Mayo Clinic seeks children and young adults between the ages of 9 and 17 with symptomatic convergence insufficiency for a research study called the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT). This study is funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) which is a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Convergence insufficiency is a prevalent and distinct binocular vision disorder. Typical symptoms include double vision, eyestrain, headaches, and blurred vision while reading. It affects approximately 5% of children in the United States, and may have a serious impact on an individual's performance in school, choice of jobs, and quality of life.

According to a Mayo release, qualified participants will be randomly assigned to home-based pencil push-up therapy, home-based pencil push-ups with computer vision therapy/orthoptics, office-based vision therapy/orthoptics, or placebo office-based vision therapy/orthoptics.

"There is no consensus regarding the most effective treatment for convergence insufficiency. Significant differences exist between these two treatments in terms of cost and number of office visits required, with pencil push-up therapy being less expensive and less time intensive. Until now, there have been no well-designed studies that have compared the effectiveness of these two treatments," said Brian Mohney, a Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist and lead research for the study.

The study will last a total of about 15 months. The visit schedule is about the same that a patient with convergence insufficiency would receive if he or she were not part of this study. The risks associated with the treatments are the same whether a patient has treatment as part of the study or not.