Can I use an eye patch to treat double vision if I have central serous chorioretinopathy?
NOV 22, 2017
Question:
Can I use an eye patch to treat double vision? I have CSC (central serous chorioretinopathy) in my right eye, which has caused permanent damage to the macula, resulting in double vision. I work as a software developer and my work is almost 100 percent reading. It's hard to focus and read, but if I patch my "bad" eye, I can read pretty well. Is it safe to use an eye patch for eight hours a day in the future? I still have good depth perception and would not like to lose it.
Answer:
It is important for you to make a distinction between whether you have true double vision—a misalignment of the images from each eye—or whether you have a crisp image from one eye being compromised by a distorted/cloudy image from the CSC eye. If it is true double vision, this should not be caused by CSC and requires evaluation by a strabismus specialist, which is usually a pediatric ophthalmologist but who sees adults with misalignment as well. If the eyes are aligned, but your visual function is compromised by the image from the CSC eye, it is safe to use an eyepatch to eliminate the abnormal image, even for eight hours per day.