Binocular Vision Dysfunction
Do you suffer from car sickness, Motion Sickness, Headaches, Lightheadedness, Dizziness, Disorientation or Anxiety?
Have you visited many specialists, had various tests, and still have not been given a diagnosis or a solution?
You may have Binocular Vision Dysfunction
In Binocular Vision Dysfunction, the line of sight from one eye tends to be slightly out of alignment with the line of sight from the other eye. This misalignment can be vertical, horizontal or both and puts heavy strain on the eye muscles as they are constantly trying to correct the misalignment to achieve single focus. This heavy strain on the eye muscles results in dizziness, headaches, disorientation, neck aches and reading difficulties. These common symptoms are not traditionally thought to be to be associated with your vision but they are.
There are three forms of Binocular Vision Dysfunction: Vertical heterophoria, Superior oblique palsy, and horizontal misalignment. The corrective measures taken by the eye muscles in order to keep the lines of sight aligned, i.e. vision that is not blurred or double, results in overuse of the eye muscles making them strained and fatigued which results in many of the symptoms of BVD. Head tilt is known to occur in Vertical Heterophoria and Superior Oblique Palsy to minimize misalignment and avoid double vision. In order to achieve single focused vision, the brain takes a corrective measure by tilting the head slightly resulting in neck pain and other BVD symptoms.
Symptoms of BVD
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Headaches/ migraine
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Dizziness
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Anxiety
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Panic attacks (especially when driving)
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Your head tilts towards one shoulder
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Neck aches
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Motion sickness
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Clumsiness (poor depth perception)
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Difficulty walking / balance problems
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Difficulty reading / concentrating
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Closing or covering an eye to read
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Nausea
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Convergence insufficiency
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Light sensitivity
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Blurred / shadowed / double vision
The common causes of BVD are normal facial asymmetry, acquired facial asymmetry from aging or head trauma from sports or injury damaging the nerves to your eye muscles causing imbalance.
Since BVD may affect up to 70% of adults suffering from persistent headaches, 30% suffering from anxiety, and 30% who have persistent symptoms from a concussion or TBI, it is critical to test for even small amounts of misalignment.
Often BVD is misdiagnosed or undiagnosed during a regular eye exam. Many eye doctors spend very little time testing for how well your eyes work together as a team (binocular vision). Even if these tests are performed they only identify major misalignments and double vision. They are often unable to find small amounts of misalignment.
At Ithaca Eye Care, patients with suspicion of BVD will undergo a thorough Neuro Visual Evaluation of their vision including assessment of small amounts of eye misalignments. Problems with near vision, far vision and alignment will be corrected using specialized prismatic glasses resulting in a reduction or sometimes elimination of their symptoms. The average person experiences a 30-50% reduction in symptoms almost immediately and a 70-80% reduction of symptoms over the course of the several visits as the prismatic prescription is fine-tuned and customized for the individual. The treatment is for a short period of time, with the average person completing the treatment in just 2 to 3 months
Dr. Boscia is one of 15 eye doctors in the country to become certified in this specialized treatment and is thrilled to be bringing a solution to her patients
How do you know if you have BVD? Fill out this questionnaire and a staff member will give you a call
Does your child have BVD? Fill out this questionnaire
Click her for more information on children dealing with BVD
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