{"id":1031,"date":"2020-04-07T10:47:30","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T10:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/wordpress\/amblyopia-lazy-eye\/misdiagnosed-as-untreatable-lazy-eye\/"},"modified":"2021-07-13T10:37:12","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T10:37:12","slug":"misdiagnosed-as-untreatable-lazy-eye","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-lazy-eye\/misdiagnosed-as-untreatable-lazy-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"My Lazy Eye Was Misdiagnosed"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>&#8220;Thanks to Vision Therapy, I Gained 3D Vision!&#8221;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>A Personal Story<\/p>\n<p>by Rachel Cooper, Past Director of the Optometrists Network<\/p>\n<p>My &#8220;lazy eye&#8221; was first detected in a free public school eye examination when I was seven years old (belated thanks to the State of Pennsylvania for that free eye exam!). This led to my first visit to an eye doctor. I don&#8217;t remember anything about that encounter.<\/p>\n<p>All I know is that I came away with a pair of glasses and no patching or Vision Therapy was recommended.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\"><strong>Contact an eye doctor near you<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0who has experience treating lazy eye with vision therapy to help improve your vision.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SEE RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-lazy-eye\/amblyopia-lazy-eye\/\">What Is Lazy Eye?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"practice-search-widget\">\n\t\t<h3>Find a Vision Therapy Eye Doctor Near You<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t<form class=\"practice-search-form practice-search-form-widget\" action=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/results\/\" method=\"get\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page\" class=\"practice-search-page\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_latitude\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_longitude\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"address\" class=\"practice-search-address\" placeholder=\"City, Surburb or Address\" value=\"\">\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<button type=\"submit\" class=\"practice-search-button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M10.6796 0.130005C9.15708 0.130059 7.66615 0.5646 6.38198 1.38258C5.09781 2.20057 4.07373 3.36803 3.43004 4.74783C2.78634 6.12763 2.54976 7.66246 2.74808 9.17205C2.9464 10.6816 3.57139 12.1033 4.54964 13.27L0.729639 17.08C0.6364 17.1732 0.562439 17.2839 0.511979 17.4058C0.461519 17.5276 0.435547 17.6581 0.435547 17.79C0.435547 17.9219 0.461519 18.0524 0.511979 18.1743C0.562439 18.2961 0.6364 18.4068 0.729639 18.5C0.917942 18.6883 1.17334 18.7941 1.43964 18.7941C1.5715 18.7941 1.70207 18.7681 1.82389 18.7177C1.94571 18.6672 2.0564 18.5932 2.14964 18.5L5.99964 14.62C7.35406 15.6038 8.98566 16.1324 10.6596 16.13C12.7814 16.13 14.8162 15.2871 16.3165 13.7869C17.8168 12.2866 18.6596 10.2517 18.6596 8.13C18.6596 6.00827 17.8168 3.97344 16.3165 2.47315C14.8162 0.97286 12.7814 0.130005 10.6596 0.130005H10.6796ZM10.6796 14.13C9.49295 14.13 8.33291 13.7781 7.34622 13.1188C6.35952 12.4595 5.59049 11.5225 5.13636 10.4261C4.68224 9.32975 4.56342 8.12335 4.79493 6.95946C5.02644 5.79558 5.59788 4.72648 6.437 3.88736C7.27611 3.04825 8.34521 2.4768 9.5091 2.24529C10.673 2.01378 11.8794 2.1326 12.9757 2.58673C14.0721 3.04085 15.0092 3.80989 15.6685 4.79658C16.3277 5.78328 16.6796 6.94332 16.6796 8.13C16.6796 9.7213 16.0475 11.2474 14.9223 12.3726C13.7971 13.4979 12.2709 14.13 10.6796 14.13Z\" fill=\"#fff\"\/><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"practice-search-use-my-location\">\n\t\t\tSearch near me\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\n\t<\/form>\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<p><b>For the next ten years I would struggle with wearing either glasses or contact lenses.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>By the time I was twelve years old I had been examined several times by two new eye doctors: one ophthalmologist. Both doctors said <b>exactly<\/b> the same thing. They told me that my two eyes did not work together as a team; that I alternated between using one eye or the other, but seldom or never used both eyes together at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Since I alternated between using both eyes, I had not lost too much vision in either eye. Still, they both described me as having &#8220;lazy eyes.&#8221; According to the eye doctors it was too late for surgery or patching &#8212; nothing could be done to correct my &#8220;lazy eye.&#8221; &#8220;I was too old.&#8221; and &#8220;It was too late&#8221; for me.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the doctors informed me, <b>this meant I didn&#8217;t have depth perception<\/b>. &#8220;What&#8217;s depth perception?