Double Vision (Diplopia) Causing
Disruptions to Reading

A loss of normal binocular vision may occur from ocular motor paralysis. When possible, prisms may be used to re-establish binocular vision. Short-term patching may be required. Patching should take place on the glasses and not with a black patch. A black “pirate's” patch blocks all the vision including the side vision.  If we patch on the eyeglass lens, the patient will still have vision at the far side of the occluded eye and function better.  If binocular vision cannot be restored during the first 10 months, then a surgical consultation may be recommended.

The Mins Lens, A New Way to Patch: If no other treatment is possible, and double vision is permanent, a Mins lens can be  prescribed for the the non-dominant eye. The Mins lens blocks the patient’s vision but does not block the view of the patient’s eye to others. This is a much more cosmetic system, but should only be used when the double vision is intractable.

The patient here has a high esotropia with constant double vision from a brain stem injury. When he came to our practice, he had suffered from constant double vision for several years. We stopped the double vision with a Mins lens. Notice that the appearance is very cosmetic as you can see his eye when looking at him. In the final picture, he turns the eyewear around to demonstrate how it blocked his vision.

The Mins lens can be fabricated to block only a section of the patient’s vision. In the demonstration below we had had a Mins lens fused with a distance portion.It is placed at the bottom of one lens to block incurable double vision that only occurred when reading.