Traumatic Brain Injury and Vision Loss: Medical, Neurological and Rehabilitative Connections

Traumatic Brain Injury and Vision Loss: Medical, Neurological and Rehabilitative Connections

Vision is controlled by the occipital lobes of the brain. Like other lobes of the brain, there are two of them. The occipital lobes are located toward the back of the brain.

Functionally, the occipital lobes make sense of visual stimuli such as color, shape, and movement. They do this by associating current stimuli with similar, stored memories. Damage to the occipital lobes may result in partial or complete blindness. Damage can result from a variety of trauma, including a traumatic brain injury, a stroke or some other kind of neurologic occurrence. Those types of trauma can also cause a condition known as visual agnosia that is an inability to recognize objects and which can also result in visual hallucinations.

At the acute level of care following a catastrophic injury affecting vision, a healthcare provider will examine and test the optics of the eye. The optics consist of the following structures:

• Lenses. Each eye has lenses that form an inverted image on the retina. That image is formed by two lenses. One is the cornea that is the converging lens. Its focal length is fixed. The other lens is the eye-lens that can change shape and, therefore, change its focal length.
• Iris and pupil. The iris is round. The pupil is the main opening of the iris. The diameter of the pupil changes depending upon the amount of surrounding light.
• Retina. This is the most optically sensitive part of the eye because it is most directly connected to brain function. It is the “screen” on which visual images are formed and transmitted to the brain via the “optic chiasm” and after that, to the brain. Since all external sensory data to the brain is crossed, that which enters the right eye goes to the left hemisphere of the brain and vice-versa.

Additionally, there exists what are sometimes called “streams” that jointly affect either or both occipital lobes and another lobe and together, vision.  Examples of these include:

• Occipito-temporal pathway injury that can be involved with object recognition, and
• Occipito-parietal pathway injury that can be involved with spatial vision and visually guided action toward objects.1

After acute care has been rendered, it is important for the individual who has experienced vision loss due to a traumatic or catastrophic injury obtain the finest and most innovative post-acute rehabilitation available to him or to her. NeuLife Rehab in Mount Dora, Florida delivers that level of care. When the individual becomes a Client of NeuLife Rehab, he or she undergoes an independent functional evaluation by a multidisciplinary team that may include:

• Board Certified Neurologist

• Board Certified Behavior Analyst
• Board Certified Physiatrist
• Neuropsychologist
• Psychologist
• Board Certified Psychiatrist
• Speech Language Pathologist/Cognitive Therapist
• Physical Therapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Nurses
• Certified Rehab Counselor

Those NeuLife Rehab Clients who have vision repercussions from their catastrophic or traumatic injury may also benefit from the evaluation and rehabilitation of a neuro-ophthalmologist who will be a part of the multidisciplinary team. Among the testing devices used by these professionals are:

• Automated perimeter, which helps to map a Client’s peripheral vision and evaluate the damage to the visual cortex.
• Visual Evoked Potential Analyzer which measures the speed and strength of the neuro-electrical signals passing along the optic nerve. This helps to determine damage to the optic nerve.
• Electroretinogram that measures the speed and power of neuro-electric signals created by the retina
• Synoptophore which can help to determine whether a Client can still use both eyes for form a three- dimensional image.

From the independent functional evaluation, a Client Goal Plan is formulated. The Client Goal Plan is the basis for the regimen of clinically relevant services provided to our Client. It advances the goal of serving his or her short-term and long-term rehabilitation needs and ensuring independence to the fullest extent that his or her physical and mental abilities permit.

NeuLife Rehab consistently provides the highest standard of care in the delivery of clinically relevant services to achieve successful, sustained outcomes and exceeds the expectations of all persons served. Our philosophy of that healing, wellness, and personal fulfillment are best accomplished in an uplifting, therapeutic environment where caring staff encourage, assist and support each Client so he or she may achieve specific goals. NeuLife Rehab believes personal fulfillment is equally as important as goals to increase function and independence.

Proper and timely post-acute rehabilitation that may determine the difference between disability and independence is what NeuLife refers to as the “platinum post-acute period” —  the crucial window following acute care that is needed to nurture the whole person to health with specialized, clinically relevant services.

NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, is an accessible residential post-acute program providing specialized rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Amputations, Burns and other Catastrophic Injuries and Challenging Diagnoses.

2725 Robie Avenue

Mount Dora, Florida 32757