How Is the Test Performed?
Your eye doctor or technician will ask you to sit up straight while you fixate your eyes on an object in front of you. The object of fixation is usually a pen, fixation light or a small picture held between 12 and 16 inches in front of you. The object will be moved up and down and side to side using an "H-shaped" pattern. You will be asked to follow the object with your eyes while keeping your head completely still.What Is Your Doctor Looking For?
Your doctor is looking for restrictions or abnormal movements of your eyes that may signify one or more of the following problems:- Nystagmus: An involuntary rhythmic shaking or wobbling of the eyes.
- Strabismus: One or both eyes is turned in, out, up or down.
- Overshoot or undershoot of certain eye muscles: These signs could point to inherited conditions or syndromes, such as Duane's retraction syndrome.
- Mechanical restrictions: Mechanical restrictions are commonly found in traumatic injuries, such as a blow to the eye. The bones that make up the floor of the orbit are fairly thin. Blunt trauma to that area can blow out these bones, causing an eye muscle to get trapped or hooked in the bone.
- Double vision: Eye muscle testing can help your doctor determine the cause of double vision, or diplopia. Double vision is always taken seriously.
Source:
Eskridge, J. Boyd, John Amos and Jimmy D. Bartlett. Clinical Procedures in Optometry. J. B. Lippincott Company, 1991.
