Vision Rehabilitation after Stroke or Brain Injury – Vision Restoration Therapy Overview
What is NovaVision VRT™ Vision Restoration Therapy™? Vision Restoration Therapy (VRT) is a daily rehabilitation therapy that can restore vision lost from a stroke or traumatic brain injury. The therapy is performed on an FDA-cleared medical device. VRT is customized for each patient’s vision deficit and is updated on a monthly basis to optimize progress.
- Types of Vision Loss
- Vision Rehabilitation
- How Vision Rehabilitation Works
- The Process of Undergoing Vision Rehabilitation
- How to Begin Vision Rehabilitation
Types of Vision Loss
Common types of vision loss after a stroke or traumatic brain injury include:
- Hemianopia: loss of one half of the visual field
- Quadrantanopia: loss of a quarter of the visual field
- Scotoma: blind spots / islands of lost vision
- Diffuse field defect / low vision: various patterns of overall blurring, multiple field loss, and other symptoms
Vision Rehabilitation
Vision defects can have a drastic impact on a person’s ability to navigate their surroundings, enjoy their hobbies, and avoid injuries. This, in turn, can harm a person’s self-esteem, confidence, and quality of life. In addition, visual defects, which often go undiagnosed in the face of a serious injury or stroke, can undermine other rehabilitation efforts. For both of these reasons, vision rehabilitation after a stroke or brain injury is worthwhile and often necessary for a stroke or brain injury survivor to enjoy a normal life.
What Is Vision Rehabilitation?
Vision Restoration Therapy, a promising form of vision rehabilitation, is a physician-supervised therapy program designed to help stroke victims and brain-injured patients improve their vision. Therapy modules are individualized for each patient and updated as the patient improves.
What Vision Rehabilitation Is Not
Vision rehabilitation is not simply a series of eye exercises. A person’s eye muscles – even in someone with profound vision loss – are already quite strong. Instead, vision rehabilitation is physical therapy for the brain.
Research-based methods of vision rehabilitation such as Vision Restoration Therapy should not be confused with self-directed regimens of eye treatments such as the Bates Method, the See Clearly Method, or Vision for Life. Though modules of Vision Restoration Therapy are completed at home, the therapy is supervised by a physician after an initial evaluation at a VRT Center.
What Vision Rehabilitation Can Accomplish
Patients are typically prescribed vision rehabilitation to help them with:
- Fundamental visual skills and abilities
- Visual ease, comfort, and efficiency
- Processing and interpretation of visual information
Vision rehabilitation after a stroke or brain injury can bring about improvements in one or more of these areas. Read success stories from VRT patients to learn more.
How Vision Rehabilitation Works
Vision rehabilitation works by stimulating the brain to heal itself through a process called neuroplasticity. Following a stroke or a traumatic brain injury, vision loss stems from damage to the brain and optic nerve. Working on the brain in consistent, precise ways can stimulate it to grow and heal, leading to partial or full recovery of vision.
The Process of Undergoing Vision Rehabilitation
Vision Restoration Therapy has three main components: evaluation, treatment, and results.
- An initial evaluation of the patient’s vision loss is performed at a VRT Center, where test results are analyzed and therapy modules are created.
- The patient completes therapy sessions at home using a NovaVision™ medical device.
- Based on the patient’s results, the therapy modules are updated.
For more detailed information, please read the page about how Vision Restoration Therapy works.
How to Begin Vision Rehabilitation
If you are interested in undergoing vision rehabilitation after suffering a stroke or brain injury, the first step is to call NovaVision Patient Services to verify your candidacy and to locate a VRT Center in your area. An appointment is made at the center with a VRT physician who will perform a comprehensive vision evaluation and diagnostic testing. NovaVision then analyzes the test results to create a customized therapy program. You may also contact NovaVision by email or call us at 1.866.414.0009 to ask questions or request more information.