Half of a person’s normal field of vision is lost when they have hemianopia. People may experience vision loss in either the right or left half of each eye. A stroke can harm brain regions responsible for controlling vision, altering eyesight.
The most frequent loss of vision following a hemianopia and stroke. About 10% of stroke patients are found to have homonymous hemianopia (HH), which may have an impact on their functional neurologic prognosis.
Stroke is the most common cause of HH (1-5). It’s interesting to see that many of these patients still use motor vehicles despite having VF defects. An disruption in the blood supply to a portion of the brain causes a stroke. The brain tissue cannot receive the nutrition and oxygen it needs because of a reduced blood flow.
Depending on whether part of the brain is obstructed, the repercussions of this obstruction may be felt across the entire body.
Types of vision problems after stroke:
Patients who experience strokes or other types of brain trauma that impair the visual centres on the right side of the brain typically experience vision loss to the left (in both eyes). Patients who get strokes that harm their left side of the brain’s vision centres will experience loss of vision to the right.
Visual field loss:
The entire region that a person can see around them is known as their visual field. Visual field loss happens when the visual pathway, which is the path that signals go from the eye to the brain, is damaged in any way leads to hemianopia and stroke.
Any direct items directly in front of it, together with anything to their sides and around them, will be included. A person may experience visual field loss in one eye, limiting their vision to either the left or the right side, for example. Hemianopia is the name given to the most typical stroke.
A blind spot or scotoma may occasionally result from visual field loss and impact one or both eyes. Additionally, the centre of the visual field may have this problem. In some situations, staring at an object may cause it to vanish from view.
The upper or lower portion of the field of vision may be lost in certain persons due to visual field loss that happens at the top or bottom of the eye. Peripheral vision, or the region of the visual field closest to the borders of the eyes, may also be impacted as an alternative.
Visual neglect
A patient with visual neglect displays a lack of responsiveness to stimuli in one-half of their visual field, which cannot be attributed to primary impairment to the visual geniculostriate pathways. Visual neglect is a neuropsychological attention problem.
Numerous issues with visual processing may result from this disability. Visual neglect is the most typical Trusted Source type of issue. When a person does not react to visual cues in the areas that were impacted by the stroke, this is referred to as visual neglect or spatial inattention.
Agnosia
Agnosia is a rare neurological condition brought on by a stroke in which a patient loses the ability to recognise and identify things, people, or sounds with one or more of their senses, even while other senses are otherwise functioning correctly. Damaged brain regions will prevent people from retrieving information related to visual memory for hemianopia and stroke.
- Visual agnosia: The patient has trouble identifying well-known faces and objects.
- Auditory agnosia: Patient is unable to distinguish sounds, even voices of individuals.
- Tactile agnosia: Patient is unable to recognise objects by touch without using the sense of sight.
Eye movement issues:
Eye movement disorders like: can result from uncoordinated eye movements caused by poor eye muscle control or damage. Nystagmus is the medical term for rapid, erratic eye movements. Sometimes people refer to this as having dancing eyes.
Strabismus is a condition in which one or both eyes are not pointed in the same direction. A person may struggle to regulate their eye movement or their visual field if Trusted Source a stroke disrupts the nerves that govern their eye muscles.
The nerves that regulate the muscles that surround the eyeball and those that dilate and constrict the pupil might be affected by nerve issues and causes hemianopia and stroke. Double vision, nystagmus, oscillopsia, and diseases of the pupils, such as anisocoria, might be indicators of such issues.
When a person looks at something, their eyes may flutter or leap. A person’s ability to assess the distance between objects may also be impacted by eye movement problems.
Blurred vision
The objects you see won’t appear sharp and clear if we have blurry eyesight. Depending on what is causing it, you can only have one eye with blurry vision or both eyes. There are times when your entire field of vision is hazy, and other times it only affects a portion of it.
Tips for managing vision problems:
Depending on the underlying problem with eyesight and how it impacts a person, for example:
- Avoiding nighttime or low-light conditions while driving.
- Preventing dryness by using over-the-counter eye drops..
- Putting on sunglasses or glare-reducing eyewear to lessen light sensitivity
- Get a thorough dilated eye exam.
- Have a complete dilated eye examination.
- Eat healthily to preserve your vision.
- Keep a healthy weight.
- Use safety eyewear.
- Give up smoking or never try.
Some of the prevention methods:
Consulting a doctor
Working closely with their medical team after a stroke, a patient should disclose any potential visual problems. Even if they don’t have any obvious symptoms, a doctor may still recommend them to a specialist.
Neuro-optometrists and neuro-ophthalmologists are medical professionals who focus on problems with the eyes and the brain. These specialists identify and treat neurological diseases that affect the nervous systems that control the eyes and the brain, as well as conditions that impair the visual system.
Corrective lenses
The loss of vision caused by a stroke is typically not helped by glasses or corrective contact lenses. However, some unique varieties of corrective lenses could be useful for particular problems. Prisms alter how light enters the eye to alter how an individual perceives items. They may assist in bringing objects into the user’s field of vision or deter the person from gazing into a blind spot.
