Head Injury Center

After a traumatic brain injury, the victim can suffer from problems related to the vision and equilibrium. When a person receives a severe blow on the head, chances are high that the vision is impaired or lost. It can also result in a loss of equilibrium of the vision system. Post Trauma Vision Syndrome (PTVS) is a common vision defect in TBI patients.

Another vision and equilibrium defect in head injury patients is Visual Midline Shift Syndrome (VMSS).

Post Trauma Vision Syndrome

After a brain injury, the cognitive functioning of the brain of a TBI patient can be impaired and as a result it can cause Post trauma vision syndrome (PTVS). The symptoms of PTVS observed in brain injury patients are:

• The patients complain about double vision.
• There is a severe constant headache and the patients feel dizzy.
• The vision is blurred that is everything that the patients see appears unclear.
• The patients find it difficult to concentrate. For example, they can easily lose some places while reading or they are unable to locate the next line while reading or they cannot understand what they are reading and also cannot retain it back.
• Low rate of blinking the eyes or staring continuously at one point for a long time.

Visual Midline Shift Syndrome

Visual midline shift syndrome is an equilibrium problem in head injury patients. The balance of the brain is shifted on either side of the center line in VMSS victims. An accurate sense of the body with reference to the environment around is important for the appropriate perception and processing of vision. In VMSS patients, the balance is shifted to one side and the vision gets affected. There is a change of angle or a tilt in the vision in such cases. The symptoms of VMSS that can be observed in a TBI patient are:

• The patients feel that walls are leaning on them or the horizon is slanting either in the left or right.
• The patient feels dizzy and nauseas.
• The patient has a poor balance and unconsciously leans on one side to adjust the vision.

PTVS and VMSS are side effects of traumatic brain injury in head injury patients and can be treated with proper therapies. The doctors prescribe yoked prism glasses to VMSS victims because the prism shifts the perception of the midline and diffuses the effects that VMSS has on the vision. There are many vision therapies, surgeries and also prism lenses that the doctors prescribe for the treatment of PTVS.

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