Diplopoda - double vision

Please could anyone tell me if there are corrective spectacles for diplopia ( double vision )? I have a friend who is suffering with this. Also, how long do you have to wait before this clears up? My friend has had a couple of relapses since Christmas and has been left with impaired mobility and diplopia. He is waiting to go on one of the DMDs. He has a history going back 10+ yrs. many thanks for any help on this. R.

I had prisms lenses fitted which helped a lot, but unfortunately it did mean three prescriptions in a three month period as they deteriorated rapidly then improved again! It took the full three months to be back to normal, but the prisms made my eyesight legal for driving purposes while I was recovering. HTH

should have said recovery can be completely different for different people, but the prisms may be a long term help anyway. Best bet is to see an optician and see what they can do.

Hi there When I had double vision relapse I found covering one eye with a patch helped a lot (not very fashionable I know but hey I didn’t care too much at the time how I looked!) After a course if steroids it cleared up within eight weeks but as Emma has said everybody is different. Hope it clears up soon! Take care Mini x

Hi. I got referred to an ophthalmologist a few years ago when I was getting double vision. She gave me some eye exercises to build up the strength of my eye muscles and they sorted it out for me.

The two main ones I did would be easy for you to try. The first one involved a strip of card about 9 inches long with a line down the middle and a dot on it every inch & a half or so. I had to hold the card horizontally under my nose so that it pointed away fromme, parallel to the ground. I would have to look at the dot furthest away and try and make it so that I saw just one dot. When I’d done that I’d look away for a few seconds and then do the same thing with the next nearest dot, I’d have to repeat this for each dot until I couldn’t do it any more.

The other exercise was very similar. I’d hold my my arm straight out in front of me and point my finger up. I’d look at my finger and try to make it so I only saw one finger. Then I’d look away for a few seconds, bring my finger a bit closer to me and then repeat. I’d keep doing this, bringing my finger a bit closer each time.

I’d do these a few times a day. I was warned that I might find the double vision would get worse at first, but that was perfectly normal. It’s just like starting going to the gym for the first time - because the muscles have never been exercised like this before, they’ll naturally be very tired at first. But they’ll start to build up their strength, and then you should start to see an improvement. I only needed to do them for a week or so and I found that I didn’t get the double vision any more.

I hope that helps.


My advise would be not to go to opticians - as of course if things are changing having prisms put into lenses can work out very costly.

The best thing to do is see a neuro-ophthalmologist and Orthoptist. They deal specifically with neurological eye disturbances and will be able to give temporary plastic stick on prsims to join the double (this isn’t suitable for everyone but they will be able to judge), exercises if the double vision is of the sort that can be treated this way (not all double vision can be managed with exercises and in some cases doing the wrong exercises can make things worse), provide a patch if the double can’t be joined at the moment and motior so that your friend can have a clearer idea of whether things are improving or not and what specifically has caused the double vision.




Reemz and I do not always agree when it comes to double vision, but our advice can converge in the end. Yes, exercises can help, but they can also do a lot of harm. I will write this to you, as being easier than writing to a third party.

You can do your own test for double vision, because the first thing is to find out which eye, then in which direction, then is it near, far, or both, and these can decide who is going to deal with it.

Make up your own test image. Use Powerpoint or similar to print a line about 6” long and ½” wide on a sheet of A4. Stick this up (say on the back of a door, with masking tape or Blu-tack) so that the line is horizontal.

Cover one eye and look at the line. Now do it with the other eye. Is there a second image above or below the line, and how far is it displaced? If there is, an optician can usually deal with this.

Now stick it up with the line vertical, and repeat. If the second image is displaced laterally, an optician will not want to deal with the problem, and will probably refer you to your GP for onward referral to an Orthoptics department.

Either way, you start with an optician but it can focus (sorry) their minds if you can say where the second image is.

If you have a double vision problem when reading, OR at distance, prism lenses can deal with this. If bi-focals are worn, a mild prism lens can deal with vertical double image, and an “optician” can arrange this. I am looking through one right now. OTOH, they will not want to handle lateral double vision (as above).

Orthoptics will probably stick a temporary plastic Fresnel lens onto the reading part of a bi-focal, send you away, look at you again in a couple of months, maybe try a different strength, reach a conclusion, and write to you with a prescription to take to the “optician” to get reading glasses. This can take months. My wife started this process in September and is still waiting for her prescription following a final consultation last month.

Regardless, get it seen to.


Geoff - you made me smile. I’m no expert, our points are equally valid and as you say the end result is the same. I actually like reading your suggestions. :slight_smile:


Thank you all for your very useful advice. I will pass it on. R