Transform patients’ lives and love every minute of it.

Meet Renee. On the eve of her wedding in 2001, Renee was involved in a rollover car crash and almost didn't make it. When she arrived at the hospital, they found out that her shoulders were fractured and dislocated but she was safe and going to recover. While her physical injuries healed, she started to experience daily vertigo that persisted for the next two years. She also experienced terrible headaches on a regular basis. She tried all sorts of remedies and visited a number of different doctors to find a cure including a Neurologist, an ENT, an optometrist and a chiropractor. It wasn't Meniere's disease, and her eyes were ruled out too. As she got older, her symptoms got worse – she experienced terrible anxiety as a passenger on the highway. Her nausea and headaches would easily be triggered by walking into big shopping malls and department stores. After 16 years of suffering from her symptoms, she finally found an answer. She heard about a NeuroVisual specialist through a family member. She took the BVDQ™ and scored high, and immediately scheduled her NeuroVisual Evaluation. During her appointment, she recalls putting the microprism trial frames on and, " I started crying. The pain went away. It melted within a minute. Anxiety went away. Dizziness stopped. " We learned that she was suffering from post-concussive Binocular Vision Dysfunction. Since she recalls experiencing car sickness as a child (a classic sign of children suffering from Vertical Heterophoria) there's a chance she had undiagnosed BVD that was exacerbated by her car accident. She was treated with a pair of microprism lenses and special tints to reduce her symptoms. Renee is now back to work and says, "I have life again!" When she started feeling better, her daughters remarked about how she wasn't sad and crying anymore. "I have no more anxiety. It's been 3 years since I've had a panic attack and that is the best feeling ever." Thank you Renee for your persistence and willingness to share your story so that others can learn about this condition! ❤️ – Unfortunately, Renee's story isn't unique. An average of 2 million people each year experience concussions and another 3 million are involved in car accidents. Post-Concussion BVD symptoms are all too common in people who have experienced a head injury of any type. These include nausea, headaches, car sickness, chronic neck pain, and anxiety in large spaces like malls and department stores. If you're not yet screening and treating your patients for their BVD symptoms after a head injury, now is the time to begin.

Meet Noah. Noah’s life was never easy. Years ago, Noah’s mother Shelley was told that her baby boy had torticollis, a condition that causes stiffness in the neck making it difficult to move one’s head. He also was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and ADHD as a child. He was given ankle braces to help with his severe pronation and wasn’t able to play sports. As a little boy, Noah had trouble walking straight. He frequently ran into walls and would even fall over when hunting for Easter eggs. He was easily disoriented by noise, had trouble navigating his world, experienced blurring while reading, and struggled to keep his handwriting neat. One day, Noah walked into the kitchen to ask his mom a question. Shelley noticed that her son was looking at her sideways with his neck tilted. She asked, “Noah, what are you doing? Why are you looking at me sideways?” Confused, Noah replied, “I’m not. I’m looking you in the eyes.” That was the moment that Shelley knew in her heart something was wrong. She scoured the internet to find possible reasons why her son might be looking at her sideways which led her to a NeuroVisual clinic based in Michigan. Immediately, Shelley had Noah fill out the Binocular Vision Dysfunction Questionnaire (BVDQ™). Shelley was pleasantly surprised when the optometrist called on a Sunday saying that she didn’t want Noah to suffer any longer and to come in as soon as possible. Shelley was hopeful that this optometrist would be able to help her son experience life more fully. Noah had seen countless doctors, undergone vision therapy, visited the hospital, and seen neurologists without success. No medical professional had ever said anything about Binocular Vision Dysfunction potentially being the culprit. During Noah’s appointment, his optometrist put the test glasses on him and instantly he could hold his head up straight. He exclaimed, “I never knew the world had so much detail!” It turns out, Noah had been seeing double vision his entire life. After receiving glasses to correct his vision, Noah’s life was changed forever. Now, Noah stands up tall, is more confident than ever, no longer loses his balance, writes neater, and can even catch a ball. Before, Noah would cower away when a ball was tossed to him because he couldn’t see it clearly enough to safely catch it. After listening during Noah’s exam, Shelley asked if the glasses could work for her too. She’d never had glasses that fully corrected her vision. Now, Shelly and Noah both wear microprism lenses and are living more clearly and experiencing a new normal. - Sadly, Noah’s story is not that uncommon. Many children unknowingly have Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD) and struggle with things like hand-eye coordination with sports, writing neatly, fatigue with reading, and even car sickness. BVD symptoms are often mistaken for other conditions and aren’t properly treated. If you aren’t screening and offering treatment for young patients showing signs of BVD, it is vital you take this step.

