How Much Does Vision Therapy Cost?
Vision therapy, as per VisionTherapy.org, is basically physical therapy for your eyes and the brain.
As we see with our brain and our minds, not just the eyes, these sessions are designed to help correct any deficiencies in the visual system either caused by inadequate sensory and motor development, stress, or trauma to the nervous system.
Since everyone has a unique deficiency, this therapy is personalized to help the brain learn ways to utilize the eyes to successfully gather data, process that data and react to it accordingly.
The cost of vision therapy
The costs of vision therapy will depend on your diagnosis, your symptoms, your goals, the number of treatments needed, geographical location and doctor you’re using.
From our research, the average cost per vision therapy session, without insurance, is often $135 to $195 per hour visit after the pre-test assessment and examination, with most people paying a total of $2,000 to $9,500 to see desirable results. With so many variables, each situation will be so unique, so it is hard to offer an exact estimate.
Before the recurring visits begin, a pre-test assessment and examination assessment is required in order to determine a treatment plan. This test, depending on the health of the patient and the factors mentioned prior, can range anywhere from $225 to $500 without insurance. With this assessment, your doctor will be able to determine the best course of action and how many sessions you may need to reach your goals.
Your health insurance provider may cover the procedure, but this will greatly depend on your policy and the level of coverage provided. In most cases, you will need to refer to your health insurance plan, not your vision insurance policy, but from what we did notice, many vision centers that specialized with vision therapy would not even consider insurance, even if you had it.
As all health insurance plans greatly vary, talk with either your insurance company or the vision center you plan on using to see what you may be responsible for during your visits. If you do not have a health insurance plan or even want to change your current policy, then we recommend checking out eHealthInsurance.com to see if you can find a plan that makes sense and may cover these visits. Keep in mind that most insurance companies, from what we read, will not cover the costs of this therapy, and even if they do, it will be a very small amount.
From the very few people we found online who had their insurance policy cover their sessions, they said they only had to pay $25 to $45 per session.
TheVisionTherapyCenter.com notes the typical prices will greatly depend on your vision problem, and their center, according to its FAQ, charges $152 per visit, with most of its clients paying anywhere from $1,000 to $7,000. Here, first-time clients will learn about what they may pay during their initial patient education visit.
According to one mom on this Mothering.com forum thread, she said she was quoted $6,300 for her son’s vision therapy.
On this WellTrainedMD.com forum thread, another mom was quoted $7,000 for six months of treatment, whereas another member on this same thread noted she was paying $1,440 for 12 treatments which would last about three months.
What exactly is vision therapy?
Vision therapy is a supervised treatment program which is designed to treat any visual-motor and/or perceptual-cognitive deficiencies. This system will train the entire visual system, including brain, body and the eyes, with the ultimate goal of training the brain to use the eyes to receive information effectively, comprehend it as fast as possible and react as needed.
During these sessions, your doctor will design procedures which will be designed to help control your eye’s alignment, eye movements, eye teamwork and focusing abilities, often using specialized computer software and optical devices, including special lenses, filters and/or prisms. At the end of your treatment plan, the final stages include testing your newly acquired skills through repetition to ensure the therapy went according to plan.
Not all therapy sessions will be the same, similar to that of physical therapy, as doctors who provide it will have unique systems and not everyone will be the same with their treatment plan and/or goals.
The length of the program will ultimately depend on the severity of the conditions that need to be treated, how motivated the patient is and the readiness, according to ADD-ADHD.org. Some people can see results in as little as three to six months, while some may need more than two years to meet their goals. In some cases, just like other types of therapies, many find themselves attending for years without an end in sight.
Diagnoses that may be treated by vision therapy
Accommodative disorders — having a difficult time adjusting or holding a focus from near to far
Binocular vision dysfunction — difficult time adjusting the eyes at once
Convergence insufficiency — a difficult time bringing the eyes together to an approaching point
Diplopia — double vision due to the eyes not working well in sync
Eye tracking disorders — difficulty with smooth or rapid eye changes
Strabismus, including intermittent exotropia or esotropia
Vision information processing disorders
source: BrightEyesTampa.com
Symptoms treatable by vision therapy
Amblyopia. Also referred to as a “lazy eye,” amblyopia is a visual development problem when an eye is unable to attain a normal visual acuity, usually due to either strabismus or related problems.
Binocular-related vision problems. Referred to as phorias, these subtle eye alignment issues may cause either eye straining and/or fatigue when reading.
Eye movement disorders. In some studies, it has been shown vision therapy may help improve the accuracy of eye movement when either reading up close to other related close work.
Focusing disorders. Some research has shown near-far focusing skills did improve during these sessions.
Strabismus. Strabismus, a condition in which the eyes will not stay properly aligned when reading despite good eye alignment, has been known to be treated by vision therapy, all depending on the magnitude and the frequency of the eye turn
Tips to know
To find a doctor who is able to help with vision therapy, refer to the National Directory of Board-certified doctors at Vision3D.com.
These programs are not endorsed by American Optometric Association as there is no scientific evidence which claims these exercises can help reverse nearsightedness or other refractive errors, according to AllAboutVision.com.
Multiple vision therapy exercises can be found via this VisualEx YouTube channel.
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