&#8221; I asked. Vague descriptions ensued &#8212; much like attempts to explain colors and rainbows to a blind person. I remember the optometrist stumbled and mumbled around a bit and finally declared that without depth perception it would be very difficult for me to catch a ball.<\/p>\n<p>Hmmm, I thought this one over. I already knew I couldn&#8217;t catch a ball without major panic &#8212; screaming, head ducking, arms flailing, etc. So far this embarrassing state of affairs hasn&#8217;t killed me. This was also at a time when girls&#8217; sports were still a very low priority. After thinking it over, I decided being unable to catch a ball was not a serious handicap. No sweat, doc.<\/p>\n<p>Out into the world the eye doctors sent me to live life without depth perception. No mention was made of the possibility of Vision Therapy or any type of rehabilitation. I didn&#8217;t have depth perception and that was that.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>In New York city, I heard for the first time about something called Vision Therapy. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dozens of people told me that they or their relatives had received Vision Therapy when they were children. <b>They were cured! Their eyes looked straight. They had binocular (two-eyed) vision.<\/b> <em>I couldn&#8217;t believe it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>They were so matter-of-fact about it. It was just as if they were saying, &#8220;oh, yeah, I had braces when I was a kid &#8211; no biggie.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When I first heard of Vision Therapy, I didn&#8217;t have health insurance. In my early twenties at the time, I concluded that if insurance wouldn&#8217;t pay for it, I couldn&#8217;t do it. Years later, I would look back on that logic as youthful folly.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Very Happy Ending (and Beginning)\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n<p>At long last, when I was almost 33 years old, I began regular Vision Therapy under the supervision of a behavioral optometrist (developmental optometrist) in New York city. After a year and a half of twice-a-week therapy, I was using both of my eyes together as a coordinated team.<\/p>\n<p><em><b>The world popped out in 3D and it stayed that way!<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p><b>Today, I passed all the standard stereo vision tests, I use both of my eyes to see all the time<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Human stereo vision may be a miracle (scientists still can&#8217;t totally explain how it happens), but Vision Therapy is a medical science that has been around since the nineteenth century. I simply went to therapy, tried to be a good patient, and did what the eye doctor told me to do.<\/p>\n<p>Ever since the day I saw the world popping out in 3D for the first time, I&#8217;ve wanted to tell others to appreciate the miracle of normal depth perception and 3D vision. You SEE, if you overcome a disability, you very likely won&#8217;t take what you&#8217;ve gained for granted. What other people call normal will always be special to you!<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been clear to me, however, that it is even more important to help others (especially children) with lazy eye or other 3D vision problems.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t believe in &#8220;what-ifs&#8221; or &#8220;regrets&#8221; but I do know my life would have been completely different if I had received vision therapy as a child.<\/p>\n<p>Well, friends, I&#8217;ve got to sign off for now.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Remember . . . life really is better in 3D.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>LEARN MORE: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-lazy-eye\/\">Guide to Vision Therapy for Lazy Eye<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\">Schedule an appointment<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0with a vision therapy eye doctor near you to start treatment which will improve your binocular vision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Thanks to Vision Therapy, I Gained 3D Vision!&#8221;. A Personal Story by Rachel Cooper, Past Director of the Optometrists Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1233,"parent":1393,"menu_order":130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[114,85,113,202,117,83],"class_list":["post-1031","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-amblyopia","tag-children","tag-lazy-eye","tag-patching","tag-stereopsis","tag-vision-therapy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>My Lazy Eye Was Misdiagnosed - Optometrists.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-lazy-eye\/misdiagnosed-as-untreatable-lazy-eye\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Lazy Eye Was Misdiagnosed - Optometrists.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;Thanks to Vision Therapy, I Gained 3D Vision!&quot;. 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