Concussion and Brain Injury
Head injuries can negatively impact the visual system and result in post-trauma symptoms that may not seem directly related to vision yet are treatable with neuro-optometric intervention.
A brain injury, such as a concussion or stroke, can negatively affect vision causing poor focusing, headaches, dizziness, memory loss, light sensitivity, and double vision. These vision-related symptoms impact activities of daily living, yet many patients go undiagnosed and untreated if their vision is not fully assessed. It is important that every brain injury patient receive a functional vision examination by a Neuro-Optometrist so that vision can be improved, and patients can experience the long-awaited relief they deserve.
When Vision Skills Are Deficient, The Symptoms May Look Like:
Headaches
With any brain injury, lingering head pain can interfere with daily life. Headaches can be brought on by an inefficient accommodative visual system (ability for the eyes to maintain and change focus) or an inefficient binocular visual system (ability for the two eyes to work together as a team).
Blurred Vision
Intermittent or constant blur at distance and/or near results from a poor ability to focus.
Dizziness
Depth perception can be reduced which triggers a sensation of dizziness or lightheadedness when the two eyes are not working together as a team.
Cognitive Delays
Visual memory, speech, organizational skills, and discrimination can be reduced after suffering from a brain injury.
Skills Necessary for Efficient Visual Function:
Eye Focusing
When the eyes cannot accurately focus, relax, or alternate between the two, they have the tendency to exhibit intermittent blur. This makes driving and reading difficult to sustain which can cause visual fatigue, anxiety and nausea while driving.
Eye Misalignment
When the eyes don’t line up correctly, horizontally or vertically, this causes visual fatigue and also hinders the performance of other visual skills. The overall visual system becomes unstable which causes a variety of symptoms that interfere with many activities of daily living.
Visual Perception
Visual memory, visual discrimination, visual form constancy, visual figure-ground, spatial relations, and visual closure are all skills we use to visually interpret the world around us. When there is a deficit in any area, it makes it difficult for the eyes and the brain to process visual information.
Eye Teaming
Eyes that are unable to efficiently work together as a team run the risk of causing eye misalignment and reduced ability to judge depth. Poor eye teaming can cause text or words to appear to be moving or overlapping, which inturn, may cause eye strain, headaches and reduced concentration.
Available Treatment Options:
Performance Lenses are specialty lenses that support the function and performance of the visual system. They may be prescribed in combination with a near or distance prescription or can also be prescribed to benefit patients who need functional visual support despite having 20/20 acuity.
Near (plus) Lenses
Near plus lenses support the performance of the visual system for near work by reducing strain caused by an inefficient accommodative system (ability for the eyes to maintain and change focus).
Prism Lenses
These special types of lenses support the performance of the visual system by moving light to a position most comfortable for the eyes which relieves visual stress.
Tints
These lightly colored lenses can help reduce visual stimuli and related symptoms, caused by stress or trauma, that can often overwhelm the body.
Syntonic Light Therapy
Syntonic light therapy involves the use of customizable colored filters with different wavelength of lights that balance the autonomic nervous system through vision. Syntonic light therapy is beneficial as part of a vision rehabilitation program or a stand-alone treatment.
Vision Rehabilitation
A customized therapy program, often recommended in conjunction with performance lenses and Syntonics light therapy, that rebalances the visual system and helps correct underlying binocular vision dysfunctions.
Treatment Outcomes & Patient Successes
“After my work accident, which I was hit in the head, I suffered a concussion & whiplash. My eyes weren’t working together & I was very sensitive to light. After receiving prism lenses, my eyes are much better!”
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