Congenital Nystagmus

Congenital Nystagmus, also known as Infantile nystagmus is an involuntary side-to-side movement of the eyes. It can also be vertical. It begins at or near birth and usually persists throughout life.  It often causes reduced visual acuity, meaning that the individual often is not able to attain 20/20 visual acuity.

We recently saw a young adult in her 30’s who has congenital nystagmus. Her concerns were that she has poor depth perception and slow reaction time. She wondered if this could be related to nystagmus. She had seen a youtube video of one of our patients that we were able to help using Syntonic Phototherapy.

She visited our office after several phone calls. Prior to that, she described how she had seen many ophthalmologists, medical doctors, that had not been able to help her. They suggested that she just accept the fact that she would not be able to obtain normal sight. She was also interested in wearing contact lenses and said that all those doctors said it would be too difficult to fit her for contact lenses.

Fortunately, she had not given up and persisted in trying to seek a solution. Doctors had previously prescribed eyeglasses. Clearly, she has doubts and skepticism about Syntonic phototherapy and thought It seemed too good to be true.

We began a course of Syntonic Phototherapy and within 2 weeks, she was able to see the 20/20 line of letters. She continued the course of Syntonic Phototherapy for several additional weeks and we measured her visual acuity each week. The improvement in acuity continued.

After 1 week of Syntonic Phototherapy, she remarked:  

• For the 1st time, I see the image in front of me. It is unsettling.
• I am aware of more movement in the image.
• A few times, I felt more comfortable without my eyeglasses on.
• Before, the other person across the way was still a blurry blob, but less than I expected her to be.
• I kept questioning myself
• I noticed I was more sensitive to the blue color
• Others told me that my eyes are not moving as much.
• I notice more variation in the shape and brightness

She actually read to 20/20 in each eye, which was better than I had expected.

After 2 weeks of Syntonic Phototherapy:   

• I was taking the ferry from Manhattan to the Bronx and I was amazed at the vividness of the colors and the crispness of the images
• I took off my eyeglasses and I got teary eyes because I could see the numbers on the license plate.
• At night, I was struck by the vividness of the tail lights and traffic lights.
• It was interesting to me that that is what struck me.
• I never had color problems
• I was able to discern someone’s navy blue sweater.  I always thought it was black.
• visual processing and reaction time was major concern.
• I was able to avoid a pitfall; a piece of metal sticking out of the sidewalk.
• My body just avoided it and I only thought about it later.

After 3 weeks of Syntonic Phototherapy:   

• At night, I am struck by how rich the colors Red, Green, and Blue are.
• I play the flute and noticed that I was able to stand farther than I usually do.
• Night-time vision is crisper.
• Less halos around lights.
• Seeing at night was more comfortable for me.
• I am more aware of the improvement when I am NOT wearing my EG's.

She asked me: Do you think there is a possibility if I want to learn how to drive?