Reston & Leesburg, Virginia

Vision Simulators: see what your eyes are telling you.

Four interactive simulators that show how common eye conditions can change everyday sight. Step through the stages, switch the scene, and see the difference for yourself — then talk it through with our team at NewView Eye Center.

An eye doctor showing a patient their corneal scans on screen.

Simulator 01

Glaucoma

Side vision fades first — gradually, and often unnoticed.

Opens at the Advanced stage on a reading scene. Keep your eyes on the centre of the picture — the loss sits out at the edges, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed. Use the buttons to step back to Normal, Early and Moderate.

What you're looking at

Glaucoma damages the optic nerve, and it takes your peripheral (side) vision first. Central vision — the part you read and recognise faces with — usually stays sharp until late.

Notice it isn't a black tunnel. It's a soft, washed-out fade toward grey. Because your brain fills in the missing areas, most people never notice it happening, which is why glaucoma is often found on an eye exam rather than reported as a symptom.

How our team helps

Vision already lost to glaucoma can't be brought back — but pressure can be lowered to protect what's left. That's why routine eye-pressure and optic-nerve checks matter so much.

At NewView Eye Center, our eye doctors manage glaucoma with medical therapy and monitoring, and offer in-house laser and surgical options including SLT (selective laser trabeculoplasty), YAG laser peripheral iridotomy, and MIGS (minimally invasive glaucoma surgery — goniotomy). More complex glaucoma is referred to a specialist.

Simulator 02

Posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) & floaters

New floaters and flashes as the gel separates — usually harmless, occasionally a warning.

Opens on Normal vision so you have a baseline. Step forward through New floaters → Acute PVD → Retinal tear → Retinal detachment to see how the warning signs differ.

What you're looking at

The inside of the eye is filled with a clear gel — the vitreous. With age it shrinks and peels away from the retina. That's a posterior vitreous detachment, and it's a normal part of ageing.

It usually shows up as a sudden increase in floaters — specks, threads, or a ring-shaped one called a Weiss ring — sometimes with brief arcs of light at the edge of vision. They're most obvious against something bright and plain, like the sky or a white wall.

When it's an emergency

Most PVDs are harmless. But the same separation can tear the retina — and a tear can progress to a retinal detachment, which threatens sight permanently.

Get seen urgently if you notice a sudden shower of new floaters, repeated flashes of light, or a dark curtain or shadow spreading across your vision. Don't wait for a routine appointment — call the office straight away.

How our team helps

New floaters and flashes need a dilated exam to check the retina for a tear. Our team evaluates, monitors, and triages — and where a tear or detachment needs surgical retina care, we refer you promptly to a retinal specialist.

For floaters that persist and genuinely get in the way of daily life, our eye doctors also offer YAG laser vitreolysis — laser floater removal — an option many practices don't have in-house. Whether you're a candidate is decided together with the surgeon.

Simulator 03

Refractive errors

Blur that glasses, contacts or laser vision correction can usually fix.

Opens on Normal (corrected) — sharp at every distance, which is what correction restores. Step through Myopia, Hyperopia, Astigmatism and Presbyopia and watch which panel of the Near / Medium / Far scene goes soft.

What you're looking at

Refractive errors are the most common — and most correctable — reason vision is blurry. The eye simply doesn't bring light to a focus on the retina.

Myopia (short-sight): distance blurs, close stays sharp.
Hyperopia (long-sight): near work blurs and tires the eyes.
Astigmatism: a directional smear, at every distance.
Presbyopia: age-related near blur, starting in the mid-40s.

How our team helps

Glasses and contacts correct all of these, and NewView® Optical in our Reston office fits both. When you'd rather not depend on them, laser vision correction is our flagship.

Our team performs wavefront-guided LASIK on the VISX STAR S4 IR excimer laser with iris registration, planned using the iDESIGN Refractive Studio — plus PRK and EpiLase surface treatments when they suit the eye better, and monovision for presbyopia.

Which procedure fits — if any — is decided together with the surgeon after a full evaluation.

Simulator 04

Visual phenomena

Visual snow, floaters, halos, night vision and other everyday visual experiences.

Opens on visual snow at moderate strength. Switch to floaters, halos around lights, night blindness, migraine aura and more — and drag the slider to match what you actually see.

What you're looking at

Not everything is about the structure of the eye — some experiences are about how vision behaves. Visual snow looks like a faint layer of TV static over everything, in the light and in the dark, and it doesn't go away when you blink.

These are notoriously hard to describe in a waiting room. That's the point of this one: find the effect that matches what you see, set the strength, and show us — it's far more useful than trying to put it into words.

How our team helps

Several of these have an eye-related cause worth ruling out first — glare and halos from a developing cataract, drifting floaters from the vitreous, fluctuating vision from dry eye, or changes coming from the retina. A comprehensive exam is how those get identified or excluded.

Visual snow itself is generally understood to arise in the brain's visual processing rather than in the eye. Our team will examine your eyes thoroughly and, where the cause sits outside our scope, point you to the right specialist rather than leave you guessing.

These simulators are awareness and education tools — not medical devices. Vision varies from person to person; what you see here is a plausible approximation, not medically accurate for any individual and not a basis for diagnosis. If something about your sight has changed, see an eye-care professional.

Disability simulations can misrepresent lived experience. They're a starting point for a conversation — pair them with first-hand accounts from people living with vision loss.

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