Prism lenses in case of visual impairment due to brain trauma

[rinselberg]

I don't know whether this is "new news" or "old news" but I thought I should post it for general interest. It's about a case where "over-correcting prism lenses" are being used to rehab an individual who has suffered visual impairment associated with trauma to the brain.

Report plus video:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...lth&id=6533382

[epiclabs]

..

[epiclabs]

I believe the concept they are employing with "over-correcting" prisms is not new from the standpoint of visual therapy. In lamens terms it's simply trying to get the patient to re-recognize "lost" fields by utilizing existing vision and repetition exercises to make eye muscles stronger.

We have actually worked with the folks down in Houston on a project where lenses are created that have prism in only select areas of the lens (temporal half, select quadrants, oval shapes, etc.) for daily wear rather than just for therapy. Take a look at the video again and notice his daily wear glasses have an oval shape in the top half of his left lens. This is an imbedded prism and those glasses are designed to help him either "look around" his field loss OR to call attention to things he can't see in that field so he can turn his head and look through the regular part of his glasses to view.