Migraines, Computer Vision Syndrome, and Binocular Vision Dysfunction

Recently, I have had many cases of young people who have been suffering from headaches on an almost daily basis. They have all been diagnosed with migraine or chronic sinus headache. Pain on eye movement and facial pain, especially after long term computer use is a common theme among these patients. These people have been suffering for years and have tried many medications with little or no relief.

In each and every one of these cases, the binocular vision status was never adequately evaluated. When we are on a computer for long periods we ask the visual system to work very hard. The focus has to be maintained so each eye has a clear image on each retina. Moreover, the two eyes must point to the same place in space so the images are on the same points on each retina. This is a lot of work for the eye muscles. If the eyes are even slightly out of alignment, the eye muscles are constantly overworked. This leads to the feelings of eye strain, headache, and even facial pain.

A careful binocular vision evaluation can find even the smallest misalignments. Our exam,  the Neuro Visual Evaluation, following the methods of Dr. Debby Feinberg of Vision Specialists of Michigan, is a complete comprehensive ocular and binocular vision exam. It is extremely detailed, taking approximately 90 minutes. Through this evaluation, very small eye misalignments can be detected that are normally missed in the standard 15 minute eye exam.

When the eyes are aligned using special prismatic lenses in a pair of glasses, the eye muscles relax and the symptoms of pain are greatly reduced or eliminated. Each persons prescription is custom tailored for their visual system. Often, the prescription gets refined after about a month of wearing the prism glasses. Many patients can get off all of their pain medications when the course of treatment is complete.

If you are suffering from migraines, headaches, eye pain, facial pain, please go to our website www.nvcofny.com and take our questionnaire. If your score indicates that  you may have a binocular vision problem, we will contact you within a few days. It just may be your eyes!

Another Feel Good Story About Vertical Heterophoria Treatment with Prism

I saw a young man this week who started to experience dizziness and headaches about 4 months ago. The symptoms began suddenly,  resolved for about a week, then returned with an increase in severity. He was seen by multiple doctors, neurologists, ENT, ophthalmologists and internists. All of his test came back negative, MRI, MRA, CAT scans. He wound up at a Neuro Ophthalmologist who found a vertical misalignment of his eyes using many of the tests that I use in my exam. She gave him a press on prism to realign the eyes. This was a good start.  However, press on prisms blur the vision and look unsightly. This of course bothered this young college student.

Researching vertical heterophoria, the young man found out that Dr. Debby Feinberg was the expert in this field and has help thousands of patients with this problem. The family was so happy that they could see a doctor trained by Dr. Debby in New York. At our first visit, the young man was quite agitated and I could tell that he was in a lot of discomfort.  He just was not feeling well and it was affecting his school and social life.

What a wonderful experience that day. He got a 50 percent reduction in his dizziness within 20 minutes of the prism application.  We call that a wow moment.

These moments of healing make me proud to do my job.
Happy and Healthy New Year to those who celebrate.
Dr. Cheryl

Improve Your Sports Performance With Prism Glasses

Prism correction in glasses can help improve sports performance and eye hand coordination. If the eyes are even slightly out of alignment, the player's stereo vision (3D depth perception) is not functioning at its optimal level. This can affect how well an athlete hits or catches a ball. Improving depth perception allows the player to track the ball, a very fast moving target, with much increased precision. This leads to better eye hand coordination and overall improvement in performance.

During a Neuro Visual Evaluation we test binocular vision using a variety of objective and subjective tests. We are able to detect very small eye misalignments in the vertical and horizontal planes, not found in a routine eye exam. Prisms incorporated into eyewear can correct these small misalignments, leading to high definition vision. In fact, increased depth perception is often the first thing people notice when they start wearing prism glasses.

If you want to increase your performance on the field or golf course, call us to schedule a Neuro Visual eye exam.
The Neuro Visual Center of New York
516-224-4888