Headaches, dizziness, off-balance? Your symptoms are not in your head, but they may be in your eyes!
You or your child don’t feel 100%, and so you book a physical exam at your family’s primary physician. The list of symptoms is very long, with many common and sometimes vague sensations, such as headaches, nausea, lack of coordination, dizziness, anxiety, and light sensitivity. When a check-up reveals no serious health problems, your family doctor may send you and your kid home with orders to simply rest up and de-stress. But when taking it easy doesn’t help – how can you find relief?
Schedule an eye exam with our Austin eye doctor! Your symptoms could all be caused by Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD), a complex condition where one eye sees an image that’s not aligned with the other eye. In order to correct this misalignment, your body strains your eye muscles. Over time, this overuse of the eye muscles leads to BVD.
Binocular vision dysfunction is common
BVD affects at least 10% of all adults and is often the culprit for chronic headaches and dizziness, but it also often goes undiagnosed. One reason is because basic vision testing (which is what many people do each year) just checks each eye for its visual acuity. Only a comprehensive eye exam done by a qualified eye doctor will assess how your eyes work together – called binocular vision. Even the tiniest amount of misalignment can cause the disturbing symptoms of BVD.
Micro-prism lenses can bring relief
Micro-prism lenses are specialized lenses that work to realign the images sent to your eyes, instead of requiring your eye muscles to strain in order to realign what you see. At our Austin eye care center, we’ve treated many patients with binocular vision dysfunction with micro-prism lenses – and witnessed a significant reduction in their symptoms. Many people who struggled for years were thrilled to finally feel better! They reported a new ability to focus at work and excel on the sports field, as well as less anxiety or fewer panic attacks.
BVD affects kids too
Children who suffer from binocular vision dysfunction often complain about travel sickness and how light bothers their eyes. In school, they may tend to tilt their head to one side while reading, and skipping lines is a classic symptom. Once our Austin optometrist fits these children with micro-prism lenses, many of these kids immediately find it easier to concentrate in school, and their grades go up. The trick is to bring kids to an eye doctor as soon as the symptoms are noticed, because living with BVD in school can seriously compromise learning, leading to poor self-esteem and a bunch of behavioral problems.
Get an edge on your sports game with micro-prism lenses
What’s your game? Soccer, tennis, golf, gymnastics, basketball? No matter what you play, sharp hand-eye coordination and accurate 3D depth perception are essentials of excellence in almost every sport. If you can’t figure out exactly where the ball is and track where it’s going, your game will suffer. BVD gets in the way of throwing and catching any type of ball!
Even if your eyes are only out of alignment a bit, your 3D stereo vision won’t work right. Micro-prism lenses can be the solution. Once these lenses are incorporated into your sports glasses or goggles, they will help to align your eyes. As a result, your depth perception will be restored and optimized.
Concussion? Micro-prism lenses can help
Recent studies (published in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), have shown that brain injury can lead to BVD, and specialized glasses with micro-prism lenses can be very effective at alleviating traumatic brain injury symptoms. Doctors have always known that concussions can cause vision problems, but now the link between these symptoms (e.g. headaches, dizziness, neck pain, anxiety) and vision has been clarified.
It appears that traumatic brain injury actually causes vertical heterophoria, which is a binocular vision dysfunction. With vertical heterophoria, your line of sight from one eye is higher than from the other eye. By wearing micro-prism lenses, the images are realigned and your eye muscles don’t have to overwork to line up what you see. With treatment by micro-prism lenses, many post-concussive patients experienced total relief – allowing them to reduce or eliminate many prescribed medications.
Look to your Austin eye doctor for relief! Micro-prism lenses may be the answer
The frustration of going from doctor to doctor to seek relief from your disturbing symptoms can be enormous! Stop looking in the wrong place and book an appointment with our Austin for a comprehensive eye exam. You may have binocular vision dysfunction, and we can fit you with customized micro-prism lenses to realign your focus and restore your quality of life!