Sensitivity to Light Following a Brain Injury
Symptoms of Light Sensitivity After a Concussion
While light sensitivity is a common problem after a head injury, sometimes it can be hard to recognize, as it often overlaps with other symptoms related to brain injury.
The most common symptoms of post-concussion light sensitivity include:
- Inability to tolerate bright light
- Discomfort from interior lighting or computer screens
- Eye pain
- Eyestrain
- Eye fatigue
- Headaches
Additional post-concussion symptoms may include:
- Vertigo or dizziness
- Cognitive fatigue
- Difficulty multitasking
While these symptoms are not necessarily caused directly by light sensitivity, they often go hand-in-hand. In addition, your brain may be using extra energy to process bright light after a brain injury, limiting the energy it has left for other activities.
Causes of Light Sensitivity After Head Injury
Following a TBI, photophobia tends to occur as a result of the eyes not working well together (binocualr vision dysfucntion) and or damage to the thalamus.
The thalamus filters incoming visual information and sends neural signals to different parts of the brain. After a brain injury, the blood vessels that deliver oxygen to the thalamus can become damaged and withhold vital oxygen and nutrients to this part of the brain.
If the thalamus is not filtering the incoming light correctly, your brain may become overwhelmed with too much visual information. This is why many concussion patients prefer dark rooms that present less visual stimulation.
Note that light sensitivity can also develop as a result of damage to any of the following:
Needs a section on Binocular Vision dysfunction
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
The ANS governs most of your body’s autonomic processes, such as blood pressure, breathing, heart rate, pupil dilation and more. If an injury disrupts your ANS, your pupils may dilate more than usual, allowing too much light to enter the eye, leading to light sensitivity.
Superior Colliculus
The superior colliculus is the part of the brain that keeps you oriented in space and has some control over your eye muscles. It has the potential to make a person’s vision more sensitive if it malfunctions.
Vestibular System
The brain uses three systems: the inner ear vestibular system, the sense of touch and the sense of sight. These help people determine and understand where they are relative to the things around them.
If your vestibular system is not operating correctly, your brain receives conflicting information from the vestibular and visual systems. To compensate, your brain may increase its sensitivity to the visual system, which can result in light sensitivity.
Following a brain injury, a person will usually have a combination of these problems. Fortunately, they can be treated.
Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Can Help
Neuro-optometric rehabilitation is a customized treatment program for patients who have visual deficits due to physical disabilities and TBIs. Neuro-optometric rehab aims to strengthen any reduced visual skills so that the patient can continue engaging in daily activities, like reading and driving, and enjoy a higher quality of life.
A neuro-optometric rehabilitation optometrist evaluates many functions of the visual system, such as how the eyes work together as a team. Treatment options may include using filters and prisms, and customized visual exercises to strengthen the eye-brain connection. To determine if you can benefit from neuro-optometric rehabilitation, schedule a functional vision evaluation with Opto-Mization Optometry & Vision Therapy today.
Our practice serves patients from Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia and surrounding communities.
Tennis/Pickleball
The speed and accuracy of your return, or your ability to read the spin of the ball, all depend on how your eyes and brain work together. Pros have known this for years and spend lots of time working on their depth perception and tracking. Vision therapy can take your tennis or pickleball to the next level.
Tennis/Pickleball
The speed and accuracy of your return, or your ability to read the spin of the ball, all depend on how your eyes and brain work together. Pros have known this for years and spend lots of time working on their depth perception and tracking. Vision therapy can take your tennis or pickleball to the next level.
Golf
Do you put it too short or too long? You’re using your depth perception to gauge how far the hole is and how hard to hit the ball. Many people have to routinely ‘look past the hole’ or aim for the front of the cup in order to be more accurate. This is usually because they are not judging the distance accurately to begin with. Another common pain point in golf is not being able to see your ball after you’ve hit it. Problems with how the eyes track and work together can create problems tracking your golf ball, but fortunately, these are easily remedied.
Reading and Hobbies
Getting tired when you read? Not able to read for as long or as quickly as you used to? It’s common for eye tracking or eye teaming (binocular problems) to cause problems with reading. This can show up as fatigue, falling asleep, headaches, strain, and reduced comprehension. Many people end up slowly avoiding reading, knitting, woodworking, or other hobbies that require sustained focus.
Computer Screens
Computers can be a really helpful tool for emails, research, and all sorts of amazing things. However, problems with how the eyes work together, or how glasses are set up, can create headaches, light sensitivity, difficulty focusing, and more with prolonged screen time.
Related Conditions
If you have been diagnosed with any of the following conditions, it may increase your likelihood of having problems with how your eyes work together:
- Vestibular neuritis
- Meniere’s
- Stroke
- Concussion
- Headaches
Our Approach
We go beyond the routine eye health testing to investigate how your eyes and brain work together. This includes eye tracking, binocular function (eye-teaming), visual-vestibular integration (eye and inner-ear), and more. We have a variety of tools we can use to get the improvement you’re looking for.
Specialized Glasses
We are able to design specialized prescriptions (Ergopathics™) that do more than allow you to see clearly. Ergopathics™ prescriptions can improve how efficiently your eyes and brain work together. This can significantly improve driving, balance, reading, and more.
Vision Therapy (Opto-mization Training)
You may also be a candidate for vision therapy. Our Opto-mization Training Vision Therapy recalibrates how your eyes and brain work together and enhances your performance.
If you’re struggling with driving at night, balance, dizziness, depth perception, reading, or just feel like your vision is affecting your daily life, please book an assessment.