Low Vision Services

Meet Our Providers

Sanbrita Mondal, OD

Clinical Adjunct Assistant Professor, Director of the Low Vision Clinic

Melanie Schmitt, MD

Assistant Professor, John W. and Helen Doolittle Professor

The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences is proud to provide an ever-expanding low vision service at our University Station location.

Our appointments include a full low vision evaluation with Sanbrita Mondal, OD, to better understand how you are functioning with your vision. With that information, we provide recommendations for tools and various resources for living your best life with low vision. We aim to enhance or improve visual function with magnifiers, telescopes, electronic devices, filters, lighting and contrast.

We are excited to offer low vision occupational therapy services beginning in summer 2021. These services include a fully functioning rehabilitation room equipped with a kitchenette, driver’s assessment, Dynavision light training reaction device, and many other tools to improve your skills to compensate for your vision loss. The occupational therapist can address aspects of your life and health that are being affected by your vision, work with you on skills to maintain independent living, and train on any recommended low vision aids. This training may include centric viewing, scanning, tracking, and other rehabilitation services.

Low vision aids that are recommended by Dr. Mondal or your low vision occupational therapist are available for purchase at the UW Health Optical Shop at the University Station Eye Clinic. We carry top brand names such as Eschenbach Optik, Optelec, Designs for Vision, Chadwick Optical, FL-41 filters, and Brain Power Incorporated filters. For patients who require a tinted contact for light sensitivity, we are able to fit you and order lenses from Adventures in Color.

We also work closely with the low vision therapists at the Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired (WCBVI) in Madison for in-home services, devices at their low vision store, white cane, and orientation mobility services. You can also sign up for support groups as well as Zoom training and education on the WCBVI website. They also have an adaptive technology specialist on staff who can help you with your technology needs.

If you are interested in receiving low vision services but are unsure if your insurance will cover it, please contact your insurance to confirm your specific coverage.

Pediatrics

For the pediatric population who need low vision rehabilitation, please continue to visit Vision Forward in Milwaukee (birth-onward), the Wisconsin Center for the Blind in Janesville (school-age, K-12), or similar organizations to ensure proper age-appropriate initial and subsequent guidance.

We currently do not provide pediatric-specific low vision services due to the specialized nature of students’ vocational needs and school district policies. Each school district employs a vision rehabilitation teacher who can work with your family to accommodate your child’s low vision needs.

For more information, please contact the organizations mentioned or work with your school district to receive the proper services. Our occupational therapist does offer driver’s evaluations for teenagers who are planning to pursue a driver’s license.

Director of Low Vision Services Shares Research Updates

Feb 17 2022

February is Low Vision Awareness Month. Low vision is defined as any type of vision impairment affecting and individual’s activities of daily living that cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, procedures or surgery. While…

Patient Sight Series: Tinted Contact Lenses Offer Hope for Those with Achromatopsia

Sep 17 2021

Two brothers, Brendan and Philip Anderson, are experiencing relief after adopting tinted contact lenses prescribed by Sanbrita Mondal, OD, clinical adjunct assistant professor and director of the UW Health Low Vision Services. Brendan, 26, and…

Aug 24 2021

A Randomized, Partially Masked, Controlled, Phase 2b/3 Clinical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of RGX-314 Gene Therapy in Participants with nAMD (ATMOSPHERE)

Empowered learning at home

Access Hadley Trainings

Lighthouse Guild Tele-Support

ADRC of Dane County

Driver Assessment Program

If a patient has questions regarding driving, please direct them to one of the following resources:

Driver Assessment Program at the UW Health Middleton Clinic
Independent Activities of Daily Living Evaluations
UW Middleton Clinic Front Desk: (608) 263-8412

UnityPoint Health – Meriter, Central Therapy
Complex OT Evaluation
Central Therapy: (608) 417-8250

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