Vision Therapy: What it is and How it Works

Did your eye doctor prescribe vision therapy for you or your child? This individualized treatment program can improve or eliminate certain eye conditions, including:

Strabismus (Crossed Eyes)
Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)
Double vision
Ocular muscle dysfunction
Convergence insufficiency
Difficulties processing visual information

In this article, you'll learn when vision therapy works best and get the answers to common questions about the treatment.

What is Vision Therapy?

Vision therapy involves eye exercises designed to improve the quality and efficiency of your vision/eyesight and develop your visual skills. It usually consists of treatment in an optometrist's or ophthalmologist's office , as well as exercises centered on visual skills the patient can do at home. Vision therapy may also leverage specialized equipment or tools to help patients perform visual skills exercises, such as:

Prisms
Therapeutic lenses
Patches
Balance boards

The eye doctor or board-certified vision therapist will explain how these eye exercises—also known as orthoptics—can improve binocular function. This is called orthoptic vision therapy. A patient might receive perceptual vision therapy exercises to improve their visual perception and visual processing. To proactively protect your vision, read our article with 6 tips for preventing vision problems .

Who Should Get Vision Therapy?

Both adults and children are good candidates for this training. Treatment at a young age can help children who are having problems reading and focusing in school due to vision problems, such as a lazy eye. Usually, children begin vision therapy around age 6 or 7.

Vision therapy for adults can help someone who has headaches, notices eye strain, loses their place while reading, experiences fluctuating vision, finds themselves losing concentration while reading or who notices that words and letters seem to jump around on the page.

If you have near-sightedness (myopia), your doctor might suggest vision therapy or vision training to help improve or correct that eye condition.

Eye exercises can help someone who has convergence insufficiency by getting them to focus on a nearby object and bring the eyes together to read properly.

Vision Therapy Exercises

Eye doctors will prescribe various exercises you can do at home or at work in order to build eye strength, limber eye muscles and improve flexibility in the eye focusing muscles. Here are two of them:

A “pencil pushup" is where someone focuses on a tiny letter on a pencil while moving it closer to the bridge of their nose. An ophthalmologist might give the patient a series of eye exercises that can be done on the computer to train the eye(s).⁴
The near-far exercise helps the eyes work together as a team. You can focus on an object 6 inches in front of your nose and then focus on something far away on the other side of the room, holding the gaze on each object for 3 seconds. Repeat 20 times.⁴

How long does vision therapy take to work?

That depends on the patient's condition as well as the time and effort they put into their vision therapy eye exercises. On average, a patient will receive treatment in the office for one to two 60-minute sessions a week, followed by home exercises that should be done for 20 to 30-minutes a day. This treatment and vision therapy program will last four to six months. ^1,2

Should You Consider Vision Therapy?

Many health insurance companies don't cover the cost of vision therapy treatments or some plans only cover it for certain diagnoses. For example, some Aetna plans will cover vision therapy to treat convergence insufficiency up to 12 sessions, but they might not cover vision therapy after a concussion or traumatic brain injury.³ Check with your health insurance plan to see if this treatment is covered or if you'll have to pay out-of-pocket costs.

At Aetna, the costs for vision treatment therapy can cost around $150 per visit and overall treatment options from assessments to therapy to follow-up exams can run from $1,000 to $7,000 depending on the vision problem.³

Payment solutions for vision treatment

Whether you're getting an eye exam or needing eye surgery, you can use the CareCredit credit card to help you pay for costs not covered by insurance.^* Use our Acceptance Locator or download the CareCredit Mobile App to find a qualified vision care provider near you who accepts the CareCredit credit card and learn more about financing options.