Comforting Stories

Dr. Dominick M. Maino

In our previous post, we discovered the touching story of Strabby’s journey toward 3D vision. A practicing optometrist and leading vision health researcher, Dr. Dominick M. Maino (OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A and Professor of Pediatrics/Binocular Vision at the Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute in Chicago, Il) suggests that 3D-related vision problems are common. He crafted a 2010 editorial estimating the number of adults and children in the U.S. affected by what he calls a “binocular vision pandemic”:

“A clinical trial to determine the prevalence of binocular vision dysfunction within the general population suggested the possibility of up to 56% or 60 million men, women and young adults with symptoms associated with a binocular vision (BV) dysfunction, 45 million (61%) with accommodative problems and 28 million (38%) demonstrating various vergence anomalies.” [Study conducted in Spain]

Dr. Maino’s blog is a remarkable read for those who desire to learn more.  He also recommends reading a compelling book by Susan Barry entitled: Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist’s Journey into Seeing in Three Dimensions.

With increased societal exposure to 3D movies, 3D home television, 3D gaming, and 3D education, comforting stories of identification, treatment, and eventual transformation are rapidly spreading.  You see, 3D projected images can now be used as a universal public health screening tool for vision problems that previously went undetected.