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Vision Rehab is a state-of-the-art low vision management company developed tom eet the specialized needs of visually-impaired individuals and the professionals that assist them. Since 1990, Vision Rehab’s founder, Dr. Louis Lipschultz, has been providing low vision services in his primary eye care office in Olympia Fields. During this time he realized that it was nearly impossible to provide quality low vision care in a traditional eye care office: Consequently, this led to the creation of Vision Rehab, Inc. Low vision patients require support and time to adapt to their visual impairment. The independent doctors and staff in the Vision Rehab Centers are sensitive to these needs. Our approach is to provide reassurance, encouragement, and advice to each patient. We carefully define the goals of the patient, evaluate different types of magnification options, and then prescribe from a wide range of low vision devices which include special reading glasses, hand magnifiers, telescopes, and Video Magnifiers (VM’s). Scanning-readers, computer technology, training services, and low-cost rental programs for devices are available. All of the patients evaluated at Vision Rehab are classified as having “low vision.” Low Vision covers a large spectrum of severity. Quite often, eye care providers can assist patients having a very mild loss with an increase in the bifocal prescription. Because these patients can be managed successfully under the care of their own eye doctor, they are not routinely referred to Vision Rehab for low vision services. Patients should be referred to a low vision specialists when regular glasses do not provide the visual sharpness necessary for daily living. Occasionally, low vision patients or their family members ask if “we could just make the eyeglass prescription a little bit stronger.” Unfortunately, what is needed is not a simple change in prescription. The doctor must usually clarify that the eyeglass prescription is an exact measurement. If the power is too strong or too weak, it will cause additional blur. Many low vision patients suffer from eye diseases such as macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy, which affect the light sensitive tissue in the eye called the retina. It is the retina, similar to the film in a camera, that is responsible for collecting sight information from the outside world. Low vision patients have their film partially smudged--usually right in the center of the film where sharpest vision is located. Most of the time, these diseases can leave the peripheral (side vision) untouched. Vision Rehab works with the remaining side vision and magnifies or alters the incoming visual information to make the eye “see” better. Although low vision treatment does have its limitations and can not bring back vision that has been lost, the remaining vision can be used to its fullest by using a variety of low vision devices.
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