Some children and adults experience visual stress, which can make reading uncomfortable, tiring or frustrating.
Words may appear to move, blur, shimmer or jump around on the page. Others experience headaches, eye strain or lose their place while reading.
At MW Phillips Opticians & Hearing Care, we provide specialist Visual Stress Assessments to determine whether coloured overlays or specially tinted lenses may help improve visual comfort.
Our assessments are suitable for both children and adults.
Visual stress is a condition where looking at patterns, particularly black text on a white background, causes visual discomfort.
Some people describe words as:
Reading may become tiring and uncomfortable, even when eyesight is otherwise normal.
No.
Visual stress and dyslexia are different conditions.
Dyslexia affects language processing and learning.
Visual stress affects the comfort of viewing text.
However, some people with dyslexia also experience visual stress.
If visual stress is present, reducing visual discomfort may help make reading feel more comfortable for some individuals.
Our assessment is designed to identify visual stress.
Common symptoms include:
Your appointment includes:
01
02
We’ll carefully assess whether coloured overlays improve your reading comfort.
03
04
You’ll take your chosen overlay home to use during reading for approximately 2–3 weeks.
05
£60
£110
Children
Teenagers
University students
Adults
People with diagnosed dyslexia who experience visual discomfort
People who spend long periods reading or studying
Our assessment is not designed to diagnose dyslexia.
Only a proportion of people experience visual stress and benefit from coloured overlays or tinted lenses. During your assessment we carefully determine whether coloured filters genuinely improve your reading comfort before making any recommendations.
