What are optical devices and how do they help with low vision?
Optical devices make things look larger. They include: • Magnifying eyeglasses, which are like regular eyeglasses, but they make things look even larger. With these eyeglasses, you may need to hold your reading material or objects close to your eyes to get it in focus. • Hand-held magnifiers, which you can buy at drug stores and at low-vision centers. They come in many shapes and sizes. • Stand magnifiers, so that you do not need to hold anything over your reading material or other objects. They may have their own light source. • Telescope eyeglasses, which make things at distance look larger than regular glasses do. Each side has two lenses that are separated by a small space. • Closed-circuit TV, which magnifies and sharpens the contrast of images on a TV screen. What are nonoptical devices and how are they used to treat low vision? Nonoptical devices are things other than magnifiers that can be used easily by people with low vision. Examples are: • large-number phone keypads • large
