What is low vision?
Low vision is an eye condition that surgery, medical treatment, and the best standard optical remedies cannot correct. Individuals of any age can experience visual impairment or partial sight due to hereditary conditions, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, detached retina, or stroke. It can can get in the way of simple tasks - such as writing a note or reading a magazine - or more encompassing goals, such as employment or independent living.
What can the Emory Eye Center's Low Vision Clinic do to help?
The Low Vision Clinic is one of a few clinical sites in the U.S. that develops advanced vision-assisting devices for the market. Our optometrists routinely evaluate low-vision devices that have helped patients who are legally blind see well enough to drive a car, read a newspaper, or recognize faces. And our highly trained professional staff is committed to helping patients identify options that fit their budget and lifestyle. We also provide referrals to occupational therapy (OT) to help patients safely pursue a lifestyle that respects their vision impairment(s).
How does occupational therapy (OT) factor into treatment for low-vision?
Occupational therapy (OT) can often help individuals with disabilities such as vision impairment to live life to the fullest - with fewer obstacles, illnesses, and risks of injury.
Occupational therapists in the Low-Vision Clinic focus on providing training with various activities, techniques and equipment that enable people to improve their quality of life as they deal with problems associated with low vision. More specifically, occupational therapists address issues such as:
- reading and writing
- basic self-care
- home management
- community activities such as shopping and driving
What types of assistive treatment options are available?
Emory Eye Center optometrists are always investigating new technologies that will maximize our patients' vision options. For more information on these or other therapies, speak directly with an Emory Eye Center optometrist:
- Implantable Miniature Telescope. This device helps some patients who have lost central vision due to end-stage Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). After rigorous screening, select candidates will have this implanted in one eye and receive follow-up rehabilitation.
- Cortical Reorganization. Evidence suggests that the brain can be trained to reorganize itself faster and more efficiently to develop a new preferred retinal viewing area. This shows promise for AMD patients. Techniques for training are being studied and implemented.
- Bioptic Telescope Lenses. These lenses fits onto standard eyeglasses. Light and portable, they work like a self-focusing camera, only with better precision. They magnify distant images up to four times normal size and render close-range objects up to five times normal size.
- Digital Viewing System. These portable and self-focusing virtual reality devices provide distance and close-up vision in one system. They can magnify images up to 30 times normal size. They are worn like a virtual reality helmet for viewing magnified images on a small screen in front of each eye. They can also be placed into a reading stand over a book or newspaper for viewing magnified images on a standard TV screen.
- Electronic Magnifier Systems. In recent years, many new portable electronic devices have been able to increase both long-distance and reading vision. These devices have optically superior quality for crisp image viewing.