Meet Karyn. Karyn is the definition of a go-getter and high achiever. Before her falls in 2019, she was the 5 am runner, the do-it-all type of parent, and the hustler working as a full-time Assistant Principal at an elementary school during the day and a realtor in the evenings. The elementary school was where she was in her element. Karyn loves working with kids who don't exactly fit the mold of a normal classroom. Not only was she the kid whisperer but she moved around that school like an athlete, walking 5-8 miles of hallway per day. In September of 2019, everything changed for Karyn. During lunchtime, she was in the cafeteria coaching some student leaders when she saw several 3rd-grade boys starting some trouble. She started walking toward the boys and slipped on something, falling and hitting the right side of her head. She was knocked out. When she came to, she stood up to continue tending to the kids and fell again and hit her head again on the right side. After the lunch period was over, she fell once more on the way back to her office. Later that afternoon, she tried calling her husband but could not see the phone to make the call. Something was wrong. She couldn't stop crying. "I'm a cusser, not a crier," she told us. Her husband took her to the ER and they eventually sent her home to rest. A week after the initial fall, she got dressed to go to work. She walked to the bathroom and walked into the door jamb and fell. Her husband said, "You are not going to work!" Within the next few days, she couldn't walk or get out of bed. Her speech was off, and she couldn't stop crying. She got really scared. Over the next few months, Karyn saw a chiropractor, a functional neurologist, and an EP Cardiologist. She then tried 4 months of Speech and Occupational Therapy followed by 5 months of physical therapy. In November, things got worse. She started experiencing tremors on the right side, and her eyes would slam shut unexpectedly. Her right leg would give out and she'd fall. She could not go to hockey games, walk, or go into big department stores. Things were not progressing. She had done all the exercises and therapies at home. Changed her basement into a gym. Was told not to do prism glasses - at least for a while. Fast forward almost two years – it's January 2022 and Karyn, her husband, and her mom arrives for her NeuroVisual Evaluation. They had been through so much and had been disappointed. They almost canceled because it felt like just one more thing. When they began the exam, her doctor had her walk down the hallway and back to analyze her gait, posture, and balance. She says she almost looked like she was drunk. They progressed through the exam, and finally was ready to try on her pair of microprism lenses. Her husband was amazed by the difference the glasses made to her gait. "It's like Christmas – that's how it felt with the glasses." She almost cried when she picked up her glasses. She and her husband barely talked on the way home because they were so blown away. Six weeks later Karyn came back for her Progress Assessment exam, where the NeuroVisual Specialist reassessed her vision and symptoms, and fine-tuned her prism prescription. In Karyn's case, they had uncovered an inner ear condition (likely Third Mobile Window Syndrome or TMWS) during the initial evaluation that was likely playing a big part in her symptoms. Clinicians often find TMWS as a comorbid condition post-TBI for symptomatic and dizzy patients. This can impact patients' binocular vision and how they respond to microprism. Once her inner ears are assessed and treated for possible fistulas and dehiscences, Karyn will continue her NeuroVisual journey to refine her microprism prescription and continue to relieve her symptoms. Her care is ongoing and we are excited to follow her progress. Thank you Karyn for sharing your story with us! ❤️ – There is a crucial connection between the eyes and ears that is becoming better understood through the research being conducted at the NeuroVisual Medicine Institute. When optometrists attend our training program, they are educated on how to recognize the myriad symptoms and body systems impacted by BVD, as well as the latest methods in diagnosis and treatment. In Karyn's case, dizziness and nausea were caused in part by an inner ear dysfunction. Her optometrist was able to uncover and treat her subtle phoria with microprism and identify an undiagnosed inner ear condition that led to a Neurootological referral for additional testing.

