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recovery from brain injury or chronic stress levels. It can provide improvement in patient comfort and patient tolerance ranges to environmental changes. It can also decrease hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli as is demonstrated in patients with brain injury, developmental disabilities, mental illnesses, and PTSD.
The classic use of optometric techniques to sharpen central eyesight to 20/20 impacts a patient’s attention at a conscious level, with high-contrast, non-moving targets. This approach is difficult in patients with neurodegenerative conditions or the fragile connections between external and internal systems as occurs in PTSD. To help these patients, it is important to understand the linkage between the eyes and ears and how the lenses are actually shrinking or expanding or distorting surrounding space, thus affecting behavior.
Neuro-optometric rehabilitation is different from classic visual therapy because it addresses the brainstem and unconscious, subcortical reactions to environmental stimuli. Therapeutic retinal stimulation to establish new pathways, and re-balance sensory systems can be readily and inexpensively applied using modern therapeutic eyeglasses. It works well as a singular approach or as an adjunct to other treatments to maximize outcomes, such as medication, behavioral, physical, and occupational therapies.
In the future, development of highly advanced eyeglasses that selectively stimulate specific retinal pathways may prove possible. Such a tool could be useful in treating patients with drug-resistant epileptic seizures, patients with autism, genetic disorders, mental illnesses, or neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s Disease. Future studies may also demonstrate the value of neuro-optometric rehabilitation for metabolic disorders or alteration of gene expression. Customized lenses
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