Eye Exercises for Adult Esotropia

Esophoria is a condition that is caused by a problem with the extra-ocular muscles in the eye. These six tiny muscles control all the movements of your eye. Sometimes they can get weak from spending too much time in one position, such as staring at a computer screen.

Causes and symptoms of Esophoria

• The three causes of esophoria are refractive errors, divergence insufficiency and convergence excess.
  Refractive errors are caused by an incorrect focus of light by the eye.
  Divergence insufficiency is when a person has problems clearly seeing objects that are very far away.
  Convergence excess, or strabismus, is when the eyes do not point in the same direction.
  Symptoms of esophoria include double vision, headaches, eye fatigue, dizziness, and trouble reading or concentrating.

Vision Therapy

• The first step in vision therapy is to see an optometrist. He will be able to properly diagnose a problem and offer exercises and solutions. An optometrist may suggest the wearing of either convex (bulging outward) or concave (bulging inward) lenses to help alleviate the esotropia. A patient also can do several exercises at home to help strengthen the eye muscles. Exercises that strengthen the eye have been around since the late 1800s, but there is some controversy about whether they actually work.

  Esotropia exercises can be done three to four times a day to improve muscle efficiency; it may take several weeks to show benefits.

  For this first exercise, it's important to recognize double vision as the point at which each part of the exercise is over. Put two small objects at different distances on a long table. First stare at the closer object with both eyes open and wait for the vision to blur and double. Then do the same thing for the far object. Go back and forth several times.

  Another exercise you can do is called pencil push-ups. If you have glasses, put them on. Hold a pencil at arm's length and slowly bring it up to your nose until you see double, then push it back out. Do this back and forth about 12 times.

  A final exercise involves taking the pencil up to your eyes slowly and then switching your gaze to an object that is farther away (such as a light switch or some object at the end of the table). Repeat this exercise 12 times, too.