Convergence Insufficiency… a serious children’s vision problem that should not be trivialized

Convergence Insufficiency (CI) is a vision disorder that affects nearly 1 in 12 children and has consequences to a child’s quality of life.  CI is a serious vision problem and when left untreated, can have a significant impact…

A real live example of this is told by Aiden’s Success Story just submitted by his parents to our office yesterday at his Exit Examination from treatment. Aiden’s (CI) symptoms before treatment were a collective set  of behaviors that appeared like so many children with CI who are misdiagnosed and treated for ADD/ADHD.

As stated by Dr. Press in his latest VisionHelp Blog post, An Inconvenient Truth, one notably partisan membership association, The American Academy of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) has  turned a blind eye to the current research on this serious vision problem by purveying unproven and ineffective treatments on their website. Incredibly, even after 10 years of gold standard research  by the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT) Investigation Group, which has proven that prism glasses and home based vision activities alone are not effective treatment modalites for Convergence Insufficiency, these treatments are still recommended as possible remedies for this serious child’s vision disorder by the AAPOS. It is not only wrong for the AAPOS to mislead the public, doctors and third-party representatives on bogus CI treatment…it is shameful!

Three years ago this month, in its lead story Optometry Times published the evidenced-based research for Doctors of Optometry so that their clinical decisions would be guided by proven methods, thereby enabling their patient’s with Convergence Insufficiency to obtain the correct treatment.

Click here to see what Doctors are being taught about the most effective treatment for Convergence Insufficiency.

For additional factual information on Convergence Insufficiency, click here.

Dan L. Fortenbacher, O.D., FCOVD