Guidance group formed for the use of coloured lenses and identification of visual stress

UK-based eye care practitioners have formed a guidance group for the use of coloured lenses and identification of visual stress.

The guidance group comprises of qualified optometrists with experience of practice in hospital, university clinics and the community setting. An orthoptist and a dispensing optician are also in the guidance group.

At its inaugural meeting, held at Adam House in London on 19 November 2018, the guidance group discussed the need for a representative voice for those in the vision profession who have chosen to treat patients who suffer from visual stress with precision tinted lenses when appropriate, and do so daily.

Speaking to OT, a spokesperson explained that the guidance group had been “motivated by the publication in recent years of critical articles, sometimes supported by questionable research, which alerted them to the lack of knowledge about visual stress amongst academics and the profession at large.”

In the region of 600 qualified optometrists are understood to include the identification of visual stress and its treatment with precision tinted lenses in their daily practice.

Recognising that “a large section” of the profession may not know how to identify the possible symptoms of visual stress, the guidance group highlighted that more insight is needed to explain “when and where to direct patients who they suspect might suffer from the condition for treatment.”

The guidance group also noted that “many in education need more information that might help them to determine when a student shows possible symptoms of visual stress and to ideally direct them to a vision practitioner.”

The members of the guidance group to date consists of: Paul Adler, optometrist; Joy Hynes, optometrist; Melina Joy, optometrist; Nadia Northway, orthoptist; Rupal Lovell-Patel, optometrist; and Benji Silverman, dispensing optician.

Also in attendance at the inaugural meeting was Professor Arnold Wilkins, academic and designer of the Intuitive Colorimeter, and Christine Fitzmaurice, a media consultant who initiated and facilitated the meeting of behalf of the group.