Our neuro-optometric team at The Neuro-Optometry Center at helps patients recover from a wide range of visual dysfunctions resulting from neurological damage due to congenital conditions, illnesses and brain injuries. Here are some of the conditions that our experienced and skilled eye doctors treat on a daily basis.
What is Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation?
Neuro-optometric rehabilitation is an individualized treatment plan that helps strengthen the functioning of the visual system after suffering neurological damage. This customized, scientifically proven program uses the brain’s ability to adapt, known as neuroplasticity, to improve the communication between the brain and the eyes. It entails in-office and at-home eye exercises.
Events requiring neuro-optometric rehabilitation can include head injuries, concussions, strokes and brain [tumors]. Below are the most common vision problems that can be treated by neuro-optometric rehabilitation:
Binocular Vision Dysfunction
Binocular vision refers to the ability of both eyes to work together to send consistent visual information back to the brain, which combines the 2 separate images from each eye into a single 3-dimensional image.
Binocular vision dysfunction (BVD) occurs when the eyes are unable to align properly, causing them to send different sets of visual information to the brain. BVD can result in blurry vision, double vision, eye strain and headaches, as the brain is unable to easily combine the two different images from each eye into single, clear and 3D images.
Ocular Motor Dysfunction
This condition occurs when a person’s eyes have trouble moving smoothly from object to object. The eyes may not be able to move in a single smooth motion as they track, or they may overshoot or undershoot the item.
A person with ocular motor dysfunction may lose their place while reading, or be unable to confidently and accurately navigate the spaces they are moving through. They may find the following areas challenging:
- Attention and memory
- Depth perception
- Visual perceptual tasks
- Balance
- Scanning across a page or screen
- Eye-hand coordination
- Reading and writing
Spatial Disorientation
This refers to a person’s inability to correctly determine their body’s position and orientation in relation to their surroundings. The condition can result in clumsiness and an inability to accurately judge distance and depth. Many people experience this as a result of missing part of their visual field, or due to poor depth perception caused by a brain injury or illness.
Accommodative Dysfunction
Accommodation is the eyes’ ability to keep images in clear focus at all distances. In a healthy visual system, this occurs in fractions of a second by constantly focusing and refocusing the lens inside the eye.
Sometimes, as a result of illness or injury, accommodative ability is compromised, and the eyes aren’t able to focus as easily or as quickly. This is known as accommodative dysfunction. Symptoms of this condition include:
- Eye fatigue
- Blurred vision
- Visual discomfort
- Problems with concentration and attention
- Headaches
- Eye strain
- Reduction in efficiency and productivity
Convergence Insufficiency
Convergence is the eyes’ ability to turn inward together to focus on objects and points in space at close range. Convergence insufficiency occurs when the eyes struggle to work together and turn inward to maintain focus on a nearby object, such as a book or computer screen.
Symptoms include:
- Headaches
- Eyestrain
- Double vision
- Blurred vision
- Difficulty concentrating
- Sleepiness
- Print seems to move while reading
- Difficulty with reading comprehension
Nystagmus
This condition causes involuntary twitches and small but rapid eye movements that disrupt a person’s ability to see. These eye movements can occur as a result of a genetic condition, such as albinism, or an illness or injury to the head or eyes that causes the brain to misinterpret movement signals sent from the eye.
Involuntary eye movements can be up and down, side to side or circular, and can affect depth perception, balance and coordination.
Post-traumatic vision syndrome
Following severe illness or a brain injury, a person may perceive stationary objects as moving, words running together on the page, and/or intermittent blurriness and double vision. This is called post-traumatic vision syndrome (PTVS).
Although the eyes seem to be perfectly healthy, their communication with the brain has been disrupted. Without proper treatment, people with PTVS often continue to suffer the disabling symptoms of this condition for months and even years after the incident.
Our practice serves patients from CITY 1, CITY 2, CITY 3, and CITY 4, and surrounding communities.
Contact us to learn more about what we offer and to learn whether neuro-optometric rehabilitation therapy can benefit you.