Optometry is the science of diagnosing and treating visual conditions. Sometimes, visual conditions are naturally occurring. Other times, people acquire visual conditions due to an accident. Traumatic brain injuries can cause visual conditions that arise after an accident. Optometrists specializing in neuro optometry can help improve these conditions.

 

Neuro optometrists help patients recover from brain injuries that affect their vision by using specific strategies to rehabilitate and rewire the brain. The strategies strengthen neural connections that train and retrain the brain to improve function and decrease symptoms.

 

What Is Neuro Optometric Rehabilitation?

Neuro optometry is the discipline of visual care that helps patients create new neural pathways to improve visual comfort. For example, consider a person walking through the woods. If they saw a bear chasing them, their heart would beat faster and they would get scared. Consider another person that has a history of brain injury. Due to poor connections between the brain and the eye, benign environmental signals could cause the same reaction as something threatening (the bear). This would be very uncomfortable and can cause everyday situations like walking through a grocery store or being with family to be disproportionately demanding and exhausting. Sometimes, brain injuries can impact the way your visual connections work. If this happens, your brain will need a “reset” to relearn how to process the environment correctly. 

Neuro optometry helps guide the brain through the learning process by improving different visual skills necessary for normal vision. It relies on the ability of the brain to form new neural connections. This ability is known as neuroplasticity.

 

How Does Neuroplasticity Work?

As mentioned above, the brain can form new neural pathways. It can do this by adapting and responding to new situations and circumstances. According to research, the brain creates new neural pathways throughout your life. 

When you learn something new, neural pathways grow to keep the information. When you practice the new information, those pathways become stronger. It is the basis of neuro optometric brain retraining.

What Injuries Need the Treatment?

Not all brain injury patients see improved symptoms from neuro optometric retraining. Sometimes, the brain injury does not affect visual processing. With brain injuries from the following situations, it is advisable to see a neuro optometrist.

 

• Concussion

• Traumatic brain or head injury

• Cerebrovascular accidents or stroke

• Sports collision

• Physical violence

• Motor vehicle accident

• Parkinson’s disease

• Cerebral palsy

• Diabetic neuropathy

• Multiple sclerosis
  
   

What Is Involved in Neuro Optometric Treatment?

Neuro optometric treatment is customizable to achieve goals unique to the patient. It focuses on specific visual skills harmed by a traumatic brain injury. The treatment program may include the following:

 

Visual Rehabilitation

Vision Rehabilitation is a mini-customizable program that focuses on brain-eye connection. It helps improve specific visual skills like depth perception, eye tracking, and balancing peripheral and central eyesight.

 

Prescription Lenses

A patient may need specialized lenses to address specific neural damage. The lenses will help improve comfort that may be compromised. The lenses may also have coatings applied that reduce glare and sensitivity to light.

 

Prism Lenses

Prism lenses change the refraction of light as it enters the eye. They help eliminate dizziness, double vision, and imbalance. They are also valuable for restoring binocular vision.

 

Prisms and Filters

Eye doctors use filters to block light from entering certain parts of the eye. Prisms are used to angle light into the retina differently. It is useful to help restore balance in vision. The doctors may patch the eye or apply a filter on one lens of a pair of eyeglasses. 

For more information on retraining the brain after an injury with neuro optometry, contact Eversee Boutique Eyecare at our office in Winnetka, Illinois. Call (847) 386-9045 to book an appointment today.