All Hope is Lost... NOT!

In an earlier blog of mine I mention an eye condition I have had since I was a very young child. It is called Stabismus, also known as "Crossed Eye".Strabismus is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other. It typically involves a lack of coordination between the extraocular muscles, which prevents bringing the gaze of each eye to the same point in space, thus hampers proper binocular vision, and which may adversel

y affect depth perception. Strabismus is present in about 4% of children  I don't have the crossed eye anymore because I had two eye surgeries. One when I was twelve and another at the fourteen. I was able to fix the look of my eyes, but the symptoms are still there. Symptoms of strabismus include eye strain. To avoid double vision, the brain may adapt by ignoring one eye. In this case, often no noticeable symptoms are seen other than a minor loss of depth perception. This deficit may not be noticeable in someone who has had strabismus since birth or early childhood, as they have likely learned to judge depth and distances using monocular cues. However, a constant unilateral strabismus causing constant suppression is a risk for amblyopia in children. Small-angle and intermittent strabismus are more likely to cause disruptive visual symptoms. In addition to headaches and eye strain, symptoms may include an inability to read comfortably, fatigue when reading, and unstable or "jittery" vision. As a result I have very poor depth perception, if any at all. That is one reason I don't like driving because I have been in quite a few accidents. I also suffer from eye spasms and headaches, but I barely notice any of this anymore because I have learned to live with it and accommodate my life according to it. But recently something exciting is taking place.

My husband is very smart, like genius smart. I am not trying to brag but his brain is some kind of amazing machine. He sees things no one else usually does and he has incredible problem solving skills. He started doing research on my eye condition. Keep in mind I have been to many eye specialists and none of them have been able to help with my symptoms or loss of depth perception. My husband found a woman who had the same condition as me and developed a way to get her depth perception back through a series of eye exercises. These exercises are hard core. He knows all the technical terms for everything so I can't explain it that well.

The first exercise is called The Brock String Method. It basically involves a string with beads on it in different positions. The object is for my eyes to focus on the bead and see a triangle. You start with the bead closer and work your way out. Right now when I look at the bead I do not see a triangle, like someone with depth perception would. I see 2 beads sometimes. Sometimes I see a bead with 2 wholes and 2 strings. My eyes jump around a lot because they are trying to find a way to align the images. My husband would probably laugh about how I am explaining this, but this is in plain language for me. So in order for me to fix my depth perception, I need to do these exercises often. That's all I know right now. It's actually very challenging. You wouldn't think staring at a string would be difficult but it actually makes me nauseous, so I only do it in small doses. I am curious to see where this all leads. It would be pretty cool if my husband found a successful way to help my eyes.