How to deal with Amblyopia as a Premed Student?

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Hopeful777

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I have had amblyopia and strabismus as a kid. It never really affected my studying habits in high school as much. But now, reading those upper level bio books tires my good eye. It would be great if some other premed students with amblyopia could tell me how they deal with it.

Thanks
 
I have had amblyopia and strabismus as a kid. It never really affected my studying habits in high school as much. But now, reading those upper level bio books tires my good eye. It would be great if some other premed students with amblyopia could tell me how they deal with it.

Thanks

See and eye doctor bud. Med school will be hours upon hours of reading a day, so if you can't handle your not going to handle it then. Does it or do you think will it hinder your studying for the MCAT?
 
I really dont think this is a question any of us can answer for you. I would talk to your eye doctor. I wish you good luck though!
 
What this peasant meant to say is that you should speak to an ophthalmologist.

smiley_smug.gif
 
I have had amblyopia and strabismus as a kid. It never really affected my studying habits in high school as much. But now, reading those upper level bio books tires my good eye. It would be great if some other premed students with amblyopia could tell me how they deal with it.

Thanks

I have amblyopia but no strabismus. You sure you're just not getting tired of reading dense, boring books? Maybe drink a red bull 🙂

Also, 2 of my classmates have strabismus, and I don't think it's affecting them too much. Maybe it's something you will just get used to.
 
Train your weaker eye using an eyepatch over your stronger one. Look up research articles
 
Train your weaker eye using an eyepatch over your stronger one. Look up research articles

I don't think it's that effective a treatment past childhood.
 
I have amblyopia but no strabismus. You sure you're just not getting tired of reading dense, boring books? Maybe drink a red bull 🙂

Also, 2 of my classmates have strabismus, and I don't think it's affecting them too much. Maybe it's something you will just get used to.

Thanks for the responses everyone,

Rocher: Thanks for the heads up about your friends. I guess that I am just gonna have to get used to it.
 
hey there, I have a question here..did any of u guys who have amblyopia pass the board exams like USMLE..I'm having problems with reading speed in my amblyopia..
 
on an unrelated note: your eye condition qualifies you for a car window tint waiver so you can get limo tint... 🙂
 
hey there, I have a question here..did any of u guys who have amblyopia pass the board exams like USMLE..I'm having problems with reading speed in my amblyopia..

well you got in, so you were able to read verbal reasoning fast enough.
 
I dont have amblyopia but I had a retinal detachment so I have issues due to the large refractive difference between my good eye 0.00 and my surgical eye at -4.00. Furthermore, I have some level of strabismus due to the RD surgery. So after hours at the "books" (my computer screen)...everything is blurry and I have massive issues seeing text..but ive done just fine this far in medical school. Different issues...but both a pain to deal with. You will be fine. If its a huge problem you can always get accommodations while in school.
 
I have mild amblyopia. It was worse as a kid but I had treatment (eye patch for a few years) and it calmed down. Still, it causes minor issues.

I would recommend going to your ophthalmologist because there is a chance they could do something about it. #1 reason I say this is because I basically have glasses to keep my bad eye in line. I cannot tell the difference visually if I am wearing them or not, unless I close my good eye. However, I do get headaches if I don't wear them for a few hours or do a lot of activity that would need the glasses (this time around I'm nearsighted so I have to wear my glasses to drive or watch TV, but often don't bother if I'm just staying home online lol). Anyway, my prescription is minor but it changes every few years (and the change is usually minor; the only reason I get the glasses is because of the headaches). My/my optho's theory is that my eye just gets tolerant of the prescription and needs something new to keep it in line. Like I said I have even had it switch from farsighted for years to now being nearsighted. So, maybe you had your prescription change and didn't realize it because the change was so minor. #2 is that I had some double-vision before this prescription change and if it didn't go away with the new prescription he said I could get a different type of lens to help that, which used a prism. Maybe there is some discrepancy there with your prescription and the optho could advise about potentially doing something different like the prism lens.

That is only my experience, but I think there might be something your doctor could help you with, worth a shot 🙂

My eyes also get tired and I start having double-vision - happened with reading a lot when I was farsighted. My advice for that is just to break it up. Study for a half hour or so and then take a break for ten minutes where you aren't focusing on anything close so you can let your eyes relax. I think this also helps with my concentration too which is a bonus 🙂
 
Hi everyone, if you have strabismic amblyopia, do some research & definitely get tested by an opthamologist. I was never diagnosed with it until high school, and I have since gotten extended time on exams (including SAT, MCAT, & hopefully USMLE) based on a scientifically proven hindered reading speed.

