TBI and Visual disorders
The Blinded Veterans Association is trying to influence legislation that would establish a military eye-injury registry and set up a joint traumatic brain injury optometry screening program between the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans. Two types of eye injuries have become more prevalent in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, direct blast injury to the eye and traumatic brain injury, in which the eyes do not necessarily suffer cuts or contusions but severe brain concussion affects nerve pathways related to sight. Visual disorders associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) include diplopia (double vision), convergence disorder (an eye-muscle disorder affecting near vision), photophobia (light sensitivity), ocular-motor dysfunction (also an eye-muscle disorder) and an inability to interpret print. Many patients could exhibit better eye health following a TBI if neuro-optometric exams are performed. About 20 blinded military personnel who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq will attend BVA’s 62nd national convention next month in Albuquerque, N.M. ABC correspondent Bob Woodruff, who sustained a severe head injury from a roadside bomb blast in Iraq, is invited as the keynote speaker. He lost 30 percent of the vision in his left eye as a result of the injury.
