About one-third of stroke survivors experience vision loss, and many experience vision impairment.
Vision depends on a healthy eye to receive information and a healthy brain to process that information. The nerves in the eye travel through the brain to the occipital cortex at the back of the brain, which allow us to see.
Most strokes affect one side of the brain, but since nerves from each eye travel together through the brain, both eyes are affected. For instance, if the right side of the brain is damaged, the left side vision in each eye may be affected. While rare, if both sides of the brain are affected by stroke, it can result in blindness.
So can you get your vision back after a stroke?
There are different types of vision loss that can occur after a stoke. While most people do not fully recover their vision, new groundbreaking research shows that the damage may be reversible.
A recent study, outlined in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has uncovered more information about the brain damage mechanisms as they relate to impaired eyesight after a stroke.
The study co-author Dr. Bogachan Sahin, Ph.D., who is an assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, shares that “these new findings suggest that when the primary visual processing center of the brain remains intact and active, clinical approaches that harness the brain’s plasticity could lead to vision recovery”.
According to the findings of the study, there should be a treatment protocol that involves a visual field test and an eye exam to identify areas of vision with intact connections between the eyes and the brain. This information could be used to target visual retraining therapies to regions of the blind field of vision that are most likely to recover,” shared Dr. Schneider, co-author of the study.
The researchers hope that recent findings will allow specialists to fine-tune current therapeutic approaches or develop better strategies that will stimulate the damaged brain-eye connections – it’s all about the correct “rewiring”, which is why vision therapies should encourage brain neuroplasticity.
If we can better understand the connections between the eye and brain, and what remains intact after a stroke, we can explore different therapies that encourage neuroplasticity and how to restore more vision in more patients.
Ophthalmologists, orthoptists, doctors and occupational therapists can advise the stroke patient on the best management options.
Vision therapy may include training to compensate for the vision loss, such as scanning techniques to make the most use of the existing vision, and prism lenses to shift images from the non-seeing to the seeing visual field.
Vision loss can negatively affect a person’s safety and independence, and vision therapy and training, aids, equipment and modifications can help.
At Vision Development Center of Lancaster, we offer vision therapy designed to improve a person’s visual abilities, no matter the age – due to brain plasticity – and each program is devised to suit the specific needs of the individual.
Looking for vision therapy techniques, therapy for ADHD, or ADD therapists in Lancaster PA?
We invite you to contact us today – call our office at (717) 656-0534 today to make an appointment, or take our free symptoms survey.