What is Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD)?
Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD) is a serious eye condition where the eyes are misaligned, sending two different images to the brain. The brain struggles to merge these two different images into one clear image, causing symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, anxiety, motion sickness, and chronic neck pain.
Symptoms
BVD can severely impact people of all ages. Children with BVD often struggle with reading in school, hand-eye coordination, playing sports, and car sickness. This condition often leads to misdiagnoses of ADHD, dyslexia, and migraines in children. Adults with BVD regularly experience headaches, daily anxiety and dizziness, and can be severely limited from doing normal tasks or succeeding in the workplace.
The symptoms of BVD are wide-ranging and not often recognized by traditional eye doctors. Those who specialize in treating BVD often organize the symptoms into groups based on how they impact patients:
| Physical Findings:
| Neurological Symptoms:
|
| Binocular Vision Symptoms:
| Reading Challenges:
|
| Driving Symptoms:
| Anxiety Symptoms:
|
What causes BVD?
The condition can be caused by facial asymmetry similar to adults, or it can be caused by a concussion or head injury, such as from a soccer game or falling while riding a bike. Some research suggests that at least 20% of adults experience some symptoms of BVD that may be interfering with their everyday lives. Someone you know may be suffering from binocular vision dysfunction and not even realize it. Exactly why some people develop BVD and others don’t often isn’t clear.
Early research has found that BVD can be genetically inherited and run in families, most often from mother to daughter. In other clinical research, there is a direct correlation between head injury or concussion and the onset of BVD symptoms. There is also a connection between BVD and acquired brain injuries caused by a stroke, Lyme disease, COVID-19, and Mono (Mononucleosis).
Can BVD be misdiagnosed?
BVD symptoms are often mistaken for conditions like anxiety disorders, ADHD, migraines, sinus problems, and more. Proper diagnosis is crucial for effective treatment.
Find out if you are struggling with BVD: Take the BVD Test
What to expect: The NeuroVisual™ Exam
Our comprehensive NeuroVisual® Exam goes beyond standard eye tests to diagnose BVD. It includes assessments of eye movement, focusing, posture, balance, and more. Even with 20/20 vision, BVD can be present and impact your life.
What tests are performed during a NeuroVisual™ Exam?
A comprehensive binocular vision assessment is the best way to find out if you have binocular vision dysfunction. A NeuroVisual™ trained eye doctor can successfully diagnose BVD through a specialty binocular vision exam designed to assess your entire visual and physical system. In addition to standard eye exam tests, the eye doctor will assess the following:
- Eye movement
- Eye teaming and tracking
- Eye focusing
- Binocular fusion
- Balance and gait stability
- Posture and neck alignment
- Visual convergence
- Visual-spatial awareness
- Blood pressure and heart rate
- Depth perception
What are Prism Glasses?
Treating Eye Misalignment and Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD)
When your eyes are misaligned, your eyes are sending two different images to the brain which it has trouble merging. When the brain receives conflicting information from each eye, it strains the eye muscles to try and correct the misalignment – this causes the symptoms of BVD. A small percentage of patients with BVD have diplopia (or double vision) but most patients do not see double, yet they suffer from symptoms like migraines, dizziness, car sickness, and light sensitivity.
What are prism lenses?
Prism lenses are used to align the two images being sent to your brain, ‘tricking’ the brain into thinking the eyes are correctly aligned and reducing eye muscle strain. These lenses compensate for eye misalignment by redirecting the light rays to make the two images align. Prism is ground into lenses of your glasses with your regular prescription and doesn’t look any different than a normal pair of glasses, but they can relieve significant BVD symptoms.
Prism is measured and prescribed in prism diopters. Prism also has a direction: horizontal, vertical, or oblique. Historically, prism was prescribed in whole unit diopters (ex: 1 or 2 diopters) but these large increments of prism left patients feeling sick. New clinical research by the NeuroVisual™ Medicine Institute has determined much smaller amounts of prism are key to resolving patients’ subtle vision misalignment. Microprism is defined as prism lenses that are prescribed in fractional units of prism (ex: 0.25D, 0.75D, 1.25D, etc…).
Find out if you are struggling with BVD: Take the BVD Test
What do patients say about NeuroVisual™ Medicine and microprism glasses?
Patient Testimonials
Patients report significant improvements in symptoms and quality of life after using prism glasses. Check out their testimonials and success stories.
Wendy’s Path to Migraine Relief
Robert ‘Gets Back in the Game’ After Car Accident
Noah’s Handwriting, Hand-eye Coordination, and Confidence
FAQs of Binocular Vision Dysfunction
Our Frequently Asked Questions contain common questions we receive relating to Binocular Vision Dysfunction.
How do you know if you have binocular vision dysfunction?
