Developing 3D Vision Through Vision Therapy with Hanah VanderMeulen

In this episode, Denise talks with Hanah VanderMeulen, who developed 3D vision, depth perception, and integrated peripheral vision for the first time through vision therapy. Hanah shares her lifelong experience with strabismus, early surgery, and patching—and how vision therapy as an adult was truly life-changing.

Listen as Hanah describes what it was like to see snow fall in 3D for the first time, how her symptoms gradually resolved, and why patient advocacy and multiple professional opinions mattered in her journey.

Hanah’s written vision therapy story:
 https://www.seevividly.com/blog/230/Vision_Therapy_Success_Stories_Hanah

Watch Hanah’s WOW Vision testimonial on YouTube:
 https://youtu.be/gOrb3i9jWhc

Connect with Denise Allen:
Website: https://healingmysight.com
Healing our Sight Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063570817348

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Transcript

Denise: Welcome today to the Healing Our Sight podcast. I'm Denise Allen, and today I have with me Hanah Vandermeulen. She is a vision therapy success story from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She's currently 33 years old and has been married to her high school sweetheart for 11 years. She has two children, ages 6 and 7, and she works as a dental hygienist. So welcome, Hanah.

Hanah: Hi. Thank you for having me.

Denise: I'm so glad you agreed to come and share your story today.

Hanah: Of course.

Denise: So let's just get right into it. Tell our listeners when you first realized that your eyes were different from other people's eyes.

Hanah: Sure. So, my parents actually realized that my eyes were misaligned as a baby. Most infants when they're born, they have misaligned eyes for the first four to six months of their life, and mine never corrected themselves. So, it was around age 5 or 6 months that they realized that something wasn't quite right. So, they did bring me to an eye doctor and an ophthalmologist, and that's when he diagnosed me with strabismus. Both of my eyes actually turned inwards, so they looked crossed or lazy at times. And so that's when my parents realized something was different. So, I started patching as well as wearing glasses at six months old.

Denise: Oh, wow.

Hanah: Yes.

Denise: So that could not have been very fun for you.

Hanah: I don't remember it, but my mom, my mom said she was very worried about the patching, about me, you know, ripping it off. And she. So, she watched me like a hawk. She said. So yeah, we started with the patching, like the sticky patches over the eye and then the glasses on top of that. And then I ended up having surgery when I was 10 months old.

Denise: Okay.

Hanah: Yes. To correct the misalignment.

Denise: So they did both eyes when you were 10 months old?

Hanah: They did, yeah.

Denise: And did that seem to correct the problem at that point?

Hanah: At that point, yes, it did seem to correct the misalignment, which seemed to be fairly good. For years after that, I continued to wear glasses. I continued to patch to strengthen my weaker eye, which was my left eye. Then I continue to do at home exercises, what they call pencil push-ups, simple at home exercises to keep my eyes aligned. But eventually the misalignment came back. So.

Denise: And about when was that.

Hanah: That trying to think, I was so little and it wasn't all the time. So, it's hard to say when exactly it came back. And it seemed to, like, correct itself if I was wearing glasses and doing the patching. But definitely like middle school, high school. It was there all the time.

Denise: Okay.

Hanah: And that was just my left eye at that point. My left eye was the one that was wandering and misaligned. Not so much my right.

Denise: Okay. And that was your weaker eye that you weren't using as much, right?

Hanah: Correct. Yeah.

Denise: So, what caused you to look for a different solution?

Hanah: So, when I was 15, still living at home, obviously. So, the ophthalmologist that did my surgery when I was 10 months old informed me and my parents that when I was age 15 that there was nothing else that could be done. And I still had the misalignment. So, he didn't recommend surgery again. And so, at that point, we were just kind of at the end of the road. My mom and dad weren't quite sure what else to do because the doctors weren't very optimistic and didn't have any recommendations of what to do at that time. So, we just stopped there. I continued to wear my glasses, and I just continued to live my life the way I always have. So, at that time, it didn't really bother me. I didn't notice any symptoms from my misaligned eyes. So, it didn't bother me per se, when I was 15 years old. So, I was fine to just continue wearing my glasses and move on, right? Yeah.

Denise: And at what point did other symptoms start to surface?

