Vision Therapy — Vision Exam

Testing for More than 20/20

20/20 just means that the person can clearly see a certain letter on the standard eye chart (equivalent to what a person with normal vision should be able to see at 20 feet).  There's so much more to healthy vision than 20/20!

Our comprehensive vision exam goes beyond 20/20 to evaluate many important visual skills , such as:

• Visual Acuity at Near
  Is vision clear and single at close distances? Clear sight at short distances is critical to reading, writing, close work, computer use, etc.
  
  
• Eye Teaming Skills
  Do the two eyes aim, move, and work as a coordinated team? Weaknesses in binocular (two-eyed) vision and eye teaming skills can cause numerous difficulties, including convergence insufficiency and poor depth perception.
  
  
• Eye Focusing Skills
  Do the eyes maintain clear vision at varying distances? Rapid, automatic eye focus adjustment is critical to learning, reading, writing, sports, etc. Deficiencies can cause visual fatigue, reduced reading comprehension, and/or avoidance of close work or other activities.
  
  
• Eye Movement Skills
  Do eye movements show adequate muscle control, tracking, fixation, etc.? In the classroom, normal eye movements allow rapid and accurate shifting of the eyes along a line of print or from book to desk to board, etc.  In sports, efficient eye movements contribute to eye-hand coordination, visual reaction time, and accurate tracking.
  
  
• Reversal Frequency
  Is confusion or reversal of letters or words (b, d; p, q; saw, was; etc.) within the normal ranges for a given age?  Past the age of seven, frequent visual and written reversals might indicate a visual perceptual dysfunction.

Above are just a few of the many visual skills evaluated during our comprehensive vision exam.  In addition, the health of your eyes, inside and out, is carefully evaluated for such problems as cataracts, glaucoma, hypertension, diabetes, etc.

To learn more about general eye care, read Dr. Metzger's comprehensive explanation of vision exams for all ages.