Sharper image: UH optometrist establishes sports vision clinic

Center offers insight, specialized eye exams for athletes

Kevin Gee, an optometrist with the University Eye Institute, and the Sports Vision Performance Center staff in front of the Dynavision, a machine that measures eyesight beyond the standard 20/20... Click here for more information.

The standard eye chart only covers letters and numbers, but athletes need above average vision to track balls hurtling toward them at alarming speeds. To test those special skills, a University of Houston optometrist has founded the Sports Vision Performance Center, a facility where athletes perform while a strobe light is flashing, play tag with a board of lights and engage in other activities designed to improve their visual abilities.

“The biggest problem that athletes face is not knowing they can potentially see much better than 20/20 vision,” said Kevin Gee, a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and an assistant clinical professor with the UH College of Optometry. Gee opened the Sports Vision Performance Center in January to individual athletes and teams from various sports, and utilizes a range of tests to analyze what is called the “visual system.”

The Dynavision is a peg board that requires athletes to hit the red buttons as they light up. The Sports Vision Performance Center uses the machine to determine reaction time,... Click here for more information.

“The visual system is more than just ‘what’s the smallest line on the chart you can see,’” Gee said. “The visual system consists of many things, but specifically for sports, depth perception, color, speed and accuracy of movements and contrast sensitivity – or the ability to detect an object off a background.”