The first step to restoring your vision and enhancing your quality of life is to have a doctor evaluate your deficit and see if you are an appropriate candidate for Vision Restoration Therapy. If you need assistance finding a doctor qualified to do so, visit the VRT Directory. After you have qualified and paid for therapy, you will receive a leased VRT device and perform a few tests that will help clinicians create a customized vision rehabilitation therapy specific to your condition for you to perform at home.

In order to start your therapy you must have a prescription and eye exam form completed by your physician. To download these forms please click here.

The vision restoration involves no surgery or medication of any kind and the therapy is completed at the patient’s home. Vision restoration consists of daily therapy sessions on a medical device that targets the border of the blind area in order to expand the field of vision. It is prescribed in time intervals based on individual needs and abilities. Vision restoration is prescribed to be performed six days a week for a period of six months, however many patients continue with therapy if their vision is still improving.

Patients perform vision rehabilitation seated in front of a VRT medical device, ideally in a relatively dark room free of distractions. Throughout the vision rehabilitation sessions, you will focus your eyes on a central point displayed on the device screen and respond whenever you see a stimulus that will be mostly presented along the border of the blind area. Repeated exposure to the visual stimuli over time activates neurons in the brain that work to improve your vision. To get an idea of what therapy entails and the look and feel of it, take the online vision test.

For every month of vision rehabilitation NovaVision will evaluate your results and update your therapy to optimize your progress. Typically, patients who require vision rehabilitation after a brain injury or stroke need time for impaired brain functions to recover. After most injuries, therapy can help restore function.

As with any rehabilitation program, consistent performance of VRT on the part of the patient is required to produce results. Vision rehabilitation post stroke or brain injury is gradual, though for some patients the first improvements are noticeable as early as a few months after therapy begins. In a retrospective study of Vision Restoration Therapy, more than 70 percent of patients who completed VRT showed improvements in their vision and reported an enhanced quality of life.¹

¹ Romano JG, et al. Visual field changes after a rehabilitation intervention: Vision restoration therapy, J Neurol Sci (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jns.2008.06.026

For assistance in finding a professional to evaluate visual field loss and prescribe therapy, visit the NovaVision VRT directory.