Photo-syntonic light therapy has been used clinically for over 70 years in conjunction with other types of vision therapy to treat conditions like eye turns, lazy eye, reduced peripheral vision, and depth perception. This form of light therapy is becoming more and more popular due to its success rates and the fact that it is a simple, non-invasive treatment option. At Vision For Life, photo-syntonic light therapy is often used successfully in conjunction with other vision therapy techniques.
What is photo-syntonic light therapy?
With our customized vision therapy program, we use a variety of treatment devices and options including photo-syntonic therapy. This light therapy consists of our patients wearing colored filter goggles, repeated through a number of sessions. The number of sessions and the color of the filter used are always based on the individual patient’s vision problems. In the instance of a patient with eyes turned in, for example, the photo-syntonic light therapy color would look different than someone with their eyes turned out.
So, how does it work?
When light enters the eye, it creates images and also travels throughout the brain to reach the pineal gland and the hypothalamus, parts of the brain that are responsible for the body’s hormones and chemical balances that affect vision. When applying light to these areas, it stimulates the brain and helps restore the body’s nervous system, helping to improve vision problems. This “restored balance in the body” is syntony and is where the term syntonics is derived.
Light therapy, which uses many colors on the spectrum, treats different vision problems. Colors like orange, yellow and red stimulate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and other colors, like blue and violet, are used to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). SNS is responsible for the “fight or flight” response and the PNS will control the homeostasis state, making pupils constrict.
Is photo-syntonic light therapy right for you?
At Vision For Life, we will perform several vision tests to determine the most successful syntonic treatment. Tests performed include pupil reaction tests and functional vision field tests. Next, our vision specialists select the color to show the patient based on testing. Red and orange is typically used to treat lazy eyes and green or yellow can be used to treat eyes that may be turned inward. Need help focusing while doing near work or reading? The colors in the blue spectrum can be used successfully in this particular treatment plan.
Other benefits of light therapy include helping to decrease an individual’s excess adrenaline and reduction of anxiety. Patients treated with light-therapy may have amblyopia, strabismus, visual attention deficit, vision-related behavioral and learning problems, brain injury, convergence issues, and other vision-related symptoms. Typically, patients will receive 30 sessions of light therapy over the course of one month or several months, depending on his or her diagnosis.
Want to learn more about our vision therapy in conjunction with photo-syntonic light therapy? Contact us at 618-288-1489 for a complete visual consultation. You can also learn more about Vision For Life by visiting our website at https://visionforlifeworks.com/.