[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Can treating a condition that keeps your eyes from working together be the cure for runaway anxiety?
Some have suggested that successfully managing a condition known as binocular vision dysfunction – or BVD – might reduce the unease many people feel when engaging in everything from driving to shopping for groceries.
Visual health and
emotional health are indeed linked, says Joshua Watt, an optometrist and member of the American Optometric Association Vision Therapy Task Force.
“Our visual system is our primary sensory system,” Watt says. “It contributes significantly to our emotional state and feeling safe and secure.”
But before you rush out to your optometrist or ophthalmologist, it is important to understand want BVD is – and what it is not.
What is BVD?
BVD is typically associated with problems that affect "eye teaming" -- also known as binocular vision, which allows both eyes to work together in a coordinated fashion.
However, BVD itself is simply an umbrella term encompassing many symptoms, Watt says
“BVD is not an official diagnosis or even a medical term,” Watt says. “It is a term that has been popularized on social media and marketing from certain companies.”
The symptoms associated with BVD are widespread, impacting up to 25% to 35% of the population in some form, Watt says.
“Those numbers are mind-blowing, and something that is overlooked when truly addressing these issues in young kids, adolescents and adults,” he says.
Some patients with BVD have double vision, which results when light falls on different parts of the retina in each eye. But symptoms can vary from patient to patient.
Other symptoms related to BVD might include:
- Headaches
- Dizziness and balance problems
- Nausea
- Near blurriness
- Eye pain/strain
- Unstable vision
- Poor depth perception
- Frequent eye squinting
The impacts of BVD can be significant.
“If the binocular system is not working appropriately, it can cause our sense of balance and stability to be disrupted,” Watt says. When this happens, many people feel less safe, he adds.
Some patients might begin to feel a sense of
anxiety and panic, and their overall quality of life can suffer, Watt says. Work and scholastic performance also might deteriorate.
What causes BVD?
People are not born with BVD, Watt says.
“However, it is something that we may be predisposed to experience,” he says. “It is very common for siblings to experience the condition, or children to experience it if a parent has the same condition.”
Conditions such as convergence insufficiency and hyperphoria that involve misalignment of the eyes have been linked with BVD.
Experts believe many other health conditions – ranging from Parkinson’s disease to shingles and concussions – can trigger to BVD, as can hormonal changes that result from
pregnancy,
menopause and
thyroid conditions.
Even people who have no other problems with their eyesight – and whose vision is otherwise perfect – can struggle with BVD.
What should you do if you experience BVD symptoms?
Patients who experience any of the symptoms commonly associated with BVD should contact an optometrist. Ask the optometrist if he or she would be willing to test for BVD during an eye exam, Watt says.
As part of such testing, you might be asked to describe your symptoms and how long you have experienced them, and to report the severity of your symptoms.
The optometrist is also likely to test your visual skills and look for the types of small misalignments of your eyes that trigger the problems related to BVD.
Some optometrists are not willing to test for BVD, or lack the expertise to diagnose the condition. In that case, patients should ask for a referral to a provider who would be willing and able to evaluate those visual skills, Watt says.
Patients need to be their own best advocates in pursuing a solution to problems related to their vision, Watt says. You should not be afraid to raise concerns with your health care providers and to ask many questions about your condition so that you can find the right treatment.
“There are solutions to these problems,” Watt says.
Treating the symptoms of BVD
There are multiple ways to treat the symptoms of BVD, Watt says.
"Since BVD is an umbrella term, not all treatment options are beneficial for all diagnoses," he says.
Those who experience eye teaming issues might benefit from wearing compensatory prism glasses.
Prism glasses bend light before it travels through the eye. This helps redirect the light to the proper place on the retinas on your eyes, allowing the brain to fuse the two images into a single image.
Many patients experience long-term benefits from using prism glasses, but not everybody.
"Some patients experience improvements of their symptoms initially, but over time the symptoms may return," Watt says.
Other patients might find that a simple change in their glasses prescription can help reduce the symptoms of BVD.
Additionally, vision therapy can be beneficial to overcome many conditions of BVD. This type of therapy aims to strengthen the communication between the brain the eyes.
"Vision therapy has been proven to be more effective with in-office sessions under the supervision of a qualified optometrist," Watt says, although he adds that home therapy exercises can be beneficial with some conditions.
Finding the right solution for reducing symptoms can provide significant relief to those struggling with both visual and mental health issues, Watt says.
"Many of my patients experience a decrease of anxiety and depression as their visual skills improve," he says.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="Featured Products" border_width="2"][vc_row_inner equal_height="yes" content_placement="middle" gap="35"][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="172524" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1706492377897{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-synergy-eye-defense-formula"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="172525" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1706492396529{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/nature-made-vision-with-areds-2-formula"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="172526" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1706492415293{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/natrol-stress-anxiety-day-and-night"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
