Suffer no more By Dr. Kandi Moller, Owner of Eye Candy Optical and the Myopia Control & Treatment Center in Uptown, Neurovisual Medicine specialist, mother to @gumdropthepig
Do you experience regular headaches or migraines? Do you (or your children) dislike reading or find it takes a long time to read a page? Do you experience car sickness or anxiety on highways? Do you experience anxiety when in crowds or large stores? Do you consider yourself clumsy or klutzy? Do your eyes feel tired or fatigued by the end of the day? Do you see ghosting or double images, worse when fatigued? Does your vision seem “off” despite your new prescription? Do you (or your children) suffer from ADHD? Do you have PTSD? Ever had a concussion?
Binocular vision dysfunction often occurs when the eyes are slightly misaligned. In theory, our eyes both point together at the object you are focusing on, but in reality they have a point in space they’d rather be pointed at. Images from each eye then do not match up properly in the brain. The eye muscles then work overtime to help the brain see a single image, causing a host of problems.
These can be mild to debilitating, and might be a headache or a migraine, neck pain with computer use, dry eyes, and dizziness or motion sickness. Mental disorders like PTSD, anxiety and ADHD could also be results of binocular vision dysfunction. I can almost guarantee you have an eye misalignment but think your symptoms are “normal” or due to an old sports injury or car crash or too much blue light from computers. Or your symptoms may be mild or intermittent so you can ignore them. You may be seeking help from chiropractors or neurologists or drugs without full relief. A concussion can worsen misalignments.
Traditional eye exams fail to detect subtle misalignments. Specialized training, detailed questionnaires and lengthy testing are necessary. Optometrists with the proper training can take the time to dig into your symptoms and conduct simple tests to learn how to best treat migraines, dizziness and anxiety.
The longer a patient goes without proper treatment, the more they suffer. An estimated 10 million patients who visit an optometrist every year have undiagnosed binocular vision dysfunction. Without the proper training, questions and tests, a simple solution can be missed.
Since most binocular vision dysfunction symptoms are not visual in nature, patients will normally seek treatment from other medical doctors. Tell me your symptoms! It is a neurovisual medical optometrist’s job to help you figure out a solution, finally. (Our neurovisual medical exams are booking in May 2023.)
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