Glimpsing The Virtual Reality Future Of How We Treat Eye Problems

Quartz: An entrepreneur is using virtual-reality headsets to try to cure vision disorders Virtual reality is already being touted as a useful tool in the treatment of veterans with PTSD and children with autism, but one San Francisco entrepreneur believes the still-nascent technology could also hold the key to a cure for common visual disorders.  Through his company, Vivid Vision, James Blaha ultimately plans to offer VR vision therapy gaming software for those who suffer from strabismus (more commonly known as “crossed” eyes) or amblyopia ( a “lazy” eye), both of which result in limited depth perception. His idea was backed in a $20,000-plus Indiegogo campaign last year and attracted $700,000 in seed money from investors.  As Alice Truong reports on Quartz, Blaha was born with strabismus and experimented with an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset by sending different images to each eye in an effort to improve the vision of his weaker eye. After almost two years of experimenting, he has regained 80 percent of his stereo vision in that eye. Such conditions are typically treated in youth by covering the stronger eye with an eyepatch to help the weaker eye catch up, but that approach doesn’t work for everyone. And such treatment beyond about age 7 has traditionally been considered even less effective. "It was the dogma that the critical age couldn't be overcome, and I think for a long time that caused people to not look into...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news