If you’re watching the end of the year approach and still have money left in your Flexible Spending Account (FSA), don’t panic. There are plenty of smart and sometimes surprising ways to spend it on your eye health. While many people know they can use FSA dollars for vision exams, eyeglasses and contact lenses, fewer people realize that there are many lesser-known options that can help improve eye comfort, performance and long-term visual wellness.
Unique FSA Options
If you’re looking for something beyond the basics, here are some innovative, beneficial and often overlooked ways to put your remaining flex dollars to work.
- Specialized Computer Glasses – If you spend hours in front of screens, you may benefit from task-specific computer lenses designed to reduce eye strain and improve focus. These are different from typical blue-light lenses, as the prescription lenses are customized for your exact working distance. Many people who use them notice reduced headaches, neck strain, and dry eye, making them an excellent choice for FSA dollars.
- Sport-Specific Prescription Eyewear – Performance eyewear is not just for professional athletes. FSA funds can often be used for prescription swimming goggles, ski or snow goggles, eyewear for tennis or cycling, or impact-resistant sport goggles for kids. This is a great option for active or athletic families, especially with sports that pick up in spring.
- Dry Eye Treatment Options – Dry eye is a very common vision complaint, especially in the winter months. FSA funds can cover some effective options to help with this issue, such as over-the-counter eye drops, prescription dry eye medications, moist heat therapy eye masks, omega-3 supplements for eye health, or punctal plugs when prescribed as a necessity.
- Low Vision Aids – People with reduced vision from conditions like macular degeneration or cataracts can find great benefit from specialized low-vision tools that make everyday life easier. In many cases, products like magnifiers, contrast-enhancing lenses or assistive reading devices can be eligible for FSA reimbursement.
- Vision Therapy Programs – These individualized treatment programs are effective at treating a wide range of visual conditions, and are specifically tailored to each patient according to their needs. Vision therapy can help correct binocular vision issues, eye teaming difficulty, visual tracking challenges or developmental vision conditions, and can even improve athletic ability. FSA benefits can often be used to cover evaluations and testing, treatment sessions and at-home therapy support materials.
Discuss FSA Options with Family Vision Development Center Now
The end of the year sneaks up quickly, and every year people inevitably let their FSA funds expire because they simply forget to schedule appointments or make purchases. If you’re unsure how much remains in your FSA, now is the perfect time to log in and check your balance. And of course, we are here to help in any way we can! Whether you need an exam, glasses, or advice on eligible products, our team is happy to assist you in making the most of your benefits before they expire. Contact our office today at 630-862-2020 to schedule an appointment.
Family Vision Development Center is a full-service vision center offering innovative vision therapy services, sports vision therapy services, post-concussive vision rehabilitation, comprehensive vision exams for eyeglasses and contact lenses, management of ocular diseases including glaucoma, diabetes, macular degeneration and cataracts, and a state-of-the-art optical center offering the latest designs in eyewear. We are dedicated to keeping our patients comfortable and well-informed and we will explain every exam and procedure and answer all of your questions. We accept both scheduled and emergency appointments, and offer convenient financing and insurance options to ensure that high-quality vision care is available and affordable to all of our patients.
Many people equate “good vision” with the ability to obtain a 20/20 reading on an eye chart. But effective vision is so much more than just clarity. There are actually 17 distinct visual skills that all work together to allow us to learn, work, play, and easily navigate the world around us.
Essential Visual Skills
When one or more of these crucial skills isn’t functioning properly, it can create significant challenges in daily life.
- Eye Movement Control – the ability to move your eyes together in order to focus on a person, picture, or object.
- Binocular Coordination – the ability of the two eyes to accurately work together, at the same time, as a team.
- Convergence – the eyes’ ability to work as a team, whether they are looking inward or focusing ahead.
- Saccades – quick, simultaneous movements of the two eyes between two or more focus points.
- Pursuits – the ability of the eyes to maintain a smooth transition between two different points.
- Accommodation Flexibility – the ability to continuously change focus between objects that are up close and in the distance.
- Spatial/Visual Learning – the ability to think about and evaluate what you have seen.
- Accommodation Endurance – the ability to maintain focus on up-close tasks for extended periods of time.
- Visual Memory – the ability to remember images and words we have seen in the past.
- Central Visual Acuity – the ability to see clearly and accurately. This skill is most commonly used to determine if your vision is 20/20 or a variation.
- Depth Perception – the ability to tell whether objects are closer or further away, in relation to one another.
- Peripheral Vision (side vision) – Being able to see what’s on either side of you while your eyes are pointed forward and without turning your head.
- Gross Visual-Motor – the ability to move through the environment by using visual cues that prevent us from bumping into things.
- Color Perception – being able to tell different colors apart.
- Fine Visual-Motor – the ability to focus on activities that require small movements and attention to detail.
- Visual Integration – the ability to bring together your vision and your other senses to accomplish complex tasks.
- Visual Perception – Being aware of your environment and what is going on around you in your visual field (the area you can see).
When One or More Visual Skills Need Attention
When visual skills are underdeveloped or inefficient, it results in a functional visual problem that can lead to a wide range of symptoms, including:
- Academic struggles – Difficulty reading, poor comprehension, slow reading speed, skipping words/lines, headaches during reading, avoiding homework.
- Physical symptoms – Eye strain, fatigue, headaches, double vision, light sensitivity, dizziness, motion sickness.
- Behavior problems – Short attention span during visual tasks, fidgeting, poor posture, easily frustrated, avoiding close work.
- Impacted motor skills – Clumsiness, poor balance, difficulty with sports, struggles with driving.
Vision Therapy at Family Vision Development Center
Vision therapy is a customized program of activities and exercises that are designed to retrain how the eyes and brain work together, which is essential for developing the above-mentioned visual skills. Dr. Martin and his team have extensive knowledge and experience creating personalized programs that:
- Improve eye teaming – Teaching both eyes to work together smoothly and efficiently.
- Enhance focusing – Strengthening the ability to focus and change focus with ease.
- Develop tracking – Improving the eyes’ ability to follow moving objects and guide reading.
- Boost visual processing – Training the brain to better interpret and understand visual information.
- Strengthen visual-motor integration – Improving coordination between what the eyes see and what the body does.
Our vision therapy programs can help develop or restore proper visual function, leading to improved classroom or job performance, reduced eye strain and headaches, better athletic performance, increased confidence, and better overall quality of life! Contact our office at 630-862-2020 to learn more or to schedule an appointment.
Family Vision Development Center is a full-service vision center offering innovative vision therapy services, sports vision therapy services, post-concussive vision rehabilitation, comprehensive vision exams for eyeglasses and contact lenses, management of ocular diseases including glaucoma, diabetes, macular degeneration and cataracts, and a state-of-the-art optical center offering the latest designs in eyewear.
