Advance Vision Therapy is the only Regina clinic offering Syntonics (Syntonic Phototherapy) as a part of their Vision Therapy programs when it is required.
Syntonics involves the application of the various frequencies of light to the eyes. The frequency of light depends upon the type of condition that we are treating. Syntonics is especially useful in patients who have restricted Functional Visual
Fields.
During our in-depth assessment one on the tests we perform is an assessment of the patient’s Functional Visual Fields. Visual fields are a measure of a patient’s peripheral vision. In a routine eye examination, we typically assess and consider a patient’s Pathological Visual Fields; this is a measure of the overall peripheral vision that a patient has. A loss of Pathological Visual Fields is due to a disease process (e.g. glaucoma, retinal disease, stroke) causing damage to a structure in the Visual Pathway (I.e. – the retina, the optic nerve, the visual cortex, etc…). This type of visual field loss is typically irreversible.
A Functional Visual Field on the other hand is a measure of Visual Processing; it measures what areas of the peripheral vision that the brain/visual system is aware of or is tending to. Many patients who struggle with visual development have restricted Functional Visual Fields. The light used in Syntonics stimulates the intrinsically sensitive ganglion cells within the retina which project to the Pineal Gland and Hypothalamus areas in the brain (rather than the Visual Cortex) which are responsible for awareness of this Functional Visual Field. Using Syntonic therapy we are able to increase the brain/visual system’s awareness of these fields and this not only can help significantly with visual function but also make any conventional Vision Therapy done be much more successful.
