Computer games to help visually Impaired

A new computer game could help visually-impaired children lead independent lives. Better still, Eyelander is freely available online.

Computational neuroscientist Jonathan Waddington, from WESC, and Timothy Hodgson, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Lincoln’s School of Psychology are the game developers. Eyelander is designed to help young people with visual field loss caused by Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) – usually the result of a brain injury rather than damage to the eye itself – to use their vision more effectively.

The game trains players to move their eyes more efficiently by finding the correct colourful shape in a range of competing colours and shapes at different positions. They are led by an animated avatar and encouraging words motivate players.

According to the developers, this kind of activity is often not viable for children with functional vision problems because of complications viewing screen graphics.

Through regular practice, the exercises can improve performance in daily activities such as walking more safely in a crowded environment. Researchers believe that playing 10 times over four weeks may give users improvement in their functional vision.

“Functional vision is used to perform everyday tasks such as safely crossing the road or finding a book on a bookshelf, but when the visual pathways between the brain and the eyes are interrupted, the messages aren’t correctly relayed and the visual field becomes reduced,” said Mr. Waddington.

“We wanted to take existing therapies used to rehabilitate adults with visual field loss and make them more engaging for younger participants. We developed a prototype game with input from the residents of our school, and spent two years testing it with NHS patients before working with a professional games developer to create a browser game.”

The WESC Foundation is now asking for visually impaired young people to play the game and take part in further research to advance their understanding of the complex challenges faced by young people with visual field loss. Anyone can register to play the game free online. With parental permission, data collected will be analysed by the WESC research team to determine the impact of completing the therapy.

Prof. Hodgson said: “We are very hopeful that this game will provide not only a real solution to help people live a fuller, more adaptive life, but also offer a bit more fun for the eye training tasks they have to do.”

To take part in the trial, contact JWaddington@wescfoundation.ac.uk

To play the game, visit www.eyelander.co.uk.

Recycle Your Contact Lens Packaging - Leave It With Us

Plastic bags and packaging are much talked about at the moment! So if you want to reduce your plastic waste this year remember we can recycle your contact lens packaging. These are small items but every little bit helps.

Most disposable contact lens blisters are classified #5/PP Plastic, a designation shared by a wide range of medical and food packaging. Save these and drop them in to us for recycling. 

The cartons and cardboard packing are recyclable paper and can go in your regular household collection. The small piece of foil topping is the only part of packaging which should be discarded. Remember used contact lenses themselves go in the bin - not down the sink. Just one more way we can help protect our environment.

Peeps

We love Peeps!. This handy, easy to use glasses cleaner is compact for your pocket, hand bag, car, desk, wherever! Grease and fingerprints on your lenses are gone in seconds

How does it work?? Peeps use unique carbon pads which absorb oil. The technology is literally out of this world - it was used for cleaning lenses on the Space Station. The pads in Peeps recharge and work up to 500 times.

Does blurry distance vision mean you are short sighted?

Behavioural Optometrist Sally Adams shares Vision Therapy case notes. 

Paul, aged 8 years, came to see me because he could not read what his teacher had written on the board, and he was having headaches. His eye examination showed he was not short sighted, even though his  vision was blurry to the extent he would have failed the driving vision test, and his 3D vision was reduced.

Paul’s focus was not flexing normally and his eye movements for reading were not smooth. So he was not focussed on where he was looking, making reading a struggle.

Vision therapy for Paul was two fold; he started using reading glasses to reduce focusing stress, combined with vision exercises to improve the flexibility and accuracy of his focusing and eye tracking system. Within only a few weeks Paul’s distance vision returned to better than 20/20, his 3D vision returned to normal, and his headaches had reduced.  The next step was to help him maintain this improvement so he would not suffer with the same problems again. He worked through 12 sessions of vision therapy with me for 30 minutes each week, while at home he completed 10 to 15 minutes of vision activities each day. With practice and commitment Paul’s vision system is automatically working efficiently which means he sees clearly and comfortably.

Names have been changed for privacy reasons.

How eye disorders may have influenced the work of famous painters

Visual art invites us to view the world seen through the eyes of the artist or creator. This concept is very familiar to us with modern art, there is a role for interpretation. However a few hundred
years ago, the artists of the day were typically creating more real life images of their subject matter.

There is a long history of scientists and clinicians arguing particular artists were affected by vision disorders, based on signs in their works. Included is the hypothesis that leaders of the Impressionist movement were short- sighted, for instance, and that their blurry distance vision may explain their broad, impetuous style.

The fact that Claude Monet had cataracts is well documented and seen in the changing colours of his paintings. In other cases supporting evidence of such disorders and their influence on artworks is often speculative, and hampered by a lack of clinical records to support the diagnosis. There is still fun in speculating, did El Greco suffer from astigmatism? Perhaps Australian painter Clifton Pugh had a colour vision deficit?

What is an OCT? How does it help in Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma?

OCT stands for scanning technology Optical Coherence Tomography. Scanning lets us ‘see’ tissue behind the visible retina inside the eye. In the past 5 years OCT has become invaluable in assessing eye health, particularly helpful for Macular Degeneration (MD) and Glaucoma.

When we see signs of MD during an eye examination, we take an OCT scan which reveals what is happening in the underlying retina. In particular we want to spot the ‘wet’ form of MD which can cause rapid, devastating vision changes. With a scan we can see if there is fluid in the macula and allows us to make referral for treatment.

The detailed measurements of the nerve fibre layer in the eye are particularly helpful when we are looking for Glaucoma. If there are signs in a regular examination, OCT gives us a way to closely monitor changes over time. These changes are seen before any vision loss.

But OCT is not a stand alone magic bullet. It’s a tool and interpreting the results needs careful consideration along with all other clinical findings. At the end of the day an OCT scanner is not an optometrist.

We are committed to using all our available diagnostic tools and we strongly believe the best place to start is regular eye examinations. The simple, vital step of spending time with you, to collect relevant history, through careful listening, guides us to the best combination of diagnostic testing.