orthoptics (vision therapy)

The treatment of binocular vision problems by methods other than lenses or surgery, usually a program of supervised exercises¹. Its specific aims are to reduce suppression, treat amblyopia and anomalous correspondence, build fusional amplitudes and improve stereopsis³. In the United States the broader and more usual term is vision therapy².

The treatment retrains the coordination of vergence, accommodation and fusion. It is a learning process, like learning any motor skill: the reflexes are re-educated by practice until they run automatically¹.