THE EFFECT OF SYNOPTOPHORE THERAPY

ABSTRACT

Convergence insufficiency (CI) is the most predominant and treatable form of vergence anomalies. Individuals with CI develop ocular fatigue due to breakdown of binocular vision that results to asthenopia, headache or difficulty with near tasks. This prospective experimental study examines the effect of vision training on near point of convergence (NPC), exophoria and positive fusional vergence (PFV) in patients with convergence insufficiency (CI) using Synoptophore therapy. A total of thirty (n = 30) patients with CI within the age range 15 to 27 years with the mean age 20.30±3.28 years made up of males (n = 17) and  females (n=13) participated in this study. Of the 30 patients, 6 (20%) patients had 2 clinical diagnostic signs of CI and 24(80%) had 3 clinical diagnostic signs of CI. This study consists of only one group (n=30) and each participant was exposed to Synoptophore therapy. The NPC, exophoria and PFV were assessed before and after 8 weeks of treatment. Data was analyzed using SPSS computer software version 22.0. With Students’ paired t-test, there was a statistical significant difference found in NPC, exophoria and PFV with mean difference 5.67±2.89 cm, 1.46 ± 1.404 PD and  -3.50 ± 2.81 PD respectively after the training at p-value <0.05. Also, with Wilcoxon signed ranks test, NPC, exophoria and PFV values showed a statistical significant difference after the synoptophore treatment at p-value <0.05. In conclusion, synoptophore therapy is effective in the treatment of CI in patients and could be the first line of treatment option in patients with convergence insufficiency.