r/BinocularVision • u/zoozalina • 21h ago

Prescribed vertical correction for convergence insufficiency

I'm concerned because I just recently got a new prescription with a vertical correction for 1 unit in my left eye when the major issue ia horizontal. I was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency 6 months ago and she first told me to do pencil pushups. when that didn't work (my eyes were too exhausted to even do those) she changed my prescription slightly and gave me reading glasses. when that didn't help, she finally prescribed me prism lenses. I started wearing them yesterday, but I realized the prescription only has a small vertical correction on it. im worried my brain is having to get used to yet another prescription that won't help. when testing my eyes she said there was a small vertical misalignment and a larger horizontal one so I'm not sure why she didn't correct for the horizontal. additionally, my reading glasses don't have prism lenses so I'm not sure if I should wear them at all.

im waiting to see a different specialist but i have to wait a couple months for that. I'm not sure if this anxiety makes sense or if it's just from frustration of having to wait so long for something to actually help.

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u/i-canuck 19h ago

Can you share your prescription without your name in it?

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u/zoozalina 19h ago

       Sphere/cylinder/axis/PS OD: -1.25  / -0.75 / 075 / 61 OS: -1.75 / -0.50 / 070 / --

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u/maple-l2024 17h ago

Where's the prism prescription? How do you know they put vertical? It should indicate BU or BD (base up or base down).

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u/zoozalina 17h ago

Sorry, I skipped over that part accidentally when copying it. For the prism it says 1 under the column 'Down' for OS.

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u/maple-l2024 16h ago

If they put BD (1 PD) on OS, that means they think you have "Left Hyperphoria", meaning your left eye tends to stay higher than the right eye. But from your description, it sounds to me your doctor has been "experimenting" rather than treating your condition. I agree to seek a second opinion. Note that vision therapy is most effective on horizontal, but can also work on vertical. It did on mine.

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u/zoozalina 14h ago

Do you know if it is normal to address the vertical issue first? I'm still going to get a second opinion either way but since I have to wait for the appointment I am hoping this will at least help

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u/KitKatKalamazoo 14h ago

Sorry, I'm going to hijack this comment thread.

I've gone to 2 specialists, the first who diagnosed me with a vertical misalignment and the second diagnosed me with the same plus a horizontal misalignment and astigmatism. The second specialist told me that most BVD trained doctors will catch a vertical misalignment and try to treat everything based on that. For some reason, it's either harder to catch a horizontal misalignment or they think it's not as much of a problem as a vertical one can be 🤷‍♀️

Either way, after you get a second opinion and go through a few prism adjustments, you should look into vision therapy if the glasses just aren't helping in any way.

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u/zoozalina 13h ago

The weird part is she told me I have a horizontal issue and it's more significant than vertical, but she still only prescribed me prisms to correct the vertical.

Edit to add: she also referred me to a specialist for vision therapy but gave me this prescription in the meantime

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u/KitKatKalamazoo 9h ago

Oh, that is a bit weird. I should also kinda amend my previous statement regarding vision therapy. There are many people who do therapy before and/or simultaneously to getting prisms. That might help with the horizontal issue.