Ireland’s Leading Provider of Visual Processing Solutions

Welcome to
Aisling O’Connor
Visual Clinic

At Aisling O’Connor Visual Clinic, our highly experienced team of opticians and orthoptists specialise in assessing those who experience difficulty or discomfort with reading. Using the latest technology, we identify potential visual anomalies and prescribe a tailored treatment plan which may include coloured filters to enhance your reading comfort.

RTÉ One Documentary Lost for Words

Aisling O’Connor Visual Clinic was honoured and delighted to participate in the filming of this RTÉ documentary in 2024. Lost for Words showcases inspiring stories of Irish people of all ages with dyslexia, highlighting their journey of overcoming challenges and stigma while unlocking their full potential through proper care, patience, and empathy.

Official RTÉ Advertisement for Lost for Words

RTÉ’s Lost for Words Documentary: Snippet Featuring Aisling O’Connor of Aisling O’Connor Visual Clinic

VISUAL STRESS

Visual stress/ visual processing issues or scotopic sensitivity, is a condition where the brain has difficulty processing busy visual information, particularly when reading or looking at patterns like text on a page. Visual Stress can affect people of all ages.

EYE TRACKING

Eye tracking difficulties occur when a person has trouble controlling or coordinating their eye movements. This can affect their ability to read smoothly, maintain focus on text, or follow visual information effectively.

Using our clinical eye tracking technology, we can accurately scan the movement of the eyes while reading text. This allows us to access the patients eye tracking ability accurately.

BINOCULAR VISION SCREENING

Binocular vision screening checks how well a person’s eyes work together as a team. "Binocular" means "using both eyes," and healthy binocular vision is essential for tasks like reading, depth perception, and maintaining focus.

  • Migraine attacks have many triggers, including stress, particularly food and hormones. Many migraine patients will have difficulty with light. Particularly artificial lights. For example in schools, shopping centres and offices. Filtering out specific parts of light using precision colour filters has shown to benefit migraine patients

    Research in the US undertaken by a team of neuroscientists, using brain imaging, has shown that suppression of hyper-excitability in the visual cortex occurs in migraine sufferers when individually selected precision lenses are worn

Many individuals find that colour filter lenses help them manage certain symptoms of their migraines, this includes many types of migraines not just visual triggers

  • Dyslexia’ is a term usually used to refer to reading problems that are not due to poor teaching. Dyslexia is often associated with reading and spelling difficulties.

    Visual stress is not the same as dyslexia, but is more common in those who are dyslexic learners. People who fail to read because of visual stress are frequently and incorrectly diagnosed as dyslexic. For this reason, it is important that the existence of visual stress is identified at an early stage. Once visual stress has been treated, the remaining problems are more easily dealt with.

Dyslexia is just a different way of learning. Although it can be frustrating, it also can come with many advantages that non dyslexic learners don’t have.

  • What symptoms do patients who visit our clinic commonly experience?

    While the spectrum of symptoms for visual stress is broad and unique for each individual, the symptoms we see most commonly are:

    • Reluctance to read

    • Movement of printed text

    • Tiring easily whilst reading

    • Losing place on a page, needing to use their finger to keep place on text whilst reading

    • Seeing patterns within the print

    • Halos of colour surrounding letters or words

    • Blurring of print

    • Letters changing size or shape

What visual stress may look like

Visual stress may present as blurred or swirling text

Children may become tired or frustrated easily when reading due to visual stress issues

The text may appear that it is moving up and down the page

Mixing up and miss-spelling words may be a sign of visual stress or Dyslexia

Testimonials

  • 5 star image

    "My son was always very reluctant to read, he would lose his place on a page, skip words, and tire easily. Aisling prescribed him with filter lenses. The difference these have made to my son has been amazing! He’s a changed boy, he now reads every night before bed"

    Olivia R

  • "Aisling is amazing at her job, the difference these glasses made to my teenage daughter’s schoolwork has been brilliant. She describes it as being able to read clearly for the first time. The words no longer move and she doesn’t struggle with keeping her place on the page "

    Sophia O’ R

  • "I cannot recommend Aisling and her clinic enough. This seems to be the only clinic of its type in the country. It has been game changing for me in terms of reading and I get far more done in my job now without having the stress of visual disturbances taking over. Thank you for for kindness and expertise Aisling"

    Claire C