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Ayisha Atiya

PhD Candidate
Postgraduate Research Student
Medicine & Health
School of Optometry and Vision Science

Research Title: Eye hand co-ordination in amblyopia before and after vision therapy

Supervisor: A/Prof. Sieu Khuu

Co-supervisors: Dr. Revathy Mani

Collaborators: Dr. Anuradha N1, Dr. Sumita Agarkar2, Dr. Akila Ramkumar 2

1Elite School of Optometry, Chennai, India

2Pediatric Ophthalmologist, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India

Units of Medical Research Foundation

Resarch

Amblyopia (lazy eye) is a natural developmental disorder with unilateral or bilateral reduced best corrected visual acuity in the absence of any structural ocular abnormalities. Amblyopia can present as refractive, strabismic, mixed and visual deprivation. Along with reduced visual acuity, reduced contrast sensitivity, abnormal spatial distortions, poor eye tracking ability, accommodation problems, reading issues, perceptual abnormalities, gross and fine motor deficits are seen to be commonly associated in amblyopia. Binocularity is disrupted in amblyopia which causes alterations in daily activities. Amblyopia treatment include optical correction, patching, atropine penalization and various active monocular and binocular vision therapies.

Eye-hand coordination involves visual, ocular and motor systems. The gross and fine motor skills focus on reaching, grasping and executing from the environment through ocular and manual motor responses in order to perform tasks like ball catching, bead threading, and block building in children.

Saccades are fast eye movements which brings the image of an object of interest onto the fovea. During visual activities, saccades go ahead of hand movements to scan the relevant object of focus such that the visual information provided aids in the accuracy of reaching and grasping an object.

The effect of visual acuity, stereopsis and eye movements has to be more explored with visuomotor skills. Hence, my work is to look how eye hand-coordination skills are affected in amblyopia and how the amblyopes respond with therapy.

Biography

Ayisha Atiya, has graduated Optometry (Bachelor’s and Master’s degree) from Elite School of Optometry affiliated to Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS). During her bachelor’s, she worked on projects titled “Intraocular pressure and Diabetic Retinopathy” and “Success of Fresnel prisms in the management of diplopia”. Her master’s thesis was on “Clinical profile and laboratory investigations in the diagnosis of sarcoid uveitis”. She also holds a fellowship in Neuro-Optometry from The Sankara Nethralaya Academy (TSNA) affiliated to Dr. MGR University. She has explored various research projects on amblyopia, non-strabismic binocular vision anomalies, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson disease, stroke, ocular sarcoidosis, and diabetic retinopathy. Besides research, she is a passionate teacher for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Optometry lecturing on Binocular Vision and Vision Therapy. Currently, a PhD student working on eye-hand coordination and eye movements in amblyopia.

Education

2023 – Present, PhD, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW Sydney

2021 Fellow of American Academy of Optometry

2016 Fellowship in Neuro-Optometry from The Sankara Nethralaya Academy (TSNA) affiliated to Dr. MGR University

2009- 2011 Master of Philosophy (Optometry), Elite School of Optometry affiliated to Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)

2005- 2009 Bachelor of Science (Optometry), Elite School of Optometry affiliated to Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)

Conference Attendance

World Congress of Optometry (WCO) at Melbourne- Australia, September 2023

Dr E. Vaithilingam Memorial scientific sessions at Chennai- India, 2023

Synapse 2k19 at Chennai- India, 2019

All India Optometry Conference (AIOC) at Amritsar -India, 2011

Elite International Vision and Optometry Conference in the year (EIVOC) at Chennai- India, 2010 and 2015

Awards

University International Postgraduate award (UIPA) scholarship at UNSW (2023-2026)

Best scientific poster award (Regular category) in Elite International Vision and Optometry Conference in the year (EIVOC) held on August 14th – 16th 2015.

Affliations and Memberships

2021 – Present, Member of American Academy of Optometry (AAO)

2021 – Present, Member of Optometric Association of Tamil Nanbargal (OATN)
Email

a.atiya@unsw.edu.au

    1. Keep it Single and Simple: Binocular Vision Testing and Treatment Made Easy (Chapters written by Jameel Rizwana Hussaindeen, Mitchell Scheiman, Ayisha Atiya, Praveen Kumar P, Amit Bhowmick). In . 2021. Nova Science Publishers, 288 pages
    1. Biswas J, Atiya A, Agarwal A. “Ocular Sarcoidosis – An update”. Kerala Journal of Ophthalmology. June 2010; 22 (2): 120 – 130.
    2. Atiya, A., Hussaindeen, J. R., Kasturirangan, S., Ramasubramanian, S., Swathi, K., & Swaminathan, M. (2020). Frequency of undetected binocular vision anomalies among ophthalmology trainees.Journal of optometry,13(3), 185–190.
    3. Ambika, S., Atiya, A., Ravi, A., Mani, R., Bhattacharya, B., Praveen, S., & Hussaindeen, J. R. (2020). Visual profile of acquired brain injury in Indian cohort: a retrospective study.Brain injury,34(9), 1168–1174. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2020.1792985
    4. Kwan, S. C. K., Atiya, A., Hussaindeen, J. R., Praveen, S., & Ambika, S. (2022). Ocular features of patients with Parkinson's disease examined at a Neuro-Optometry Clinic in a tertiary eye care center.Indian journal of ophthalmology,70(3), 958–961. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_948_21
    5. Dutta, P., Atiya, A., Vittal, S., & Hussaindeen, J. R. (2023). Reading Difficulty Due to Oculomotor Dysfunction following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Report.Journal of binocular vision and ocular motility,73(1), 15–20.
    6. Dutta, Pritam; Atiya, Ayisha; Vittal, Smita; Ambika, S; Hussaindeen, Jameel Rizwana. Pupillary dynamics and accommodative response in mild traumatic brain injury. Taiwan Journal of Ophthalmology: May 23, 2023. | DOI: 10.4103/tjo.TJO-D-22-00169

  • 1. British Congress of Optometry and Vision Science 2022 meeting abstracts. (2023).Ophthalmic & physiological optics: the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists), 1299–1318. Advance online publication.

    Title of the abstracts:

    a. The efficacy of vision therapy in residual intermittent exotropia after strabismus surgery – A retrospective study

    b. Reading speed and accommodation parameters in anisometropic amblyopia

    c. Frequency of non-strabismic binocular vision anomalies before and after COVID-19 lockdown – A report from tertiary eye care centre

    d. Reduced accommodative facility as an isolated clinical finding.

    e. Efficacy of office-based vision therapy in intermittent exotropia among children

    2. British Congress of Optometry and Vision Science 2021 Abstracts. (2022).Ophthalmic & physiological optics: the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists),42(1), 230–253. https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.12900

    Title of the abstracts:

    a. Vision-related quality of life in patients with homonymous hemianopia using the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire

    b. Vision related Quality of Life in mild traumatic brain injury subjects with binocular vision anomalies