Vision Therapy and Myopia Management at The Center for Vision Development

I'm one of the people that unfortunately has neurological long-term Covid, w/ no answers. Although my doctors & healthcare providers believed me, cared for me, & did everything they could, there were still no answers. Then, I worked w/ my PT, Natasha, who is a vision & vestibular specialist. Within 5 min of working w/ me, she saw that I had extreme ambient visual difficulties & some vestibular issues. Fortunately, Natasha has worked closely w/ neuro optometrist, Dr. Denise Smith, & immediately got me a consult. Dr. Smith validated & could tell quickly my ambient vision system was in a state of disorder. The manager, Tracie, made it so easy for me. W/in an hour, she had all the 4 appointments scheduled & laid out. She made sure I knew what each test was & it's purpose. Tracie was instrumental in helping me get some reimbursement from my health insurance. She not only provided the paperwork, but added my insurance case number to the paperwork, & educated me on how this process works. Tracie would also follow up to make sure that it went through & always made it clear she is available to help. Insurance is difficult to deal w/, but CVD wants to help. During the testing process, everyone was kind & patient, as I needed to take multiple breaks b/c my brain was not able to keep up. Upon finishing the testing, we all learned that my vision skills were in the lowest percentile, & I had a long journey ahead of me. My therapist, Annie, couldn’t be more perfect, & I really mean that. She is always upbeat, positive & encouraging. She really listens, cares & advocates for me from appointments, to testing, to new strategies she learns at conferences. She adjusts activities as I need based on my symptoms on any given day. Without that 100% trust, I would not be able to make progress. Ed is always friendly to everyone that comes in, & has a smile on his face. He is always willing to accommodate & help. Sophie is inspirational, a survivor, who gives unique insight & perspective. She’s compassionate, empathetic & driven. Dr. Browne is approachable, her expertise exceeds my expectations, she’s patient & easy to talk to. Dr. Browne individualizes my progress evaluations to match my needs. Dr. Smith has a holistic view, she provides excellent service & recommendations based on her extensive experience. She runs a business like a well-oiled machine. I wish I had her business savvy! Dr. Smith is resourceful w/ contacts & treatments. Mitzi is always happy, playful, fun & creative in her sessions. Diego usually does my campimetry tests to assess my peripheral vision every other re-evaluation & it is always a pleasure to work with him. He is patient, personable & makes the test fun. Based on my recent progress check with Dr. Browne, my periphery is much improved. It went from small & constricted to expanded & even above average in some areas. My convergence has improved significantly, my eye movements are more controlled, my memory is better & my stamina has improved. Most people think acuity is the only thing that is important for good vision. Our vision system has 2 parts to it: 1 is the acuity, meaning how well you can see a letter chart at near/far.The 2nd part is our ambient vision is the other system in our brain that makes up 80% of our vision & impacts how our brain works to interpret & use the visual input that we’re receiving. The job of our ambient vision system is so vast that it includes everything like eye teaming, peripheral vision, visual memory, visual processing & visual spatial abilities. After my evaluation with Dr. Smith and learning I had neurological issues contributing to my vision problems, I’m able to work towards better functional vision and reaching my goals.