The Shoemaker Protocol™ Visual Contrast Sensitivity Test (VCS)
Convenient, affordable, reliable.
Results within minutes.
Take the VCS any time you question possible mold exposure.
The Shoemaker Protocol™ VCS online screening system is relied upon by certified Shoemaker Protocol™ Practitioners & Partners, patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers all around the world.
It will provide extremely valuable information to guide your recovery journey. The screening offers a symptom assessment that can help you determine if you might be suffering from Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome or Mold/Biotoxin illness.
Your report can also be used to assess your improvement over time during recovery.
The VCS Tracker Account System
When you sign up for your Surviving Mold VCS account, here’s what’s included:
- Results are immediately available on-screen, and in printable, easy-to-forward format.
- Receive up to 4 pages of results and symptom evaluation, including research-based data on what areas show deficits at each of the tested spatial frequencies
- A printable report with results for your physician
- The system tracks your results over time
- Results can be emailed to your physician upon your request
- A 30-day follow-up email
VCS Test Pricing:
- 1 Test: $15
- 4 Tests: $40
- 10 Tests: $75
How it works
The VCS test is a measure of one the neurologic functions of vision known as “contrast.” Biotoxins impair the ability to detect subtle contrast within 24-36 hours after exposure. The Shoemaker Protocol™ VCS testing system is an extremely valuable tool to detect and monitor exposure to toxic environments for individuals with CIRS.
The VCS test has 92% accuracy rate based on data collected from tens of thousands of tests taken over the years since Dr. Shoemaker first began using it. Your score is recorded and determined according to published criteria.
For the vast majority of the population, when the instructions are accurately followed, the test results have proven to be consistently reliable.*
What a Failed Test Means
Your score will show up as a Pass or Fail. While a failed test may suggest the existence of CIRS or biotoxin/mold illness, the screening by itself is not considered a definitive diagnosis for any specific condition.
The Shoemaker VCS is an initial screening step in the Shoemaker diagnostic testing process. If you have failed test results, you’ll need to follow up with a Shoemaker Protocol™ Practitioner or your attending physician for further diagnostic testing.
The VCS will not tell us which chronic inflammatory response syndrome you have, but it will give clear direction that you need to be evaluated for entities such as mold, Lyme, cyanobacteria, and dinoflagellates.
The incidence of false positives are quite low. If you have a multi-symptom, multi-system illness and a VCS deficit, the likelihood that you have a chronic inflammatory response syndrome is 98.5%.
If you question your results, they can be confirmed by a Shoemaker Practitioner with a hand-held VCS testing device.
Tips for best results:
- If you normally wear glasses, you should wear them for the screening test. Be consistent with this.
- Your corrected visual acuity must be better than 20:50.
- There must be adequate illumination. Light from both the illuminated computer screen and an overhead light are usually sufficient.
- The test is taken with one eye covered and one open. You will do the test first with the left eye and then with the right eye.
- You need to make sure the distance from the screen stays constant at 18”. Some people have found that cutting a string to an 18“ length helps keep the distance correct.
* The data findings provide the following information on the 8% of the population that consistently show presence false negatives: There is a disproportionate increase in teenagers, especially teenage women in those that have normal VCS but abnormal laboratory studies in the presence of multiple symptoms.
The other groups of people that have routinely preserved contrast vision show a
significant increase in particular occupations such as artists, photographers, interior
designers, baseball players and tennis players. These individuals might have a
physiologic basis for their “good eye.”
