About

Douglas Widmer is a full-time associated faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Optometry. He received his Doctorate of Optometry in 2011 and his Masters in Vision Science in 2016 from The Ohio State University College of Optometry. Since 2018, he has been working at Ohio State University, where he teaches in various clinics and labs including Binocular Vision and Pediatrics, Vision Therapy, Primary Vision Care, Grade School Screenings, and Preschool Screenings. His research includes publications such as a 2018 article in Optometry and Vision Science on post-therapy fMRI in adults with symptomatic convergence insufficiency.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Anatomy
• Internal medicine
• Ophthalmology

Selected publications

• Neural consequences of symptomatic convergence insufficiency: A small sample study

  Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics · 2024 · 3 citations

  • Medicine
  • Psychology
  • Anatomy

  INTRODUCTION: Convergence insufficiency (CI) is an oculomotor abnormality characterised by exophoria and inadequate convergence when focusing on nearby objects. CI has been shown to cause symptoms when reading. However, the downstream consequences on brain structure have yet to be investigated. Here, we investigated the neural consequences of symptomatic CI, focusing on the left arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of white matter fibres which supports reading ability and has been associated with reading deficits. METHODS: We compared the arcuate fasciculus microstructure of participants with symptomatic CI versus normal binocular vision (NBV). Six CI participants and seven NBV controls were included in the analysis. All participants were scanned with 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and anatomical and diffusion-weighted images were acquired. Diffusion-weighted images were processed with TRACULA to identify the arcuate fasciculus in each participant and compute volume and radial diffusivity (RD). RESULTS: Compared with NBV controls, those with symptomatic CI had significantly smaller arcuate fasciculi bilaterally (left: t = -3.21, p = 0.008; right: t = -3.29, p = 0.007), and lower RD in the left (t = -2.66, p = 0.02), but not the right (t = -0.81, p = 0.44, false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected p > 0.05) arcuate fasciculus. Those with higher levels of reading symptoms had smaller arcuate fasciculi (r = -0.74, p = 0.004) with lower RD (r = -0.61, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that symptomatic CI may lead to microstructural changes in the arcuate fasciculus. Since it is highly unlikely that abnormalities in the arcuate fasciculus are the cause of the neuromuscular deficits in the eyes, we argue that these changes may be a potential neuroplastic consequence of disruptions in sustained reading.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Post‐therapy Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Adults with Symptomatic Convergence Insufficiency

  Optometry and Vision Science · 2018-05-22 · 22 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  SIGNIFICANCE: Prior studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of vergence-accommodative therapy in the treatment of convergence insufficiency (CI). These results show the changes in brain activation following therapy through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in brain activation following office-based vergence-accommodative therapy versus placebo therapy for CI using the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal from fMRI. METHODS: Adults (n = 7, aged 18 to 30 years) with symptomatic CI were randomized to 12 weeks of vergence-accommodative therapy (n = 4) or placebo therapy (n = 3). Vergence eye movements were performed during baseline and outcome fMRI scans. RESULTS: Before therapy, activation (z score ≥ 2.3) was observed in the occipital lobe and areas of the brain devoted to attention, with the largest areas of activation found in the occipital lobe. After vergence-accommodative therapy, activation in the occipital lobe decreased in spatial extent but increased in the level of activation in the posterior, inferior portion of the occipital lobe. A new area of activation appeared in the regions of the lingual gyrus, which was not seen after placebo therapy. A significant decrease in activation was also observed in areas of the brain devoted to attention after vergence-accommodative therapy and to a lesser extent after placebo therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Observed activation pre-therapy consistent with top-down processing suggests that convergence requires conscious effort in symptomatic CI. Decreased activation in these areas after vergence-accommodative therapy was associated with improvements in clinical signs such as fusional vergence after vergence-accommodative therapy. The increase in blood oxygen level-dependent response in the occipital areas following vergence-accommodative therapy suggests that disparity processing for both depth and vergence may be enhanced following vergence-accommodative therapy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Effect of Vision Therapy on Adult Symptomatic Convergence Insufficiency Subjects: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

  OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · 2016-08-09

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Nicklaus Fogt

  SUNY College of Optometry

  5 shared

• Marjean Taylor Kulp

  SUNY College of Optometry

  5 shared

• Tamara Oechslin

  5 shared

• Andrew J. Toole

  5 shared

• Steven Manning

  SUNY College of Optometry

  4 shared

• David E. Osher

  The Ohio State University

  2 shared

• Yuxuan Zeng

  The Ohio State University

  2 shared

• Chirag Limbachia

  University of Maryland, College Park

  1 shared

Labs

• Research | College of OptometryPI