So what will an Neuro Opthamologist do for me
 

ok so ive been having double vision looking at lighted objects,sensitivity to light and vision flashes for the good part of 8 months now since i got my concussion.

most of my other symptoms are gone except the vision symptoms so i recently had my eyes checked for the second time at my eye services health center. they did all sorts of test checking my eyes medically then they gave me a vision evaluation. they said my eyes are perfect and fine and that the problem lay in my brain. sucks.

the eye doctors told me to go to a neuro opthamologist and i made an appointment for the end of October. what exactly will the neuro opthamologist do for me? i saw a neurologist 2 months ago and he didnt do anything but give me some shots to my head for headaches and made me make a follow up in January.

will a neuro opthamologist make me do a MRI? what will they possible do for me at this point you think? are there steroids i could take to make my optic nerve back to normal?

The neuro-ophthalmologist will look at how your brain and eyes work together. It is a complex connection that is beyond the training of the other two specialties.

Getting this referral is good. Many have difficulty getting this referral.

Try to be patient and let him do his best.


My best to you.

Re: So what will neuro-ophthalmologist do for me?
 

Yes. This, as Mark says in the above. Ditto. True.
In my own experience, the eye doctors we normally see, i.e. our own optometrist or ophthalmologist, may or may not make such referral, and particularly if you don't specifically suggest/ask for it.

Post-collision 4 yrs ago, 2008, the ER twice referred me to see my eye doctor. I did; both my ophthalmologist and my optometrist. That was immediate 2-followups.

Both confirmed "significant changes" in my vision.
(Major-major changes, as I had just seen both drs. just weeks prior to the accident, and my vision was very fine at
~ 20/30, 20/40, requiring only a change in reading glasses prescription. Distance vision was still nearly perfect @ 20/20).

The wacky vision probs, plus double-vision, blurry-vision, and one eye turned outward from center (still) was all immediate post-mvc and enduring (for me) now 4 yrs.

At year#2 I drove long-distance to see a vision-therapy optometrist. Some home eye exercises, which in my case, were of no real help. Too ffar for me to return for any followup.

At year#3 I made an appt. with my "local low-vision community vision rehabilitation services", a not-for-profit orgztn focused on helping people with vision disabilities. The most excellent young woman optometrist/eye dr was more thorough and attuned to me than the other 3 drs I had seen. She expressed 'concern' that whatever was going on might be beyond her realm of experience and expertise, thus made referral to a neuro-ophthalmlogist, saying that his findings might add a prism to one lense of fulltime-wear eyeglasses. That he did.

Neuro-ophthalmologist tests were highly interesting and unlike any prior eye/vision exam that I have had. They even gave to me a copy/printout of the super-high-tech computerized-graphics readout of the computer's analysis of my vision, for each eye. Not just numbers, lines and columns, but also a 'visual' picture of my vision for each eye. Very interesting, yes!

Did he take the time to *explain* or tell me/educate me about any of those findings? Nope! His office sent his findings back to the referring optometrist. She herself personally wrote to me a letter informing me of the conclusion of his findings, i.e. adding a small prism to her accompanying Rx for eyeglasses.

So, it was 3 yrs before I got a referral, appropriate in my case, to neuro-ophthalmologist!

In all fairness, I add that I had of my own initiative appointed with a neuro-ophthalmologist 2 ys ago, but there was none such specialist in my region, state, other than state university medical center, 300 miles away. I'm still not able to drive that!

Yours in a better vision for us,
Theta ;)

Hopefully they will give you or refer you for vision therapy. This was one of the most helpful things I did in my recovery. It alleviated many headaches and other things -- and I didn't even perceive that I was having difficulty with my vision. If you are perceiving things out of whack with your vision, I think it will help even more.

Basically, vision therapy will train your eyes to work together again, and will train your eyes and your brain to work in concert more efficiently again. Those pathways can get disrupted and need to be "re-learned" after a concussion. Or, things that were minor problems before can become major problems after a concussion.

I think this is a very good development for you!

Eowyn,

Just wanted to clarify something here.
Your vision-therapy was given by neuro-ophthalmologist's office?
Or did they refer you elsewhere for it? If so, to where?

Neuro-ophthalmologist (M.D.) would be unlikely to subscribe to vision-therapy, which is largely practiced by only some "neuro-optometric" or "neuro-developmental" optometrists, "O.D."(Doctor of Optometry).

Perhaps you got a 'thinking-out-of-the-MD-box' neuro-ophthalmologist who incorporates the neuro-optometric practitioners? :)
Neuro-ophthalmology as a profession still finds vision-therapy largely controversial and scientifically unsupported.

I neither agree nor support that, mind you. I just wanted to clarify that the original poster of the question is unlikely to get vision-therapy from his/her neuro-ophthalmologist.

Respectfully,
Theta ;)

No, mine was from an optometrist as you suggest. I guess I didn't realize there was such a difference.

In which case I rescind the majority of my post, and I don't know what a neuro-ophthalmologist will do for you! Sorry. :(

What are the chances i will get an MRI done on this appointment?

And thanks to all replying your replies are awesome and apprciated. I never knew getting over a concussion could take so long i must have really bruised my brain.

Your experience may vary
 

If you inquire, request it, you *may* perhaps get "orders" by the neuro-ophthalmologist for an MRI. It would be perhaps unlikely to actually "get an MRI done on this appointment."

MRI is typically appointed in advance either @ hospital, medical center, university med center, or other MRI facility.

Theta

Your experience may vary
 

If you inquire, request it, you *may* perhaps get "orders" by the neuro-ophthalmologist for an MRI. It would be perhaps unlikely to actually "get an MRI done on this appointment" your first with neuro-ophthalmologist.
MRI is typically appointed in advance either @ hospital, medical center, university med center, or MRI facility.

Theta