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Rare Form of Double Vision
William wrote:
i have a very rare form of double vision im told... my double is to the left of the real image, raised and tilted to the left a little. i have been told this is called double vision with confusion. i have had this condition since birth and i am 36 yrs old now. is this a rare type of double vision? why hasn't the double ever suppressed? is there anything i can do? any info on the matter would be greatly appreciated thank you
Dr. Virginia Donati's response:
Hello William,
How frustrating this must be for you!
It’s difficult to say exactly what the problem is without examining your eyes myself, but the first thing I think of hearing you describe your symptoms is something called “cyclotorsion” Cyclotorsion occurs when there is a problem with the superior oblique muscle of the eye causing the eyeball to physically rotate in the eye socket. When this occurs, although both of the eyes are pointing at the same image, you develop double vision since one image is turned. What is particularly unusual in your case is that it has NOT been suppressed. The only reason I can think that this has not occurred is that the eye-turn is intermittant.
I can think of a few options for you (assuming of course that I am correct in my diagnosis):
1) A high-plus lens in the glasses of your turned eye. This would cause the image in that eye to be tremendously blurry and the brain would learn to ignore it.
2) Wear an eye-patch to block out the image completely (not the most cosmetically-pleasing option, but it works)
3) Wear a “prosthetic” contact lens on the turned eye which will accomplish the same thing as the eye patch, but a lot nicer to look at in the mirror.
4) a POSSIBLE option would be prism-corrected glasses. This is the ONLY option which could potentially allow both of your eyes to be used. HOWEVER, it may not be possible (especially since I’ve never seen your eyes). If this is an option you’d be interested in pursuing, ask your optometrist if this treatment is possible for you. He/she may not be equipped to prescribe those kinds of lenses. If that is the case, you can certainly ask to be referred to another optometrist who is more familiar with binocular vision issues and vision therapy.
Best of luck to you!
Dr. Donati
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