Your brain controls and organizes the sensory-motor functions that give your eyes the ability to see, according to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Having a stroke can cause vision problems such as blind spots. A series of exercises in a treatment called Vision Restoration Therapy may help your brain form new nerve cell connections, according to Medical News As of 2010, Vision Restoration Therapy by NovaVision is the only FDA-cleared device that helps restore patients' loss of vision.
Function
Some of the nerve cells in your brain can compensate for injury if they have sustained partial damage, according to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. In essence, a damaged brain creates new connections in an attempt to rewire itself. Vision Restoration Therapy assists your brain in compensating for loss of vision by stimulating the border of blind areas. Vision restoration exercise sessions include looking at an area of a screen while bright lights flash off and on in a set pattern. This process is intended to help increase visual sensitivity and awareness.
Benefits
You may notice one or a variety of improvements after vision restoration sessions. Three common benefits are improved fundamental visual abilities and skills, increased ease and efficiency in seeing, and enhanced ability to process and interpret visual information, according to NovaVision.
Evidence
According to data presented at a 2007 American Academy of Neurology meeting, over 70 percent of patients with visual defects from strokes and traumatic brain injuries showed a visual field improvement over 3 percent after a series of NovaVision Vision Restoration Therapy sessions. On average, patients showed an average of 12 percent improvement after six months of treatment.
Procedure
If you are interested in trying Vision Restoration Therapy, a clinician will assess whether you would benefit from the treatment. If the clinician believes you would, she would conduct tests to create customized therapy based on your condition. A vision restoration treatment can be done in your home. Eye exercise sessions are typically prescribed for six days per week for six months, though you may continue the therapy sessions if you notice that your vision continues to improve, according to NovaVision.
Candidates
You will likely experience benefits from vision restoration treatments if you have any visual field defects from a stroke. However, you may not be a candidate if you have certain eye diseases, significant cognitive deficits or a photosensitive seizure condition, according to NovaVision. Moreover, if you have an acute disease of the eye or central nervous system, you may need to delay treatment until the acute phase ends.
References
- NovaVision: What is VRT?
- American Institute of Physics: Seeing the Light -- Vision Restoration Therapy
- ScienceDaily: Vision Restoration Therapy Shown to Improve Brain Activity in Brain Injured Patients
- NovaVision, Inc.: AM New York Reports on the Benefits of NovaVision VRT
- Medical News Today: Novavision Presents Vision Restoration Therapy Data At The AAN Annual Meeting
- NovaVision, Inc.: How Does VRT Work?