Meet Jordan. Being a teenager is hard enough, seeing clearly shouldn’t be another thing to worry about. Jordan is just like any other kid navigating school, social life, sports, and everything in between. However, little did he know that his eyes were making him feel like an outsider. Jordan was experiencing trouble focusing on his homework and staying alert during class. Constant fatigue left him putting his head down to rest — and therefore missing classroom instruction. He ran into the same problem with after school homework: the focus just wasn’t there. When trying to do his homework, switching between his computer and books made it an uphill battle finishing assignments — and often ate up the majority of his night, which is the last thing a teenager wants to be doing. Due to his symptoms a prescription for Ritalin made sense, until he and his mom learned where his symptoms were really coming from. He’d take this pill every afternoon to stay alert. But since ADHD wasn’t the true cause of Jordan’s struggles, it was only treating his symptoms, rather than the root cause - subtle vision misalignment. As an active student, Jordan participated in group sports like basketball. However, his lack of depth perception made it difficult to tell where the ball was. Jordan would often flinch when his teammates would pass the ball. But he didn’t know that his vision was also the culprit here, negatively impacting his physical activities and participation, in addition to his classroom abilities. All of the sensory overstimulation caused by subtle vision misalignment caused Jordan to feel anxious in large social groups. As a result, Jordan was never confident looking around for fear that he was accidentally staring at someone. But that all changed once he visited his NeuroVisual Specialist, Dr. MaryJoe, who fitted him with his first pair of microprism glasses. With the proper Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD) diagnosis and prescription, Jordan is a new student, player, and person. His microprism glasses have enabled him to focus and get through his work without needing to take any Ritalin. The anxiety he experienced in large crowds disappeared. Now, Jorden can confidently identify people in a group setting and no longer feels insecurity with glancing around a room. "With the glasses, I'm able to look around and take in information really quickly." Jordan's improved spatial awareness and depth perception has eliminated his previous anxiety and has helped him move about the world with confidence and improved self-esteem. - Unfortunately, Jordan’s story isn't a one-off. Millions of children and youth are regularly diagnosed with attention disorders and prescribed medications to treat the symptoms. However, BVD symptoms like anxiety, trouble reading, and difficulty paying attention are easily mistaken for disorders such as Dyslexia and ADHD. If you're not yet screening and treating your young patients (and older patients, too) for BVD symptoms, now is the time to begin.

Meet Robert. Robert has worked in the corporate world as a business executive his whole career. This fulfilling career was taken from him after he suffered injuries from a car accident in December 2016. A pickup truck rear-ended Robert that day in 2016 and changed his life forever. He suffered a broken neck and head injury along with nerve damage and partial spinal cord damage. Robert’s pain from the accident was excruciating. He suffered severe headaches, experienced light and noise sensitivity which caused nausea, had dizziness and even lost his balance and fell occasionally. Robert had to stay away from loud settings, and he had to walk with a wide gait and his arms out to keep his balance. Because of the accident, Robert was unable to work for about five years. He was sent to a neurologist and they determined that Robert had been hit in the medulla, or brain stem area, and that he might have damage in the nerve path to his oculomotor and vestibular system. The neurologist referred Robert to a NeuroVisual Medicine specialist to see if microprism glasses would solve his symptoms. At his appointment, the specially trained optometrist put microprism lenses on him and immediately Robert noticed his vision clearing. His head relaxed and his years-long headache disappeared. He was thrilled to be feeling the best he had in years. His diagnosis of Post-TBI Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD) and treatment with corrective microprism lenses gave Robert his life back. Robert feels that he is 90 to 98% returned to the normal life he led prior to the car wreck, and he couldn’t be happier. Robert gives credit to microprism lenses for feeling like himself again. - Robert’s story is not the only one. Many people who suffer from car accidents or other accidents that cause brain and spinal injuries could benefit from microprism glasses. Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD) symptoms such as dizziness, migraines, balance problems and nausea are often able to be alleviated by a simple pair of specialized glasses. If you aren’t screening your patients for BVD, now is the time to take the leap.