Improving the Lives of Those with Low Vision

During this exam, we use specialized charts and tools to determine your remaining functional vision. This includes determining your preferred print size, the magnification or minification needed, and the impact of illumination and contrast sensitivity.

This exam includes evaluating how well your vision functions in real-life situations, such as reading important information, watching TV, viewing things at a distance, and navigating unfamiliar environments. We’ll determine if there are any blind spots or distorted or blurry areas in your visual field, along with evaluating your colour vision.

After we have examined your visual function, we can prescribe low vision devices to promote maximum independence and safety. We’ll consider your degree of visual impairment and your daily activities to prescribe tools that can improve your quality of life. During this portion, we’ll demonstrate how to use them and answer any questions you may have.

• Handheld Magnifiers
• Easy to use and portable
• Among the most affordable low vision devices
• Provide viewing without shadows or distortions
• Shaped to allow maximum light to enter the magnifier
• Illuminated Handheld Magnifiers
• Provide magnification with illumination, allowing for higher contrast
• Perfect for near tasks
• Ideal for in-home uses such as looking up phone numbers, setting the thermostat, or reading the prescription on a medicine bottle
• Stand Magnifiers
• Combine the benefits of illumination and magnification
• Enhance the contrast of the object being viewed
• Ideal for reading and enjoying hobbies like crossword puzzles
• Mounted on legs that fix the distance from the lens to the object being viewed
• Easier to manipulate for patients who have difficulty with hand movements
• Lightweight and portable
• Around the Neck Magnifiers
• Perfect for hands-free extended viewing
• Lightweight with a grip to hold magnifier in most comfortable position for the viewer
• Ideal for needlework and hobbies

• Specialized inconspicuous high-power reading glasses allow the wearer to hold objects close, especially for extended reading
• Available in single-vision designs or as bifocals
• Allows user to have their hands free
• May take some getting used to, as your face is positioned closer to reading material

• Low vision devices often mounted on the lenses of eyeglasses
• Provide high magnification while allowing the wearer to view reading material from a normal distance
• Some training is needed to use these devices properly
• Handheld versions also available

• Portable Handheld, Desktop, or Head Borne Options
• Magnifies an object for viewing through the use of a camera that projects an enlarged image of an object onto a screen or monitor
• Provide the highest levels of magnification available
• Only devices that allow the user to alter the image of the object being viewed
• Magnification can be adjusted to suit individual visual needs
• Photo freeze frame button allows an image to be captured and saved
• Perfect for reading a newspaper, book, or magazine, writing notes, letters, and lists, and reading recipes or handwriting
• Useful in the classroom or office

• Monocular handheld telescope
• Small telescope used with one eye only
• Can be stored in a pocket or purse
• Can focus from intermediate distances to infinity
• Excellent for spot-viewing distant objects, like menus or street signs
• Relatively inconspicuous

• Provide a wider field of view
• Easier to manipulate and focus

• Custom-mounted telescope that allows for 2 lines of sight, 1 through the telescope and the other through the carrier lens
• View 2 different distances with 2 different magnifications
• Can be prescribed for hands-free distant spotting
• Can also be prescribed for hands-free use during near work

• Provide much more protection from the sun than ordinary sunglasses because of the protective top and side shield design
• Array of colours provide many relaxing and enhancing options to meet your specific needs:
• Decrease of light transmission
• Brighten environment
• Reduced glare
• Improve contrast sensitivity
• Enhance depth perception
• Decrease blue light transmission
• Available in fit-over designs or incorporated into custom prescription glasses

• Closed Circuit Televisions
• Electronically enlarge print, pictures, and objects
• Consists of a camera, lenses, and a monitor
• Adjustments can be made in size, brightness, colour, contrast, and other characteristics of print
• Generally sit on desks (some portable models available)
• Computer software programs for accessibility
• Text to voice
• Enlarged print
• High contrast
• Colour inversions and/or adjustments
• Adjustments to pointer size and style
• Magnifier and screen zoom