A survey of treatment modalities for convergence insufficiency.

BACKGROUND: Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a common and distinct binocular vision disorder. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the treatment most appropriate for Cl. Possible treatment modalities include base-in prism, pencil pushup therapy (PPT), reading glasses, home-based vision therapy/orthoptics (HBVT), and office-based vision therapy/orthoptics (OBVT). The purpose of this study was to investigate the care process for Cl by surveying eyecare professionals regarding the most common treatment modalities used by both optometrists and ophthalmologists across the United States.

METHODS: Surveys requesting doctors to indicate which treatment(s) they prescribed and believed to be most effective for symptomatic CI patients were mailed to 863 optometrists and 863 ophthalmologists in the United States.

RESULTS: Fifty-eight percent of the optometrists responded to the survey; the most common treatment prescribed was PPT (36%) followed by HBVT (22%) and OBVT (16%). For the ophthalmologists (who had a 23% response rate), the most common treatment prescribed was PPT (50%) followed by HBVT (21 %) and base-in prism (10%).

CONCLUSIONS: This survey suggests that most eyecare practitioners prescribe PPT as the initial treatment for CI.