SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF ORTHOPTICS IN NONSURGICAL TREATMENT OF OCULAR DEVIATIONS

WHEN I was invited to speak at this symposium, various topics came to my mind which might profitably be discussed. However, I discarded all specific topics, since it seemed to me that a topic of more general nature would be better suited to a joint gathering of orthopists and ophthalmologists.I am frequently asked what I really think of orthoptics. I have felt that this question should some time be answered in more elaborate form. This is why I am speaking tonight about the scope and limitations of orthoptics.Before considering its scope and limitations, one must first agree on a definition of orthoptics. In the broadest sense of the word, every form of nonsurgical treatment of neuromuscular anomalies of the eyes is orthoptic therapy. In this broadest sense the prescription of glasses for the normalization of the convergence-accommodation relationship is a form of orthoptic treatment. If this definition is