Hanah: So, I would say in my, like, early 20s. So, during college, during hygiene school, I started noticing headaches. I started noticing light sensitivity. Reading was very difficult because I couldn't keep my spot on any of the pages. The words were jumping around. I would get really bad headaches when I was reading. I would get very sleepy and I would just fall asleep, like, mid-sentence. So, yeah, that's when I started noticing symptoms during college, during hygiene school, and then after graduation and going out into the real world, I started noticing those. And it was at age 24 that I realized that I. I could not drive at night because my light sensitivity was so severe.

Denise: Oh, wow.

Hanah: That kept me from doing a lot. Kept me from visiting friends who lived, you know, more than 15 minutes away. So, I had to be back before dark. So, it just made. It made life a little more challenging.

Denise: Right.

Hanah: At such a young age.

Denise: Yeah, for sure. And then did things get worse after that?

Hanah: They did. They continued to get worse. Another symptom of my strabismus was not only the light sensitivity, but, like, no depth perception. So when it came to driving, that was hard. Like parking my car or trying to distinguish how far another car was in front of me when I was driving was difficult. Playing any sort of sport was difficult. Like when I actually had to catch a ball or throw it to somebody.

Denise: Exactly.

Hanah: No, not having any depth perception is hard. But I guess since doing vision therapy, I learned that I kind of made my way through my life using monocular cues. My brain kind of adapted in a certain way to help me judge distances and depth and things like that, But I had no. I had nothing to compare it to. So that's. That was just normal for me.

Denise: And so, when did you find vision therapy?

Hanah: So I was 24 years old when I first learned about vision therapy, and it was at just my annual eye examination. I happened to see a new optometrist at the office that I was currently going to who joined the practice. And I expressed my concerns about light sensitivity and not being able to or not feeling comfortable enough to drive at night, as well as headaches. I was getting headaches every single day. By the end of my workday, I had a headache, and so I often just went to bed to escape my headaches at the end of the night. So that was a nightly thing for me. So that's when he recommended that I look into vision therapy. That's the first time I had ever heard about it.

Denise: Is that the point where you started doing therapy when you were 24?

Hanah: That is actually not the point I started doing therapy. I did, however, go to. Wow Vision Therapy right after that annual eye exam to get another exam from them, which was way more in depth than any exam I had ever had. And they tested things that, you know, my normal eye doctor never looked into. So that was promising. And then they sat me down and gave me a treatment plan. And the doctor that I saw at that time is no longer there. But at that time, he recommended possibly like, a hundred sessions of vision therapy in addition to surgery. Wow. So that's. So, getting that information, you know, my situation. So, yeah, so getting that information, you know, the amount of sessions, on top of the cost, on top of possible surgery, was a little overwhelming. He didn't seem very confident at that time that vision therapy would work. So again, I took a step back and I gave it some thought. And then at that time, I decided not to go ahead with it. So, I was 24 at that time. And then I kind of just put it on the back burner, continued on with my life. And then it wasn't until 29 years old that I went back in for another exam. I saw a different doctor at that time, and then I decided to go ahead with it. My exam when I was 29 versus 24 was very different. The exam I had at Wow Vision Therapy when I was 29, when I decided to start vision therapy, it was with Dr. Alyssa Bartolini, who is now Dr. Pars. But she was amazing. Like, she had full confidence that this was going to work for me. So, I left there feeling very, like excited and ready and I was very optimistic. She wasn't quite sure how many sessions I would need, but we were going to start with 35, which was more manageable than the 104 years prior. So. Right.

Denise: I think that is so awesome that you're. That she was so confident.

Hanah: Very confident. Yeah.

Denise: And the 35 seems more doable as far as the number of sessions. For sure.

Hanah: Yes.

Denise: So, is that how it worked out? Did you only need the 35 sessions?

Hanah: I needed 45. Okay. So not too far off from our original 35.

Denise: Yeah. Awesome.

Hanah: So, yeah, I was very happy with that.

Denise: So how long did it take to get those 45 sessions in?

Hanah: So it took a year to do the 45 sessions. It probably would have taken less than that had we not kind of tweaked our frequency of the sessions. We started with two sessions per week, which at the time seemed. I think that was pretty normal for their patients to do two sessions per week. However, I quickly found out that was maybe a bit too much for me considering I had two little ones at home. I work part time. I work three days a week. I am a wife, a mom. So, I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old at home. So, it was just a lot. And I was finding I didn't have enough time to do my vision therapy exercises and then go back in two days and show them what I have learned and what I've been working on. So, it wasn't too far after we  started with the two sessions per week that I asked if we could go down to one per week. So, we did that. And then. So yeah, the 45 sessions took roughly a year.

