Why Light Therapy?
Light is essential to life. If you’ve ever felt a little down after a few cloudy days, you have scratched the surface of understanding how dramatically light impacts our health and well-being much more than just being able to see. Light Therapy helps restore balance to the brain and body.
Here’s how: The brain controls everything in the body and the eyes transmit more than mere images to the brain. When we use prescribed light to create a balance between these two systems, the eyes are then able to take in more information enabling the brain to process visual information more accurately.
“Light entering the eyes not only allows us to see but also joins together other important brain centers such as the hypothalamus and pineal gland to allow normal visual processing to occur.”
– College of Syntonic Optometry
Perceptual Field
When deciding if Light Therapy may help a patient, our Optometrists evaluate peripheral vision sensitivity. We test the perceptual visual field for size, perception of motion and response to color.
Vision exam results enable us to choose the appropriate colors that will open the perceptual field and alleviate problematic visual conditions.
If the patient’s visual fi eld is functionally constricted, Light Therapy can be an effective, at-home treatment that can dramatically open the visual field. When the visual field is “open” fully, the brain allows the eyes to see and process more information at maximum efficiency.
Light Therapy Options
- In-Office Vision Therapy + In-Office Light Therapy
- In-Office Vision Therapy + Home Light Therapy Home Light Therapy
- In-Office Light Therapy
All in-home therapy options require that the first two sessions are supervised in our office. Then, Light Therapy equipment is sent home with the patient and requires only 20 minutes per day for optimum results.
Light Therapy may be prescribed alone or in support of our comprehensive Vision Therapy program.
The body’s autonomic nervous system is comprised of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. For example, the sympathetic system controls the dilation of pupils while the parasympathetic system contracts them. Light Therapy can bring these two complementary systems into balance to maximize brain and vision function.
Light Therapy is Effective in Treating
Visual Conditions:
- Blurred or unstable vision
- Eyestrain or fatigue
- Strabismus (eye turn)
- Amblyopia (lazy eye)
- Double vision
- Poor depth perception
- Reduced peripheral vision
- Light sensitivity or glare
Visually Related Conditions:
- Headaches
- Short attention span
- Reduced concentration
- Poor memory
- Reading problems
- Impaired driving ability
- Poor coordination or balance
School, Work or Sports Performance:
- Reduced academic achievement
- Uneven work performance
- Inconsistent athletic accomplishment
History of Stress or Trauma
- Brain injury
- Mental or emotional trauma
- Chronic illness