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May Newsletter: The Benefits of Vision Therapy After LASIK Surgery

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Woman experiences vision therapy first-hand.

The Benefits of Vision Therapy After LASIK Surgery

Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) makes it possible to enjoy sharp vision without contacts or glasses. Although LASIK has a high success rate, some people experience vision issues after surgery. Vision therapy could help you enhance your vision and optimize your LASIK results if you're struggling with blurry vision, glare, eye strain, or headaches.

Common Post-LASIK Vision Problems

LASIK reshapes the cornea, changing the way light bends as it enters the eye. Although LASIK may improve your ability to read the lines on an eye chart, you may still experience vision issues. Vision problems after LASIK are more likely to occur if your eyes don't work well together as a team or your brain has trouble processing the information it receives from your eyes.

After LASIK surgery, some people notice problems with:

  • Binocular Vision (Using Both Eyes Together)
  • Eye Coordination
  • Focusing
  • Seeing Well in Low Light
  • Eye Strain
  • Headaches
  • Fatigue

How Vision Therapy Can Help

Vision therapy enhances communication between the brain and the eyes, improving crucial vision skills. Your vision therapist performs a comprehensive eye examination to identify problems affecting your vision. After determining a diagnosis, your vision therapist prepares a therapy plan tailored to your specific vision problem.

During sessions at the vision therapist's office, you'll participate in activities that strengthen and improve your visual skills. Therapists use a variety of hands-on and computer activities, in addition to other tools, such as prism lenses that change the way light enters your eyes.

Vision therapy can help you by:

  • Improving Binocular Vision. Poor binocular vision affects hand-eye coordination and depth perception and may cause double or blurred vision, eye strain, headaches, focusing problems, light sensitivity, and dizziness. Vision therapy trains the eyes to work together when focusing and tracking moving objects. According to a research study published in the Journal of Vision in 2007, most people who complained of poor vision after LASIK surgery had problems with binocular vision or accommodation (focusing ability). Binocular vision improved significantly in 67% of patients who participated in a 20-session computerized visual skills training program. Other patients also saw an improvement in vision with additional vision therapy sessions.
  • Enhancing Visual Processing Skills. After a major change in your vision, your brain may struggle to process information from the eyes efficiently. Vision therapy improves visual processing and memory skills necessary for good vision.
  • Decreasing Light Sensitivity. According to the Refractive Surgery Council, glare and halos around lights are among the most common LASIK side effects during the healing process. Vision therapy tackles these symptoms by improving contrast sensitivity. Contrast sensitivity allows you to see subtle details in various lighting levels, identify objects in the foreground, and tell the difference between two shades of the same color.
  • Reducing Fatigue. Adjusting to your new visual capabilities can be tiring. Vision therapy increases visual endurance and stamina, allowing you to read a few chapters in a book or work on your laptop without feeling exhausted.
  • Relieving Eye Strain. During the adjustment process, you may also experience eye strain when reading or using the computer. Your eyes may feel sore and tired. Headaches, blurry vision, sensitivity to light, and tight neck, shoulder and upper back muscles may be signs of eye strain. You may be more likely to experience eye strain if you have strabismus (crossed eyes), amblyopia (lazy eye) or focusing problems, like convergence insufficiency or accommodative disorder. Although you may have never noticed these problems before, they could cause problems after LASIK surgery. Improving these visual skills with vision therapy could help ease your eye strain problems.
  • Strengthening Focusing Skills. Poor focusing skills make it difficult to keep your place when you read, remember what you read, and recognize words and letters. During vision therapy, you might follow a maze with your pencil to strengthen your focusing ability, or play a computer game that improves your ability to focus on moving objects.

Wondering if vision therapy could improve your visual skills after LASIK surgery? Contact our office to schedule an appointment with the vision therapist.

Sources:

Journal of Vision: Binocular Vision and Lasik: Improvement Following Visual Skills Training, 12/2007

https://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2135166

MedlinePlus: LASIK Eye Surgery, 1/29/2024

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007018.htm

American Academy of Ophthalmology: Facts About LASIK Complications, 8/9/2024

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/treatments/facts-about-lasik-complications