Headaches and dizziness are the two most common symptoms associated with BVD. Patients with BVD tend to experience headaches in the front of the face or the temples. The dizziness is often described as feeling disoriented or lightheaded.
Other symptoms often accompany headaches and dizziness, including pain, difficulties with balance and coordination, reading, vision, and psychological symptoms.
- Pain Symptoms: Such as face ache, eye pain, or pain with eye movement (symptoms similar to sinus problems, migraines, TMJ problems); neck ache and upper back pain due to a head tilt (similar to spinal misalignment symptoms).
- Balance and Coordination Symptoms: Motion sickness, nausea, poor depth perception, unsteadiness while walking or drifting to one side while walking (“I’ve always been clumsy”), lack of coordination with symptoms being similar to those seen in patients with MS, patients who have experienced a stroke, an inner ear disorder, or Meniere’s Disease.
- Reading Symptoms: Difficulty with concentration (symptoms are similar to those experienced with ADHD), difficulty with reading and comprehension, skipping lines while reading, losing one’s place while reading, and words running together while reading (symptoms similar to those seen with a learning disability or dyslexia).
- Vision Symptoms: Blurred vision, double or overlapping vision, shadowed vision (symptoms similar to those seen in patients with MS), light sensitivity, difficulty with glare or reflection
- Psychological Symptoms: Feeling overwhelmed or anxious when in large contained spaces like malls or big box stores like Walmart, feeling overwhelmed or anxious in crowds or while driving (symptoms similar to those seen in patients with anxiety or agoraphobia or panic attacks).
If you have seen your primary care doctor or specialist and there has been no cause found for your symptoms, it could be BVD.
How do you fix binocular vision dysfunction?
Binocular Vision Dysfunction (BVD) is a serious eye condition where the eyes are misaligned, sending two different images to the brain. The brain struggles and overuses the eye muscles to merge these two different images into one clear image, causing symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, anxiety, motion sickness, and chronic neck pain.
BVD is treated by correcting eye misalignment with our specialized microprism lenses. They bend light in such a way that the misaligned images are once again realigned. Once this occurs, the eye muscles no longer have to strain, providing significant relief from headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, and all other symptoms.
Patients oftentimes report feeling noticeably better immediately. The average patient suffering from BVD will notice a 50% reduction of symptoms by the end of their first visit. Over the next several visits, the prism lenses are fine-tuned and continue to improve and eliminate the symptoms of BVD.
Can binocular vision dysfunction make it difficult to drive?
Yes, many patients with BVD experience difficulty with driving. This is because two common symptoms associated with the condition are dizziness and difficulty with depth perception, which alters your balance and equilibrium, making it difficult to see the road, signage, and nearby cars. Driving at night and anxiety while driving are also common symptoms for BVD patients.
How do you get BVD?
BVD can be the result of your facial asymmetry (where one eye is higher than the other), nerve or eye muscle abnormality (a common condition many people are born with), or it can develop as a result of stroke, concussion / brain injury, or a similar neurological disorder.
How is BVD diagnosed?
To determine if your symptoms are the result of Binocular Vision Dysfunction, we suggest you first see your primary care physician or specialist to rule out other causes for your symptoms. If no cause is found for the symptoms, then BVD might be the issue.
We ask you to fill out a specialized questionnaire designed to help diagnose those who have BVD.
You will be asked to complete a detailed Health History form.
An eye exam is performed to determine the need for correction of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism (a common imperfection in the eye’s curvature).
A specialized exam is performed (NeuroVisual™ Evaluation) to determine if vision misalignment is present.
If diagnosed with BVD, you will be fitted with a trial version of your new prescription during your exam. Most people notice a significant improvement in their symptoms within just a few minutes of putting on the trial lenses.
You can expect to spend approximately 3 hours in our office during your visit.
At what age can a person receive treatment for BVD?
Every person can receive treatment for BVD, as long as they are old enough to wear the specialized prism glasses and be able to tell (or show) the doctor how they feel. The youngest patient that has been helped was 8 months old. There is no upper age limit.
Can people with traumatic brain injury be helped?
Yes, but it is important that individuals with a traumatic brain injury be thoroughly evaluated by their doctor to rule out other causes of symptoms (including dizziness and headaches). If no other cause is found, our eye doctor can conduct a NeuroVisual™ Evaluation to determine if BVD is the cause of your symptoms. Even if you have experienced BVD symptoms for decades, you can still receive effective treatment for the condition.
Contact Us for More Info
Have questions? Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions you might have – We are more than happy to assist and provide you with the information you need. Call us at 940-569-1177 or email us: drs@boomtownvision.com
Find out if you are struggling with BVD: Take the BVD Test
Where to Find Us
- Phone: 940-569-1177
- Fax: 940-400-0203
- Email: drs@boomtownvision.com
(Do not send personal health information by email.)