A survey of treatment modalities for convergence insufficiency.
BACKGROUND
Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a common and distinct binocular vision disorder. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the treatment most appropriate for Cl. Possible treatment modalities include base-in prism, pencil pushup therapy (PPT), reading glasses, home-based vision therapy/orthoptics (HBVT), and office-based vision therapy/orthoptics (OBVT). The purpose of this study was to investigate the care process for Cl by surveying eyecare professionals regarding the most common treatment modalities used by both optometrists and ophthalmologists across the United States.


METHODS
Surveys requesting doctors to indicate which treatment(s) they prescribed and believed to be most effective for symptomatic CI patients were mailed to 863 optometrists and 863 ophthalmologists in the United States.


RESULTS
Fifty-eight percent of the optometrists responded to the survey; the most common treatment prescribed was PPT (36%) followed by HBVT (22%) and OBVT (16%). For the ophthalmologists (who had a 23% response rate), the most common treatment prescribed was PPT (50%) followed by HBVT (21 %) and base-in prism (10%).


CONCLUSIONS
This survey suggests that most eyecare practitioners prescribe PPT as the initial treatment for CI.
Scheiman
Mitchell
M
Pennsylvania College of Optometry, Philadelphia 19141, USA. mscheiman@pco.edu
Cooper
Jeffrey
J
Mitchell
G Lynn
GL
de
Land Paul
LP
Cotter
Susan
S
Borsting
Eric
E
London
Richard
R
Rouse
Michael
M
D003625:Data Collection; D005139:Eyeglasses; D006801:Humans; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy*; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000379:methods*; D009907:Optometry / Q000379:methods*; D009988:Orthoptics / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States