Vision Changes after Optic Nerve Damage, Head Injury, and Car Accident Injuries
Each year, an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Americans experience major disruptions in their professional and private lives because of vision changes stemming from a head injury or optic nerve damage. Car accident injuries are the most common cause of head trauma leading to problems with vision, sensation, memory, concentration, and other aspects of a person’s life.
- Common Vision Changes after Head Injury — Post-Trauma Vision Syndrome
- The Wide-Ranging Effects of Optic Nerve Injury
- Optic Nerve Damage and Car Accident s
- Treating Vision Changes after a Head Injury
Common Vision Changes after Head Injury — Post-Trauma Vision Syndrome
Optic nerve injury can cause a range of vision changes that affect all aspects of sight. Head injury victims often display some or all of the following symptoms, which have been grouped under the heading of Post-Trauma Vision Syndrome. They include:
- Reduction or loss of one half or one quarter of the visual field (hemianopia or quadrantanopia)
- Blurred vision
- Clumsiness
- Decreased attentiveness and concentration
- Difficulty distinguishing colors
- Difficulty maintaining eye contact
- Difficulty reading (words may appear to move, or patients may have difficulty keeping track of their place on the page)
- Difficulty perceiving the spatial relationships between objects
- Double vision (diplopia)
- Headaches
- Low blink rate, dry eyes, or staring behaviors
- Memory difficulties
- Poor visual memory (difficulty recognizing faces, letters, numbers, etc.)
- Sensitivity to light
The Wide-Ranging Effects of Optic Nerve Injury
The symptoms of Post-Trauma Vision Syndrome encompass visual, cognitive, sensory, and physical impairments. To understand this wide range of symptoms, it is helpful to remember that vision involves much more than just how well you can see. Vision is a complicated process that includes deriving meaning from what is seen — a learned process involving numerous skills. Thus, an optic nerve injury — damage to part of the brain, not the eyes — affects the processing of images as well as the ability to see. Optic nerve injury can cause more than low vision, a visual field cut, or partial blindness — vision changes in the strict sense. Optic nerve damage can also be linked with difficulties concentrating, remembering things, recognizing faces, comprehending written words, and much more.
Optic Nerve Damage and Car Accidents
Each year, approximately 1 million Americans visit their doctors after sustaining a blow to the head. The majority of these patients are injured in car accidents.
A person does not have to be traveling at a high speed to sustain a head injury in a car accident, which can result in optic nerve damage. Nor do they have to hit their head on something, such as a dashboard or a steering wheel. Even for a person traveling at a moderate speed at the time of an accident, head injury can and does occur. A host of changes, including vision changes, can stem from head injury, so it is important to have the injury diagnosed as soon as possible so treatment and rehabilitation can begin.
Diagnosing Optic Nerve Damage after a Car Accident
Anyone involved in a car accident should visit a physician as soon as possible, even if they are experiencing no pain or other symptoms. The physician will typically diagnose head injury and possible optic nerve damage after a car accident using a CT or MRI scan, as well as by testing your ability to detect and process images.
Any of the following symptoms may be a sign of a head injury:
- Vision changes
- Seizures
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Memory loss
- Depression
- Anxiety
Vision changes after a head injury may include blurriness, difficulty recognizing objects, double vision, partial blindness, and a range of other symptoms. If you experience any vision changes after possibly sustaining a head injury, visit a physician immediately.
Treating Vision Changes after a Head Injury
Fortunately, rehabilitation efforts can usually lessen the impact of various impairments, including vision changes, that often accompany head and optic nerve injury. Rehabilitation efforts focus on many aspects of a person’s life and may include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and vision therapy.
Vision Restoration Therapy
Based on advanced research in neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to repair its visual systems, Vision Restoration Therapy (VRT) begins with the diagnosis and measurement of a patient’s visual field. The results of the diagnostic testing are then used to create a customized vision therapy module. Therapy is completed at the patient’s home for one hour a day over an initial period of six to seven months. VRT is cleared by the FDA and has yielded encouraging results — in studies, 70 percent of VRT patients showed improvements in their vision. Read about Vision Restoration Therapy success stories, VRT research, and frequently asked questions about vision therapy, or locate a center that offers VRT in your area.
Learn More about Optic Nerve Damage, Head Injury, and Vision Rehabilitation
To learn more about optic nerve damage and vision changes after a head injury or car accident, please email NovaVision™ or call NovaVision Patient Services toll-free at 1.866.414.0009. Browse this website for information about vision loss after stroke or brain injury, Vision Restoration Therapy research, and much more.