As many of you know, I went to vision therapy for six months at Vision and Conceptual Development Center (VCDC) in Washington, DC where I learned to see better. My left eye went from 20/40 to 20/20 and my vision continues to improve as I continue to do these exercises. Let me preface this by saying that I had vision that was good enough already that no doc would cut my eyes, so if you're 20/500, this probably won't work for you...
First off, I have a kit that I have to use in many of these exercises. I bought it on my second day of vision therapy. You can buy it online at www.bernell.com. Just go up to the search, type in "Wachs" (named for Dr. Harry Wachs, the doc in charge of VCDC), and the one you want is the "Home VT Kit". It's $23.50 online, not including shipping. If you don't want to buy it, you can make some of your own tools, and I'll do my best in describing how to do this.
Warm up exercise: Eye Swings
Tools: none
How to: Pretty self explanatory; without moving your head, slide both of your eyes from left to right, back and forth for 30 seconds, same with up and down for 30 seconds, and both sets of diagonals (upper left to lower right, upper right to lower left) each for 30 seconds. Try to get as much range of vision as you can without moving your head. It might help to select references in your field of view or even make some with sticky notes around the room or something.
Exercise: Wolf Wands (works on tracking and saccadic eye movement)
Tools: A friend to help, two pens (different colors)
How to: Have your buddy take a pen in each hand and wave them both around randomly and at a pretty quick pace. He/she should call out which color of pen that you should be tracking at the moment and switch it up every few seconds. When the color changes, your eyes should quickly dart in search of the other pen and then start tracking it immediately. Make sure your buddy is utilizing your entire field of view and darting the pens around fast enough. If it’s challenging enough, your eyes will get tired after a while. Don’t do this for longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Eye Crossing (voluntary convergence)
Tools: none
How to: Pretty self explanatory; cross your eyes and hold it for ten seconds. Do it two or three times.
Exercise: Eye Circles (voluntary convergence)
Tool: E-stick (basically, a strip of index card about 5” long with a tiny “E” written on the top)
How to: One eye at a time; depending on which eye you are working on, block the other eye from looking at the E-stick by just placing your hand between the eye you’re not using and your nose like a blinder. Even though this eye shouldn’t be able to see the E-stick around your hand, it will still be helping the other eye. Now, with the eye you are working, take the E-stick about two inches away from your face and SLOWLY make circles around what would be the shape of your eye socket. Keep the
“E” in focus the entire time. If it starts to blur at a certain point, pause it there and stop circling, and get it to focus. Once it’s in focus, then you can continue to circle. Orbit your eye three or four times and then do the same steps for the other eye.
Exercise: Figure Eights (voluntary convergence)
Tool: E-stick
How to: Sort of like Eye Circles, but working both eyes at the same time. At the same distance you held the E-stick from your face for Eye Circles, SLOWLY bring the E-stick in a figure-eight pattern around your eyes. Keep the “E” in focus the entire time. Do this for no longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Thumbs (voluntary convergence)
Tools: none
How to: Make your hands into fists with your thumbs on top. Hold them next to each other so your thumb s are touching (imagine you’re playing a video game with a microscopic game controller). Now cross your eyes just enough to make a clear “third thumb.” Now there are two different things you can do while keeping this “third thumb” in focus. You can play a trombone: move your hands near and far at a slow to moderate pace all while keeping that “third thumb.” And, you can play an accordion: move your fists apart and back together at a slow pace all while keeping the “third thumb.” Do this for no longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Dots (voluntary convergence)
Tool: Three-Dot Card (basically a plain white index card cut in half the long way with three dots drawn on each side, one side with three green dots, the other with three red dots. The dots should be small, medium, and large in size and make sure they match the size of the corresponding dot on the other side of the card)
How to: Hold the Three-Dot Card up against your nose pointing out with the small dot closest to you. Now cross your eyes enough to blend the large green and red dots into one brownish dot, and hold for five seconds, then cross your eyes even more for the medium dots, and the same for the smallest dots. Focus on the different sizes and get faster and going between each set of dots. As you get better at this, trim the card so that the small set of dots gets closer and closer to your nose. Do this for no longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Rock Stick (vision acuity, near and far)
Tools: Rock Stick (like the “E” Stick, except it has a series of random letters and numbers where the “E” was), Distance Chart (chart hung on the wall with a series of letter and numbers), Eye Patch
How to: One eye at a time; you’re going to go back and forth between reading a letter from the Rock Stick and a letter from the Distance Chart. Start with the Rock Stick about a foot away from the eye you are working. As you go through alternately reading the letters and numbers from the Distance Chart and the Rock Stick, bring the Rock Stick closer and closer to your eye (until you’re about as close as you were with the “E” Stick), and take steps backwards from the Distance Chart. Do this for each eye.
Exercise: Follow the Bug (voluntary convergence)
Tool: Strings (2’ of colored dental floss drawn through a 4” plastic tube weighed down with a metal washer)
How to: Hold the plastic tube with one hand upright against your nose so that the metal washer is right above your lips, and the top of the plastic tube is right between your eyes. With your other hand, hold the colored floss straight out in front of you. Now starting at where your thumb is holding the string out in front of you and imagine a small bug walking along the string toward your nose. An ‘X’ should track along the string as your eyes slowly converge following the bug. Do the same for the bug SLOWLY walking back out toward your thumb. The ‘X’ should move smoothly along the string, and should not jump from point to point or move too quickly. Do this for no more than two minutes.
