Efficacy of the program of training on visual sharpness 3axial VISUAL TRAINING.1® for the treatment of myopia. This is the title of Débora Godoy Izquierdo´s doctoral thesis, of the Department of Personality, Assesment and Psychological treatment of the University of Granada. This work tackles the efficacy of a sophisticated computer program to improve visual sharpness of people who suffer fro myopia, with or without lens.
It is known that there are certain behaviours which make myopia worse, like using visual correctors too much or reading too close and with little light. At the same time, there are exercises and visual habits such as trying to focus from a distance which can improve visual sharpness. Basing on training strategies which take into account the importance of environmental factors and the behaviour in the appearance and evolution of myopia, Débora Godoy started the research work which has lead to the this doctoral thesis.
“The achievements can reach seven tenths of visual sharpness, although in general trained persons increase their visual sharpness between 3 and 4 tenths”, points out the researcher. Zero is the minimum visual sharpness and 1 is the maximum, equivalent to no dioptres. Therefore, a person with half a dioptre can “see well” thanks to the training followed during the works. According to Godoy, “persons with little myopia who achieve to do many things without glasses and use lens just on special occasions such as to watch subtitles on TV or drive at night are very satisfied. Also those who need correctors but can use them less frequently or with a lower gradation”.
Half an hour sessions
The results show that the benefits remain for at least eight months, the monitoring period of this doctoral thesis. To check the efficacy of the computer program, between twenty and thirty-six sessions were carried out, 5 per person, with 37 persons selected at random, most of them UGR students, with different degrees of myopia up to -3.50 dioptres and minor astigmatism. Every session is half an hour long and has several exercises, based on two techniques called fading and feedback, for one eye or both. These methods imply progressively reducing the size of the stimulus contributing information to the person about the visual exercises.
The author has collected the scientific tradition of her supervisor, Juan Francisco Godoy García, who has tested the same exercises “without the technological possibilities of this computer program”. The visual sharpness program has been being developed from more than a century, as a complement of the strategies of optometry and ophthalmology. This is, contact lenses and refractive surgery.
Reference: Prof. Débora Godoy Izquierdo. Dpt. of Personality, Assesment and Psychological Treatment.
E-mail. deborag@ugr.es.
Phone number: 958 249 557.
Mobile: 615 952 825