In "Reading Strategies in Mild to Moderate Strabismic Amblyopia: An Eye Movement Investigation" by E. Kanonidou (http://www.iovs.org/content/51/7/3502.full.pdf), it's shown that increased positional uncertainty and decreased contrast sensitivity hinders oculomotor movements. Key finding = strabismic amblyopees read at 67% of the reading speed of the normal population. Notably, this may not apply to cases of anisometropic amblyopia or amblyopia caused by visual occlusion.

For general eye fatigue when reading, I don't know what to tell you... I think an opthamologist would recommend that you wear your prescription glasses (that have prisms in them, etc) and take short breaks once in a while.

Wish you all the best of luck!
 
You could use accessible technology.

Due to my physical disability that messes with my eyes, I am eligible for Bookshare. You can actually request them to get your school books and they will digitize the text. The subscription is $50 dollars a year and all you have to do is get a doctor to sign it, such as an Ophthalmologist.

The best way to access Bookshare is to get an iPad and get the Read2Go App for $20. It also works on an iPhone. It actually uses multimodal highlighting, where the sentence being read aloud is highlighted in yellow and the word being said aloud is highlighted in green. The reading speed goes up to approximately 200 WPM. Of course you can choose not to use the text to speech engines or the highlighting. You can change also change the font size, text color and the background color.

The other, more expensive alternative is Kurzweil 3000, which can read anything you scan. It is a computer program and it is awesome.
 
I have amblyopia but no strabismus. You sure you're just not getting tired of reading dense, boring books? Maybe drink a red bull 🙂

Also, 2 of my classmates have strabismus, and I don't think it's affecting them too much. Maybe it's something you will just get used to.
Hi! I have amblyopia and I do all my reading with one eye ? do you have a similar problem ? or do you see through both eyes? did you get accommodations on the MCAT?
 
hey there, I have a question here..did any of u guys who have amblyopia pass the board exams like USMLE..I'm having problems with reading speed in my amblyopia..
Hey I have amblyopia and I am having issues with reading speed also . Did you get accommodation on your MCAT? I am really nervous
 
I have had amblyopia and strabismus as a kid. It never really affected my studying habits in high school as much. But now, reading those upper level bio books tires my good eye. It would be great if some other premed students with amblyopia could tell me how they deal with it.

Thanks
Hey man . I am a pre med student currently studying for mcat and i am having issues with reading speed. ARe you facing similar issues?
 
I would def go to an opthamologist. Besides hurting your reading, it honestly isn't something you want people judging you on and hurting your career. My friend got it done and it looks good now.
 
I would def go to an opthamologist. Besides hurting your reading, it honestly isn't something you want people judging you on and hurting your career. My friend got it done and it looks good now.
Thank for replying. did your friend have amblyopia ? my eyes appear to look alright but i just don't have vision in one eye and it can't be fixed. But did your friend get accommodations on his mcat ?
 
She wasn't premed so she never took the MCAT (was actually nursing), but she had difficulty with controlling her eye movement before the procedure was done which affected reading and things like that.
 
I'm kinda glad this thread popped up. I had strabismus as a child and I thought it went away. I didn't realize until I was about 16/17 I wasn't focusing with both eyes. As a result, I mainly only see out of my left eye and my right eye is basically along for the ride. I have terrible depth perception and almost constant double vision while reading any text. It get worse when I'm tired. I have made an appt though to get it looked at. The headaches and double vision are affecting my mcat studying 🙁
 
I'm kinda glad this thread popped up. I had strabismus as a child and I thought it went away. I didn't realize until I was about 16/17 I wasn't focusing with both eyes. As a result, I mainly only see out of my left eye and my right eye is basically along for the ride. I have terrible depth perception and almost constant double vision while reading any text. It get worse when I'm tired. I have made an appt though to get it looked at. The headaches and double vision are affecting my mcat studying 🙁
me too. I just wish there was a med student with a similar problem that could guide us 🙁
 
Don't scratch it and put moisturizer on?
 
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