There are a couple other more complicated home vision exercises that would be nearly impossible to explain on here, but I hope this is good enough for now. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to help answer them. Best of luck to those of you who try these, they worked for me.
Have fun!
~Red
First off, I have a kit that I have to use in many of these exercises. I bought it on my second day of vision therapy. You can buy it online at www.bernell.com. Just go up to the search, type in "Wachs" (named for Dr. Harry Wachs, the doc in charge of VCDC), and the one you want is the "Home VT Kit". It's $23.50 online, not including shipping. If you don't want to buy it, you can make some of your own tools, and I'll do my best in describing how to do this.
Warm up exercise: Eye Swings
Tools: none
How to: Pretty self explanatory; without moving your head, slide both of your eyes from left to right, back and forth for 30 seconds, same with up and down for 30 seconds, and both sets of diagonals (upper left to lower right, upper right to lower left) each for 30 seconds. Try to get as much range of vision as you can without moving your head. It might help to select references in your field of view or even make some with sticky notes around the room or something.
Exercise: Wolf Wands (works on tracking and saccadic eye movement)
Tools: A friend to help, two pens (different colors)
How to: Have your buddy take a pen in each hand and wave them both around randomly and at a pretty quick pace. He/she should call out which color of pen that you should be tracking at the moment and switch it up every few seconds. When the color changes, your eyes should quickly dart in search of the other pen and then start tracking it immediately. Make sure your buddy is utilizing your entire field of view and darting the pens around fast enough. If it’s challenging enough, your eyes will get tired after a while. Don’t do this for longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Eye Crossing (voluntary convergence)
Tools: none
How to: Pretty self explanatory; cross your eyes and hold it for ten seconds. Do it two or three times.
Exercise: Eye Circles (voluntary convergence)
Tool: E-stick (basically, a strip of index card about 5” long with a tiny “E” written on the top)
How to: One eye at a time; depending on which eye you are working on, block the other eye from looking at the E-stick by just placing your hand between the eye you’re not using and your nose like a blinder. Even though this eye shouldn’t be able to see the E-stick around your hand, it will still be helping the other eye. Now, with the eye you are working, take the E-stick about two inches away from your face and SLOWLY make circles around what would be the shape of your eye socket. Keep the
“E” in focus the entire time. If it starts to blur at a certain point, pause it there and stop circling, and get it to focus. Once it’s in focus, then you can continue to circle. Orbit your eye three or four times and then do the same steps for the other eye.
Exercise: Figure Eights (voluntary convergence)
Tool: E-stick
How to: Sort of like Eye Circles, but working both eyes at the same time. At the same distance you held the E-stick from your face for Eye Circles, SLOWLY bring the E-stick in a figure-eight pattern around your eyes. Keep the “E” in focus the entire time. Do this for no longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Thumbs (voluntary convergence)
Tools: none
How to: Make your hands into fists with your thumbs on top. Hold them next to each other so your thumb s are touching (imagine you’re playing a video game with a microscopic game controller). Now cross your eyes just enough to make a clear “third thumb.” Now there are two different things you can do while keeping this “third thumb” in focus. You can play a trombone: move your hands near and far at a slow to moderate pace all while keeping that “third thumb.” And, you can play an accordion: move your fists apart and back together at a slow pace all while keeping the “third thumb.” Do this for no longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Dots (voluntary convergence)
Tool: Three-Dot Card (basically a plain white index card cut in half the long way with three dots drawn on each side, one side with three green dots, the other with three red dots. The dots should be small, medium, and large in size and make sure they match the size of the corresponding dot on the other side of the card)
How to: Hold the Three-Dot Card up against your nose pointing out with the small dot closest to you. Now cross your eyes enough to blend the large green and red dots into one brownish dot, and hold for five seconds, then cross your eyes even more for the medium dots, and the same for the smallest dots. Focus on the different sizes and get faster and going between each set of dots. As you get better at this, trim the card so that the small set of dots gets closer and closer to your nose. Do this for no longer than two minutes.
Exercise: Rock Stick (vision acuity, near and far)
Tools: Rock Stick (like the “E” Stick, except it has a series of random letters and numbers where the “E” was), Distance Chart (chart hung on the wall with a series of letter and numbers), Eye Patch
How to: One eye at a time; you’re going to go back and forth between reading a letter from the Rock Stick and a letter from the Distance Chart. Start with the Rock Stick about a foot away from the eye you are working. As you go through alternately reading the letters and numbers from the Distance Chart and the Rock Stick, bring the Rock Stick closer and closer to your eye (until you’re about as close as you were with the “E” Stick), and take steps backwards from the Distance Chart. Do this for each eye.
Exercise: Follow the Bug (voluntary convergence)
Tool: Strings (2’ of colored dental floss drawn through a 4” plastic tube weighed down with a metal washer)
How to: Hold the plastic tube with one hand upright against your nose so that the metal washer is right above your lips, and the top of the plastic tube is right between your eyes. With your other hand, hold the colored floss straight out in front of you. Now starting at where your thumb is holding the string out in front of you and imagine a small bug walking along the string toward your nose. An ‘X’ should track along the string as your eyes slowly converge following the bug. Do the same for the bug SLOWLY walking back out toward your thumb. The ‘X’ should move smoothly along the string, and should not jump from point to point or move too quickly. Do this for no more than two minutes.
There are a couple other more complicated home vision exercises that would be nearly impossible to explain on here, but I hope this is good enough for now. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to help answer them. Best of luck to those of you who try these, they worked for me.
Have fun!
~Red
