Eye care begins with consistent eye exams with your optometrist. An eye exam is about more than just updating your prescription—it also helps your optometrist stay up-to-date with your visual health.
Various factors, including head injuries, can affect your eye health. Let’s look at if head injuries can cause vision problems and how to recognize something is wrong.
Head Injuries & Your Vision
Your eyes are sensitive to trauma, so being careful and protecting your eyes is always a good idea. However, head injuries occur without notice and cause vision problems.
Vision loss can be a side effect following head trauma and is more common than you think. A brain injury such as a concussion, also known as a traumatic brain injury, can significantly affect your visual system.
Some signs and symptoms that can affect your vision after a head injury include:
- Dizziness
- Focusing problems
- Headaches
- Double vision
Because your eyes and vision are sensitive to trauma, even mild concussions can contribute to vision issues and leave you disoriented. Getting the right medical attention and contacting your optometrist to address your vision issues as soon as possible is essential.
Other vision issues that can occur as a result of a traumatic brain injury can include:
- Issues with small, quick eye movements that cause eye-tracking problems.
- Sensitivity to light and glare can accompany headaches and put a halt to your productivity.
- A decreased ability to maintain binocular vision while focusing on reading or working on your computer
Sports & Head Injuries
When you’re playing your favourite sport, you know there’s some risk of injury. Because head injuries can cause vision problems, protecting your eyes and vision is crucial. Traumatic brain injuries can occur without notice and affect sports performance.
Concussions can result in delayed visual processing skills and interfere with small, quick eye movements leading to decreased performance when you’re out playing your favourite sport.
That’s where sports vision therapy can help!
Healthy Eyes with Sports Vision Therapy
Sports vision therapy not only helps improve visual weaknesses but also goes a long way in protecting your eyes and vision.
Many sports require trained hand-eye coordination, elevated peripheral awareness, and depth perception. Vision therapy focuses on improving these visual skills.
Your optometrist will carefully construct your sports vision therapy program to meet your visual needs and focus on achieving optimum results. Your personalized vision therapy program will also include eyewear designed to protect your eyes while you’re focusing on your game.
Prior to starting your sports vision therapy program, your sports vision will be thoroughly evaluated with a series of tests that measure:
- Reaction times
- Peripheral awareness
- Hand-eye coordination
Along with helping you improve your visual skills, sports vision therapy can also help you re-train and recover diminished skills due to head injuries. Traumatic brain injuries can severely affect your visual skills. Your personalized program can help you begin the journey back to optimal vision.
Keeping Your Eye Health in Mind
Your eye health is something you should always be careful about. Preserving your vision involves taking every precaution and visiting your optometrist for consistent eye exams. If you do suffer a head injury, it’s essential to seek medical attention and visit your optometrist to address your vision problems. Book an appointment with your optometrist at Urban Optique today to stay on top of your visual health.
