Whether it's caused by a stroke, brain injury, glaucoma, or another condition, visual field loss is a life-changing experience. Your ability to read, drive, walk, and live independently may be affected when part of your visual field is missing. Vision therapy can help you maximize your vision and improve visual function.
About Visual Field Loss
Visual field loss occurs when damage to the brain or eyes interferes with the normal processing of visual information. The loss could decrease peripheral (side) vision or reduce your visual field by 25% or 50% or more. Visual field loss can be barely noticeable or may be so severe that it causes significant issues in navigating the world.
Vision Therapy for Visual Field Loss
Although eyeglasses or contact lenses sharpen vision, these devices can't expand your visual field. Luckily, vision therapy offers a solution. The therapy is conducted by a vision therapist, an optometrist who has received special training in visual therapy techniques and treatments.
Vision therapy uses activities, exercises, games, tools and assistive devices to improve communication between the brain and eyes and create new visual pathways in the brain, in some cases. Your vision therapy plan is tailored to your vision needs as determined by a comprehensive eye examination.
Starting vision therapy soon after developing visual field loss is crucial. University of Rochester researchers told the American Academy of Ophthalmology that prompt treatment could be the key to regaining vision. According to the researchers, the brain retained small visual pathways that could still process vision in blind spots after a stroke. Without treatment, the pathways stopped working within six months. Although the researchers studied vision loss after stroke, their research may also be helpful in understanding other types of brain injuries or damage.
Improve Your Scanning Ability
Do you bump into doors or miss words when reading? During vision therapy sessions, you'll develop scanning strategies that will help you compensate for your visual field loss. You'll learn how to constantly turn your head and eyes toward blind spots to retrieve important visual information from your environment. Activities focus on creating smooth, quick eye movements and good eye movement control
Therapy activities, like catching balls or jumping on a trampoline, will strengthen your scanning ability and help it become second nature. You may also participate in computer or virtual reality games to improve scanning. A study reviewed by Current Opinion in Neurology in 2022 explored the benefits of virtual reality technology for visual field loss. Patients saw improvements in visual scanning, visual memory, mental rotation, cognitive flexibility, and depression after training in a virtual supermarket for two weeks.
Using Prism Lenses
Prism lenses are added to eyeglasses to change the position of light as it enters the eye. The lenses help redirect visual information from the blind part of the visual field to the functioning area. You won't look through the prisms constantly, but may use them to avoid obstacles in your path or spot important signs. Although prism lenses can be helpful, some people find them difficult to wear due to double vision or headaches.
Enhancing Brain Plasticity
If your visual field loss is due to a stroke or brain injury, your eyes may work fine, but your brain may not be aware that you can actually see. Your vision therapy plan may include activities designed to retrain your brain and increase awareness.
During a vision therapy session, you might participate in a training activity that involves watching and identifying blinking lights, shapes, colors, or motion. The activity helps the brain process visual stimuli and could activate areas of the brain involved in object and movement recognition and movement processing, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Vision in 2016.
Have you experienced visual field loss? Vision therapy could help you make the most of your vision. Contact our office to make an appointment with the vision therapist.
Sources:
Current Opinion in Neurology: Rehabilitation of Cortically-Induced Visual Field Loss, 2/1/2022
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7856214/
Journal of Vision: Visual Field Restorative Rehabilitation After Brain Injury, 7/2016
https://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2541697
American Academy of Ophthalmology: Immediate Rehab Can Save Vision After Stroke, 9/1/2020
https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/immediate-rehab-can-save-vision-after-stroke
Modern Optometry: A Lesson on Neurologic Visual Field Loss, 9/2020
https://modernod.com/topics/neuro-optometry/a-lesson-on-neurologic-visual-field-loss/38124/