they aren't right beside me. No stores, no walks, no nothing. Got to fix this somehow.

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   TMinutposted 14 years ago

   WC, how often did you have to get a new prescription before that? Did you need new glasses every year, every three or so, or what? I don't know how long laser surgery lasts, guess I ought to check. Of course, I have no insurance, it's not like I can do it anyway.
   
   Oh, wait, supposedly a new law is coming into effect and I'll be jailed for not having insurance - guess they'll do it for me free in jail!  :-)

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      WaffleCheeseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I wanted to make sure that my eyes 'stopped growing' or something like that. The doctors (one independent and one in house)
      
      Although my eyes have deteriorated very, very slightly, I bought a package where for the rest of my life I would get free touch ups. Plus, the laser surgery wasn't a templated procedure, but it was custom done to my specific eye.
      
      Needless to say I was able to see 20/10 for 18 months afterward. Now it's at 20/15. Once it gets worse than 20/20 I'll get reevaluated and have a touch up.
      
      Seriously, I recommend lasik (Custom vue --- nothing else) to ANY one that can have the procedure done. I wore glasses for years and there are just so many things we take for granted that we can't do.
      
      The first day I woke up in the morning and was able to see without fumbling for glasses amazed me.
      
      Please, please, please.... everyone needs to get it done because it just ups the quality of life as you would not believe.
      
      Now. In all seriousness do not get the cheapest procedure. Get the best one. It's your eyes, and now I get free procedures for the rest of my life (so long as my eye thickness is still there)

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      wychicposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      It basically lasts until age-related vision changes take effect since it's permanently re-shaping the eye. I'm also looking at a package with free touch-ups as well as free exams for life. I know a couple of people who had the procedure done in their mid-20s, have lived with it for 5-10 years, and all are still perfectly happy with it and haven't needed a touch-up. A couple of the older people I know who have gotten it (mid-40s and mid-50s) say they occasionally need reading glasses as age-related deterioration set in, but can still see great for most things.
      
      I'm not sure that insurance covers Lasik...I know mine doesn't and they don't allow the HSA money to be used for it with the plan I have. However, in the clinic I'll be going to it's $3,700 for both eyes and financing is available...I figure that's DEFINITELY worth the money! For most of us (myself included) that can be a pretty big chunk to save, but considering what it gives back it's pretty reasonable.

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         TMinutposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Very encouraging! It's hard to understand how an eye can be "permanently reshaped" when eyes change focus so often. But all the good reports I hear tempt me.
         And WC, definitely go for best over cheapest, the words cut and shave applied to my eyes? No way I want to cut corners on that! Thank you both! Though I'd still really prefer exercises...

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