Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)
Did you know that vision disorders are among the most common symptoms following acquired brain injuries (ABI)?
These types of injuries, which include but are not limited to strokes, tumors, and surgeries, can cause brain damage that affects our vision. They also include traumatic brain injuries (TBI), also known as concussions. The most common symptoms following an acquired brain injury include double vision, a loss of peripheral vision, bumping into objects, difficulty reading, and feeling disoriented in crowded environments.
How We Can Help
Our team of students and doctors provide a thorough evaluation to determine how much your vision has been impacted by an acquired brain injury. Our treatment plans include, but are not limited to, glasses, prisms, filters, and/or vision therapy to better help you manage your symptoms.
Midwestern University is one of the only institutions in the country using the CAREN (Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment) system. This system will enable our team of eye doctors to co-treat ABI patients side-by-side with our physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology teams. This approach, termed as the OneHealth philosophy at Midwestern University, ensures that the patient will always be at the center of all our management plans.
What to Expect
Depending on the severity of symptoms and the type of injury that occurred, an examination can last up to two hours. In many circumstances, a patient will be dilated in order to ensure the health of the eye was not affected by the injury. In addition, it is not uncommon for your eyes to feel tired or sore after the examination, but these symptoms should last only momentarily. The examination may include, but is not limited to, a careful refraction to determine the best glasses prescription possible, visual field testing, and/or an evaluation for lenses known as prisms that can help manage common symptoms following acquired brain injuries. A second evaluation for tinted lenses may be recommended depending on your symptoms and our findings.
If you have been referred for our services by an outside provider, we request that your records be sent over prior to the appointment for review. This will allow us to know what has already been done, and where we can further assess your visual needs.
Your medical insurance is most often times billed for this examination.
Contact Information
For an acquired brain injury evaluation, please contact 623-537-6000, option 2.
Learn more about ABI
A significant number of patients with ABI will display signs and symptoms that indicate a vision problem. The Eye Institute offers the latest technology and services to help you or your loved one decrease symptoms and enhance visual efficiency and clarity. Our dedicated faculty and students work together to create a positive, encouraging environment.
- Blurred vision
- Reduced reading speed
- Difficulty with scanning
- Headaches/Eyestrain
- Fatigue with near tasks Double vision
- Dizziness
- Short-term memory loss
- Decreased attention
The Eye Institute offers optometric management services for ABI patients, including:
- Treatment of ocular disease or injury, either directly or by co-management with other healthcare professionals
- Treatment of visual dysfunction utilizing lenses, prisms, occlusion, low vision devices, and/or vision therapy
- Counseling and education of patients, family, or caregivers about the patient’s visual problems, functional implications, goals, prognosis, and management options
- Consultation with other professionals involved in the rehabilitation and healthcare of the patient
An initial evaluation of the patient with brain injury may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Comprehensive eye and vision examination
- Extended sensorimotor evaluation
- Higher cerebral function assessment of visual information processing
- Low vision evaluation
- Extended visual eld evaluation
- Electrodiagnostic testing