Post Trauma Vision Syndrome

An interruption in the visual process causes post traumatic vision syndrome. This disruption affects the nervous system, which sends information from the brain to the muscles that control eye movements. Post trauma vision syndrome laid the foundation of neuro visual rehab, otherwise known as neuro optometry. In 1996, visual evoked potential testing was done on a controlled group and on those who had suffered a neurological event or a brain injury or a stroke. Visual evoked potentials (VEP) are used to assess the ways that visual information is transmitted via visual conduction pathways through the optic nerves and brain. When both groups were retested using base in prism and binasal occlusion, the control group showed a decrease in amplitude, suggesting that it interfered with visual processing whereas the group who had experienced a neurological event, showed an increase in amplitude. That suggested that it helped to organize and provide further feed forward spatial information to improve the state of binocular fusion.

The most common injuries leading to post traumatic vision syndrome are falls and motor vehicle accidents. It may not always be an open head injury, very often post traumatic vision syndrome is a result of a closed head injury. Which is one of the reasons why post traumatic vision syndrome is often undetected since no one is seeing anything that is overtly going on with the patient, but their brain function is certainly affected.

What conditions are associated with post trauma vision syndrome?

Individuals with post trauma vision syndrome may suffer from following conditions:

• Exophoria: Outward movement of one the eyes when doing a close up task
• Exotropia: More frequent and prominent outward movement of one of the eyes
• Esophoria: Inward movement of one the eyes when performing a task up close
• Esotropia: Intensified form of esophoria in which one of the eyes constantly remain inwards
• Accommodative dysfunction: This is when your eyes can’t maintain comfort or focus when accommodating, especially with near distances. The result is blurred vision at close range, especially when reading.
• Ocular motor dysfunction: Problems with fixation, the ability for the eyes to remain focused on one point, are included in this condition.
• Convergence insufficiency: Convergence insufficiency is when person has poor eye teaming (binocular vision) which causes one eye to turn upward or outward when looking at nearby objects. 
• Increased myopia: A person with myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is unable to see clearly at a distance. 

What are the symptoms of post trauma vision syndrome?

The most commonly found symptoms in patients with post trauma vision syndrome are:

• Double vision 
• Blurry vision
• Headaches
• Light sensitivity
• Dizziness
• Brain fog
• Balance issues

How are conditions associated with post trauma vision syndrome treated?

Glasses with prisms are used to correct horizontal or vertical double vision. Yoked prisms may be used to treat visual midline shifts. These prisms shift the whole world off the other way which changes the sense of center and makes it easier for them to walk upright. It has become very common for people who are sensitive to light to wear tinted glasses. After brain injuries, vision therapy aims to restore a person's visual skills. In order to achieve the best results, a combination of these treatments is usually used.