Science-based vision therapy

R Vision therapy, also known as vision training, is a term used to define highly specific, sequential, sensory-motorperceptual stimulation paradigms and regimens that are used to improve vision skills, such as eye movement control and eye coordination.1 This training procedure can be performed in both home and office settings, but always under the professional supervision of an optometrist or an orthoptist. As vision therapy is a non-invasive procedure and there have been during years no consistent criteria for its prescription, a great variety of exercises or treatment regimens with no scientific basis and a doubtful control over the condition treated have been developed. This has led to a negative perception of vision therapy in the medical community, with a rejection of this procedure of improving visual performance by health care professionals, including many eye care practitioners (ECP). However, there is a scientific basis for vision therapy1 and there are a lot of well-conducted studies, including controlled clinical trials,2--4 providing a scientific support to the work performed by many ECP everyday worldwide. The information obtained in previously well-conducted studies as well as in future ones should be used as the basis for current vision therapy, developing a new sciencebased vision therapy, away from the negative concept of vision training. There are experimental studies showing the physiological effects of specific exercises of vision therapy5