Denise: Okay. That's a good amount. I feel like once a week works really well. That's what I ended up doing too, was once a week.

Hanah: Okay.

Denise: Gives you plenty of time to practice in between.

Hanah: Yes. Which I was running out of time to practice on top of all the other duties that I had to take care of.

Denise: Absolutely. So, yeah, that's. That's awesome. And then after that 45 sessions, then did they have a graduation for you?

Hanah: Or how did they did they had a little graduation for me. I kind of did my last progress check and we got all the numbers and all the areas that I had improved in. And they did a little graduation with all the vision therapists who were in the office at the time. And I got a certificate and it was really exciting.

Denise: How would you describe your vision now?

Hanah: My vision now is much better. It's been a life changing journey. So, my vision now I don't experience headaches anymore every day like I used to. So that's been a very big plus to all of this. I gained 3D vision, which I actually had no idea that I was lacking. I gained depth perception, which I knew I was lacking in that department. I also gained peripheral vision, which was another thing I didn't know that I didn't have. In fact, I told my vision therapist that I had superpowers when it came to my peripheral because I could see straight with my strong eye and then everything on the left side with my weak eye. Little did I know that you can see more when both of your eyes are aligned.

Denise: Okay, so then afterwards you found out there was peripheral on the right side as well, Correct?

Hanah: Yeah.

Denise: Okay.

Hanah: Yep. I had no idea that's how peripheral vision works. So.

Denise: Awesome. Yeah, that's. That's great. What do you think your biggest aha moment was?

Hanah: I had a few aha moments. The first one was when I was leaving a vision therapy session and my peripheral kicked in. I think it may have been that session. I was just telling my therapist that I had amazing peripheral not knowing that I actually didn't have that. But yeah, it kicked in. On the way home, I was driving home and I noticed my eyes became aligned and I noticed everything in front of me, including the cars coming at me, oncoming traffic passing on my left. On top of that, I noticed the houses that were on my right-hand side and then the houses on the left-hand side as well. So, it was just one big picture. So that was exciting. Another big aha moment was when I again was driving home from a vision therapy session and it was raining. And the I don't know about you, but or anybody else's experience, but when it rains, prior to getting vision therapy and learning how to align my eyes, the rain was so distracting. So, like, I had my windshield wipers on constantly, as fast as I could because I couldn't, essentially I couldn't see past the rain once it hit my windshield. But this particular day I noticed like the raindrops just beating up on my windshield. And I've never noticed the raindrops beating up on my windshield because I'd always wipe them away, so. And then I noticed I could look past the raindrops on my windshield. So I was using my newly acquired skills to, you know, look at something that was right in front of me and then look past that object and, you know, so looking past the raindrops and seeing the cars in front of me, so I could go back and forth, I could kind of position my eyes to where I wanted to look. So that was exciting. So, I actually did not use my windshield wipers on the way home.

Denise: That's interesting. Yeah. And hopefully it wasn't too much rain that you couldn't see through it, right?

Hanah: Oh, yeah, it wasn't. I was able to. It was just. Yeah, it was fun to notice the raindrops and then to be able to look past them and, you know, see the road and.

Denise: Yeah, yeah. That is so fun. I had a similar story with snow, actually with the. Right at my windshield and just it felt like I was in a snow globe. I'm like, oh, this must be what it actually feels like when you have it all around you and you can tell where it is and yeah, do that before.

Hanah: Yeah, yeah. That was actually my third and probably most magical aha moment. Like that one brought me to tears. That one. It was a busy morning. I was getting ready for work, getting the kids ready for daycare. So, it was hectic. I took the kids to daycare. The car ride there was always crazy. They're crying, music's on, it's snowing. Like have all the distractions in the world. I think my son, like dropped his stuffed animal on the ground and he couldn't get it, so he was screaming about that. So, I didn't actually notice the snow until I started driving to work and I did. I noticed the, like the. Each individual snowflake and they were coming at me, which I'd never experienced before. And so that made me emotional on the, on the drive to work. And then I got out of my car and I stood in the middle of the parking lot and I just looked up and just like you explained it, I felt like I was like in a snow globe and I started to cry because the only other way I can explain it is like looking at like a two dimensional, like a white sheet when it snowed. Prior to learning how to align my eyes. There's nothing spectacular about it. So, I didn't understand why people said, oh, the first snowfall is so beautiful. And of course I asked them, like, what does it look like? Please explain it to me so I can notice if we're seeing the same things. And no one could really explain it in depth. Honestly, my whole life I thought, is this not spectacular? Until I learned how to align my eyes, what snow looked like prior to vision therapy. If I could describe that to somebody, it would be just like a white sheet of paper when you look out the window. No, it was hard to judge where the snowflakes were in relation to my position in relation to anything outside. So, yeah, when I saw snow for the first time, I explained it as like being inside of a snow globe rather than being on the outside looking in, but instead, you're the object inside the snow globe, and you can see and feel where you are in relation to the snow falling around you. So that was very emotional for me.

