Reading difficulties are common.  What makes them hard to spot is they don't seem like much of a problem until it is very hard to read.  Losing your place while reading, slow speed of reading and poor reading comprehension are the main things people will notice.  However, those problems are easliy explained away as a lack of concentration or fatigue.  The reality is that anything more than an occasional glitch when reading may be worth looking into as you may be putting up with way too much and have just learned to deal with it.

Reading is a high-performance visual task.  If you watch someone read, you will notice jerky eye movements across a line of print.  This is called saccadic eye movement and there may be between 3 to 6 of these jumps per line.  There are two phases: One where the eyes are moving (the saccade) and another where the eyes are stationary.  The saccade repositions the eyes for the stationary phase when information is taken in, sort of like a snapshot.  If we had one eye this would be an easy process, but it's the coordination of the two eyes that leads to most of the reading difficulties people experience.

There are a lot of reasons that alignment may be off between the eyes, but almost all of them are more pronounced when reading.  This doens't mean you can't read at all, it just demands much more effort.  Hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism and power differnces between the two eyes are some of the more common causes since they affect the ability to keep the eyes focussed.

If you find yourself re-reading the same words over and over, getting headaches, or just reading slowly, there may be more to the problem than it seems.  If it has been over a year since your last eye exam, we may be able to help you read quicker for longer and help you retain what you are reading with much less effort.

If you have questions regarding reading difficulties, call our office or you may email Dr. Chretien at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .