How to Test for an Eye Turn at Home (Cover-Uncover Test)

Introduction to the Cover-Uncover Test 0:00

The Cover Uncover Test To See If You Have An Eye Turn Think both of your eyes are aligned? Let's find out. I'm going to show you a simple test you can do right now to screen to see if you have an eye turn. Most people often have no idea one of their eyes drifts or that their eye don't coordinate together as a team and it can affect depth perception, eye strain, and how hard your brain has to work. to see clearly.

What an Eye Turn Is and Why It Matters 0:24

I'm Dr. Bryce Applebaum, I am a neurooptometrist and my passion is rewiring the eye-brain connection. An eye turn, also called a strabismus, squint or atropia, is when one eye doesn't aim straight at what you're looking at. Sometimes it's obvious. But often it's subtle. Your brain compensates so well that you don't even notice. But compensation takes energy. And that can show up in a lot of different ways. Headaches, eye strain, double vision or suppression or ignoring an eye to avoid that confusion.

Difficulty with depth perception, trouble catching a ball, balance issues, fatigue, difficulty navigating through space,

How to Set Up the At-Home Screening 1:01

struggle with driving. Today, I'm gonna teach you how to screen to check iTurn at home. This isn't a diagnosis, but it will tell you if it's worth getting tested professionally. All right, so for the cover-uncover test, all you need is this pen. And ideally, you're gonna be screening somebody else, doing this test on somebody because when you are holding the pen yourself, it gives different results. It's not the same. You get a better sense of where the pin is by holding it there. When you have somebody look at something in space, much more accurate.

So you're going to hold the pen around 16 inches away from the person, ideally about arm's length. And if you can visualize a laser beam coming out of each eye representing a line of sight, if the eyes are pointing the same place,

Performing the Cover-Uncover Test 1:36

the laser beams are both pointing at the pin. So we're gonna cover one eye, and the eye that's open, you shouldn't see it move, And the persons shouldn' see the pens move. And do the same thing on the other side. Cover the eye. The eye shouldn't move and the patient shouldn' see the pen move. If there is movement of the pin or the eyes, that is diagnostic for an eye turn. Meaning that eye was positioned in a different place and it had to reposition to come back to where it was. You can also do this same test in the distance on a distance target.

Great way to screen for alignment or strabismus.

What the Results Mean 2:12

All right, that's the cover-uncover test. Simple, fast, and surprisingly effective. If you detected or have a suspicion of an eye turn, don't panic. It's common and it's treatable, but it does mean your visual system needs support. if you want more information on how eye alignment, binocular vision, how to train your vision system and the eye-brain connection works,

Next Steps and Closing 2:29

I've put together a guide. Links below. And if found this helpful, Leave a comment and let me know what you discovered.