Dr. Chantal Overvliet, of the Oculus Vision Centre in Windhoek, is the sole optometrist providing low vision care in all of Namibia. After learning of the urgent needs of the 132 children at the country’s only school for the visually impaired, she and her business partner and Low Vision assistant, Michelle Opperman, created a non-profit project to provide high-level low vision testing and products to the students. The school’s principal, Smithly Engelbrecht, said he was
... READ MORE.Open Your World With Low Vision Care
PRESS RELEASE February 12, 2020 For more information contact: Sarah Lovejoy sarah@ocutech.com www.ocutech.com 919 967 6460 OCUTECH, Inc., the worldwide leader in developing advanced bioptic telescopes for the visually impaired, has released a special video called “Open Your World with Low Vision Care” in celebration of Low Vision Awareness and Macular Degeneration month. Over 5 million individuals in the US alone have reduced vision from disease, injury or genetic disorders. Low vision is not improvable
... READ MORE.Open Letter to a Mom Parenting a Child with Albinism from a College Student living with Ocular Albinism
This open letter is my response to an article written by Lee Kofman and published on Mamamia.com. Dear Dr. Kofman, I was pleasantly surprised to come across your recent post about parenting your son who has albinism. In my opinion, there aren’t enough people like you sharing these stories which help to enlighten the community. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mack, I am 20 years old, and live in North Carolina, United
... READ MORE.Through the Looking Glass: Thoughts about treating tunnel vision with Image Minification. A narrow window of opportunity
Perhaps the most challenging visual impairments to address in low vision care are disorders affecting peripheral vision such as RP, Choroideremia and late stage glaucoma. Peripheral vision is associated with motion detection and seeing in low illumination. As a result, and as we know, individuals with constricted visual fields will have difficulty traveling independently as well as having very reduced ‘night vision.’ Tunnel vision functional issues The functional challenges encountered with tunnel vision usually fall
... READ MORE.Time of Flight Technology Enhances the Lives of the Visually Impaired
Technology designed for self-driving cars is now being applied to help low vision individuals see as close to normal as possible. A project, led by Ocutech, Inc. a developer of vision-enhancing devices for the visually impaired, in collaboration with the engineering firm Image Quality Labs and ESPROS Photonics AG, has created the world’s only self-focusing bioptic telescopes. Bioptic telescopes allow visually impaired individuals to magnify objects making them easier to see, similar to the use
... READ MORE.VES-Falcon Autofocus Bioptic Brings Tears of Joy
My first experience with the new 4x Falcon autofocus bioptic telescope brought tears to my eyes– tears of joy. It has been only a dream for so many years, for patients, and for prescribers, and now it’s here! It provides a seamless transition in focus from 13 inches to optical infinity and anywhere in between. Since it is an autofocus OPTICAL system, it feels like normal vision magnified through a telescope. It is much more natural than any of the head borne video magnification systems. The Falcon helps people feel more connected to the world beyond the limitations of their visual impairment. Also, it is astonishingly easy to fit and prescribe. The cost is very competitive to that of the head borne video systems, and it’s so much better! Ocutech continues to bring great advances in technology to the practice of low vision rehabilitation, concentrating on the so important area of distance vision enhancement.
... READ MORE.Interview with Patrick Raymond
Hello from Ocutech! It’s been a while since we have had a chance to post and we are excited to get back into sharing stories about low vision patients from around the world. In this interview, we touch on several of aspects of Patrick’s life including how his parents raised him to look past his eye condition and embrace the world for everything it has to offer. We discuss wearing assistive devices in public and
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Floridians with low vision can benefit from bioptics even if they cannot use them to drive.
Losing one’s drivers license or never being eligible for one because of reduced vision is undoubtedly a bummer. There are ways to get around without driving yourself, but the independence and enhanced quality of life one gains from being able to drive (not to mention the ‘right of passage’ of a driver’s license for teenagers) is hard to argue. Most US states have adopted bioptic driving laws, allowing individuals with a certain acuity and degree
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