Denise: It's amazing. Yeah.

Hanah: Yeah. I still get emotional when the snow falls, so.

Denise: I just wish we weren't having snow in April where I live.

Hanah: Oh, I feel for you. There's no snow here right now, but I'm thankful for that.

Denise: Yesterday I was clearing a path, and I was thinking, it's April. Why are we still in snow?

Hanah: Yes, that's hard.

Denise: So, what was your favorite vision therapy exercise?

Hanah: I would have to say using the virtual reality headset was one of my favorites. And then also the Brock string, that's always like my go to. It just gives you instant feedback as to where your eyes are pointing. So that's always been one of my favorites as well.

Denise: I had a love hate relationship with it, Actually, mostly hate, because I couldn't do it for so long, you know? And then when I finally got so that I could, I was like, oh, yeah, that actually works. That is awesome. So, you were doing vivid vision for the virtual reality, is that right?

Hanah: I was, yeah.

Denise: And it was that at the very beginning of your therapy, you started doing the Vivid Vision?

Hanah: Yes. Yep. I think I started it on day one. I started Vivid Vision, so. And then I brought their headset home for exercises. So that was nice. I was able to do it in the office and then bring it home. And then I did that throughout my vision therapy journey with the office, and then I ended up purchasing my own VR headset to use at home. And so right now, I do Beat Saber. I don't know if you've heard of that game.

Denise: I think Melissa has that mentioned on her video about the different ones that she recommends. I haven't tried.

Hanah: Yep. So that's currently the only one that I'm doing, but it helps a lot to keep my. Because if your eyes aren't aligned, at least I've noticed if your eyes are not aligned while you're playing that game, which essentially you have like two lightsabers, right. One in your right hand, one in your left hand, and you're kind of slashing through these notes that are going through the screen while a song is playing. Kind of like Guitar Hero, essentially.

Denise: Okay.

Hanah: But with lightsabers. So, if my eyes aren't aligned, I. I completely miss the. The notes. So, it's a nice game to play. After I do my bra string and I do my red/green charts and then I go to that.

Denise: So, do you do vision therapy every day still?

Hanah: I don't every day. But I do have to keep up on my exercises, or I'll notice like, you know, the misalignment comes back and then I'll notice headaches or trouble driving, things like that. So as long as I keep up on it once a week, twice a week, then I can stay aligned fairly well without much effort. I'll say.

Denise: That's great. And is that something that the doctor recommended as well, did say at the office that you needed to keep doing it all the time?

Hanah: They did, yeah. After graduation, they definitely recommended keeping up on my exercises. Even if it was once a week? Yeah.

Denise: Okay. Do you do anything else as just a fun thing to help maintain your 3D vision?

Hanah: Not aside from like my regular exercises. So, you know, the Brock string, the anti suppression charts. I do have a little flash drive with like 3D pictures and things on there that I like to do. I've got some slides on a PowerPoint that my vision therapist sent over that are helpful. So different things that I used throughout vision therapy, I kind of took home with me and still do those things at home.

Denise: Nice. I don't know if it's possible to quantify, but how. If you could, how would you quantify the difference that vision therapy has made in your life?

Hanah: Life changing. I have no other way to explain it. I felt like when I was 29,. I was losing control of my vision, which is very scary at age 29 to feel like, okay, I can't drive anymore. I have like debilitating headaches, light sensitivity. Just that it was, it was interfering with every facet of my life. And my quality of life was going down essentially because I couldn't do anything without my vision impairing what I was doing, whether it was work or going out with friends, meeting new people. That was not something that I did. Maintaining eye contact with people at my job. So, my patients, you know, I'm there to educate them, and I was so insecure, I couldn't even look them in the eye. So that was hard. So doing vision therapy and learning about vision therapy and deciding to go through with it has just been life changing. Yeah.

Denise: And the great news, too, is you didn't even need surgery.

Hanah: I did not.

Denise: Yeah.

Hanah: So, I was very thankful for that.

