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Treating Traumatic Brain Injury With Micro-Prism Lenses
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Treating Traumatic Brain Injury With Micro-Prism Lenses

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While recreational sports do provide many positive benefits, they also come with a big downside: the frequent occurrence of concussions and traumatic brain injuries. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can often result from a sports injury, but it can also be caused by a sharp blow to the head from a car accident, explosion or other trauma. No matter how the TBI came about, the results are often the same: dizziness and nausea, headaches, anxiety and balance issues, to name a few.

Treating Traumatic Brain Injury With Micro-Prism Lenses

Seeking the Cause of Troubling Symptoms

The problem for TBI patients is that they often don’t realize what exactly is causing their symptoms. They seek the help and advice of numerous doctors and specialists, try a myriad of different medications and treatments, and endure multiple tests, all to no avail. This is usually because they’re not seeking help from the right source: a NeuroVisual Specialist like the doctors here at Vision Specialists of Michigan.

A NeuroVisual Specialist would be able to tell them that their headaches, dizziness, anxiety and visual symptoms are likely being caused by a condition known as Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD). This condition is not widely known, and therefore is often not recognized for what it is.

Understanding Binocular Vision Dysfunction

Binocular Vision Dysfunction develops as a result of eyes that are no longer aligned correctly. When the eyes are out of alignment, they aren’t able to work together as they should. It’s been found that TBI can often trigger BVD, after which the brain responds by trying to fix the misalignment. It does this by forcing the eye muscles to move the eyes back to where they need to be. This puts a great deal of stress and strain on those muscles, which is what causes the aforementioned symptoms, as well as nausea, motion sickness and lightheadedness.

BVD patients also have the tendency to tilt their head to one side, which is another method the body uses in an attempt to realign the eyes. While this is an effective method because it does move the images up in one eye and down in the other to correct the misalignment, over time this positioning can cause chronic neck pain.

Treatment of BVD

While many of the symptoms of BVD are unpleasant and some can even be debilitating, there is a way to find relief: treatment with micro-prism lenses. At Vision Specialists of Michigan, our doctors first perform a thorough NeuroVisual Examination to determine if BVD is in fact present. This exam will locate the slight visual misalignments that result in symptoms of BVD, which can then be corrected through the use of micro-prism lenses. Many patients receive relief from their symptoms within a few hours or even minutes of receiving their customized prescription.

At the Vision Specialists of Michigan, we use advanced micro-prism lenses to help those who have been suffering from TBI finally receive the answers they’ve been seeking. To learn more about the correlation between TBI and headaches, give us a call at (248) 258-9000. You can also fill out our online BVD questionnaire to learn if you may have Binocular Vision Dysfunction.

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Dr. Sandy DiPonio earned her optometry degree from Illinois College of Optometry in 1996. She is a highly skilled and experienced eye care professional dedicated to giving her patients of all ages excellent and compassionate care. She has a wide variety of experience in binocular vision, pediatric and adult eye care, ocular disease and contact lens fitting. She strives to provide each of her patients the best quality of life they can achieve with their vision through knowledge and education of treatment options.

Dr. DiPonio is a member of the American Optometric Society and Michigan Optometric Society.

Dr. Sally Hoey has been practicing optometry since graduating from Michigan College of Optometry in 2001. During her time in optometry school, she developed an interest in binocular vision, culminating in a senior thesis involving binocular vision.

Prior to joining Vision Specialists of Michigan, Dr. Hoey specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of vision-related learning problems as well as other binocular vision disorders. Her other areas of interest include specialty contact lens fittings and treating dry eye. Dr. Hoey strives to provide her patients with clear, comfortable vision while meeting their individual needs at the same time.

Dr. Hoey had the opportunity to provide eye care on an optometric mission trip to Guyana, South America and vision screenings at a local medical clinic. She is a member of the American Optometric Association, Michigan Optometric Association, Metropolitan Detroit Optometric Society and the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.

Dr. Jennifer Place graduated with honors from Michigan College of Optometry in 2001.

Before joining Vision Specialists of Michigan, she specialized in treating pediatric and adult patients with binocular vision disorders and vision-related learning problems, as well as fitting specialty contact lenses and managing various types of ocular disease. She enjoys working with patients with unique visual needs, and she takes great pride in providing all patients with highly customized care.

Dr. Place has volunteered for Opening Eyes, a program that provides eye exams to the athletes of the Michigan Special Olympics, and she participated in an international mission to St. Lucia to provide eye care to those in need. Dr. Place is a member of the Detroit Optometric Society, the Michigan Optometric Association, the American Optometric Association, the College of Vision Development, and the Optometric Extension Program Foundation.

Dr. Mary Jo Ference has been practicing optometry since 1990 upon graduating from Ferris State University- Michigan College of Optometry, and is certified in Low Vision Rehabilitation. She has worked at Sinai-Grace Hospital systems for over 20 years before joining Vision Specialists of Michigan in 2013 to work with binocular vision disorders. Her clinical areas of expertise include visual rehabilitation of pediatric and adult patients who have suffered from brain trauma, injury or disease. She has taught both optometry and ophthalmology residents at Sinai Grace Hospital. Dr. Ference has sat on numerous boards, including Sinai Grace Hospital, Berry Out-Patient Surgical Center, and Seedlings Braille Books for the Blind. She is actively involved in area school districts to provide education, training and access for students, teachers, OT’s and PT’s to eye care service rehabilitation information. Dr. Ference has lectured extensively nationally and internationally.

Dr. Debby Feinberg began practicing Optometry in Oakland County in 1983, upon graduating from Illinois College of Optometry. She joined her father, Dr. Paul C. Feinberg, at Mall Optical Center, which was located in Summit Place Mall.

Since 1995 Dr. Feinberg has been developing the field of NeuroVisual Medicine which is the optometric subspecialty that identifies and treats neurological / medical symptoms that originate directly or indirectly in the visual system.

Dr. Feinberg has been performing pioneering work with Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD), a condition where a vision misalignment (frequently subtle) creates difficulties with the two eyes working together to create a single 3-dimensional image, and difficulties with the two eyes following that image as it moves.

The symptoms caused by BVD are not usually associated with problems with the visual system, and include headache, dizziness, anxiety and panic, persistent post-concussive symptoms, gait instability and balance problems, frequent falls, neck pain, motion sickness, nausea, and reading and learning problems.

In 2004. Dr. Feinberg established Vision Specialists of Birmingham, specifically designing the practice to accommodate the needs of the NeuroVisual Medicine patient.

In 2011, the office moved to its current location in Bloomfield Hills and updated its name to Vision Specialists of Michigan.