Which patients would require a balance lens?

Which patients would require a balance lens?

• A. A patient with a prosthetic eye
• B. A patient who is blind in one eye from advanced glaucoma
• C. Both a patient with a prosthetic eye and a patient blind in one eye
• D. Neither

Answer: (C)

Balance lenses are used whenever binocular input is imbalanced because one eye isn’t contributing normal vision. In a patient with a prosthetic eye, the eye with the prosthesis is nonfunctional visually, so the remaining seeing eye is adjusted optically to help the two eyes appear to move more in sync and to align the gaze. This helps with a natural-looking appearance and reduces strain from misalignment of the visual axes. Similarly, in someone who is blind in one eye from advanced glaucoma, there isn’t usable vision from that eye, so balancing the optics of the seeing eye helps maintain comfortable, natural gaze and aesthetics, and supports stable binocular cues for the brain, even though only one eye provides vision. Because both scenarios involve monocular input and a need to harmonize how the two eyes work together or appear, a balance lens would be appropriate for both patients.

Balance lenses are used whenever binocular input is imbalanced because one eye isn’t contributing normal vision. In a patient with a prosthetic eye, the eye with the prosthesis is nonfunctional visually, so the remaining seeing eye is adjusted optically to help the two eyes appear to move more in sync and to align the gaze. This helps with a natural-looking appearance and reduces strain from misalignment of the visual axes.

Similarly, in someone who is blind in one eye from advanced glaucoma, there isn’t usable vision from that eye, so balancing the optics of the seeing eye helps maintain comfortable, natural gaze and aesthetics, and supports stable binocular cues for the brain, even though only one eye provides vision.

Because both scenarios involve monocular input and a need to harmonize how the two eyes work together or appear, a balance lens would be appropriate for both patients.