Denise: Yeah. I. I'm happy that you were able to do it with just the vision therapy, too. What would you tell other people who are facing similar struggles.

Hanah: Other people who might be facing similar struggles to mine or any vision issues? 1. I would recommend seeking out more than one opinion from more than one type of doctor. You know, I think I got five opinions by the time I decided to do vision therapy. I saw different optometrists, different ophthalmologists. So, I would recommend getting more than one opinion, more than two opinions, and maybe seeking out the advice of a developmental optometrist. Not too many people know what a developmental optometrist is or what they specialize in. So, someone who specializes in vision therapy, I would seek their opinion as well as your optometrist, as well as your ophthalmologist, but they all have different opinions and recommendations on vision. So definitely getting more than one opinion. And then also maybe reaching out and finding other people who have the same diagnosis or maybe the same struggle as you. I would definitely recommend that as well. You know, whether it be via Instagram or Facebook or, you know, groups here and there, YouTube anywhere. There are so many sources out there that you can tap into to find other people who might be going through the same thing you are. So that was helpful for me.

Denise: Yeah, I think that it's great that you actually spoke to more than one developmental optometrist. Yeah, I think that was kind of a key thing. Did something progress in their office that made your specific situation different from one doctor to the next, or was it just the doctor themselves, do you think?

Hanah: You know, I don't know the answer to that question, per se. I. I don't know. I've talked to so many doctors. Part of me thinks it was just the different views and opinions of the doctors that I saw.

Denise: Okay.

Hanah: Yeah. It's just crazy, you know, the different opinions you can get from different people.

Denise: So that's true. I think that that's a really good point to bring out because There are so many people who say, well, my doctor said I can't be helped. And I think, well, that was one person's opinion.

Hanah: Yeah.

Denise: Whose opinion is going to make the most difference? I mean, yes, honestly, I think we have to trust ourselves first, and then we have to look for the person that's able to help us, whatever that looks like.

Hanah: Yeah, I 100 agree with that. So, you have to be your own advocate, which is. Was a hard thing for me to learn because. Yeah, yeah, I guess I trusted one doctor's opinion and then. And then that was it. Because I felt like they're a doctor, they must know the answer. Right. So. But no, you do have to be your own advocate, and you do have to stick up for yourself and do what you feel is best for you. So, if you're not happy with someone's opinion, maybe seek somebody else's.

Denise: Right. Awesome. Did you have anything else that you want to share?

Hanah: I guess I would like maybe other people going through vision therapy just to go into it with an open mind and know that. Go into it knowing that this is going to be very hard. It's going to be challenging. You're going to have a lot of highs, a lot of lows. It was an emotional, emotional journey. It was like, physically tiring. It was just everything on top of one of another and oftentimes very lonely, you know, because generally you're. You may or may not be the only person, you know, with this issue. So, you go into it with a lot of emotion and not a lot of people to relate to. I suppose you could say even people who love you and are there to support you don't necessarily understand or know what you're going through, which can be challenging. Right. So, you have to be strong when you're going into vision therapy.

Denise: Yes, absolutely. And I think that more and more it's possible to find people who are going through the same thing.

Hanah: Yes. And.

Denise: And it hasn't been in the past. When I started my journey, it certainly was not the case.

Hanah: Correct. Yeah.

Denise: And that's the reason why we're even doing this today.

Hanah: Right.

Denise: So that people will know that they're not alone. And we get the fact that the people closest to you are not going to understand. Right.

Hanah: Yeah.

Denise: And at the end of the day, at the end of the journey, it's all worth is.

Hanah: It is all worth it. Great.

Denise: Well, thank you so much. And I just appreciate that you're so eloquently able to share all of the things that have meant the most to you in this journey. So, thank you for that.

Hanah: Oh, you're very welcome. Thank you for asking me to share my story. I hope it, I hope it helps other people either make the decision to go through a vision therapy or, or maybe other people can relate to my story and not feel so alone.

Denise: I'll link in the show notes the other places where you have done videos that so people can see if they want to see you share your story since.

Hanah: Yeah, that sounds great.

Denise: Something that's actually on YouTube as a video.

Hanah: Okay.

Denise: Yeah, so we'll do that as well. Thank you for listening to this episode of Healing Our Sight. If you liked this episode, please subscribe, add a review and share it on your favorite social media. You can also ask questions or suggest a guest by visiting my Facebook page, Healing Our site and more information is found on my website healingmysite.com thanks again for listening.