Welcome Dr Shirley Ha to our team

The place for doctors and patients to learn more about advanced treatment in Amblyopia care.

Amblyopia is a treatable, neurodevelopmental form of vision loss.

It is caused when there is a disruption in binocular vision in infancy/toddlerhood either by misalignment of the eyes (also known as strabismus), or when one eye has a greater farsightedness/nearsightedness and/or astigmatism, or blockage of light, such as infantile cataracts. It typically occurs in one eye (but can occur in both eyes) even when best corrected with glasses or contacts.

Over 12 million people in the US alone are affected (about 3.5% of the US population).

It is preventable if the factors causing it are identified and treated in infancy or early toddlerhood, but it can be treated at any age.

Binocular Vision Therapy is a proven effective treatment for amblyopia. 

It involves office-based optometric vision therapy (along with home oriented activities) guided by the doctor and vision therapist utilizing devices, prisms, lenses and dichoptic filters to treat the underlying suppression and related developmental vision delays plus help the two eyes to work together.

Source: The Amblyopia Project

Concussions result from a direct blow to the head

or, indirectly from something such as whiplash.

The impact causes the brain to hit against the inside of the skull causing brain bruising. It is estimated that nearly 4 million concussions occur yearly in the United States.

10-20% of concussions result in symptoms that can last weeks, months, or more.

When these symptoms persist, a condition known as post-concussion syndrome occurs.

Research suggest that over 50% of patients with concussion or post concussion syndrome have visual problems that may cause headaches, eye headaches, double vision, eye strain or blurred vision.

 

It may even cause students to have decreased reading speed and comprehension.

Optometrists have a great understanding of the visual system.
 

They have the opportunity to retrain the visual system to help eliminate the visual symptoms most commonly associated with post-concussion syndrome.
 

This is done through a program of neuro-optometric rehabilitation 

Source: The Concussion Project

Vision & Brain Injury

Thomas Politzer, OD, former NORA President

Vision is our dominant sense 

More than just sight is measured in terms of visual acuity, vision is the process of deriving meaning from what is seen. It is a complex, learned and developed set of functions that involve a multitude of skills. Research estimates that eighty to eighty five percent of our perception, learning, cognition and activities are mediated through vision. 

The ultimate purpose of the visual process is to arrive at an appropriate motor, and/or cognitive response.

There is an extremely high incidence (greater than 50%) of visual and visual-cognitive disorders in neurologically impaired patients (traumatic brain injury, cerebral vascular accidents, multiple sclerosis etc.) Rosalind Gianutsos, Ph.D.

"Visual-perceptual dysfunction is one of the most common devastating residual impairments of head injury". Barbara Zoltan, M.A., O.T.R.

"The majority of individuals that recover from a traumatic brain injury will have binocular function difficulties in the form of strabismus, phoria, oculomotor dysfunction, convergence and accommodative abnormalities". William Padula, O.D. 

Source: Neuro Optometric Rehabilitation Association