3.5 - Binocular Vision Dysfunction After Brain Injury

When your eyes stop working as a team, the world turns fuzzy, disorienting, or doubled—and it doesn’t take much trauma to throw them off.

Think of your eyes like two cameras filming the same scene. If one shifts slightly out of alignment, the footage is distorted. That’s binocular vision dysfunction (BVD)—and it’s a common, often overlooked outcome of concussion and brain injury.

In this post, we’ll explore how BVD develops, why it’s so disruptive, and how vision rehabilitation re-teaches the brain to sync both eyes again.

How Brain Injury Causes BVD

• Disruption of eye teaming due to muscle or nerve signal imbalance

• Fatigue or stress in the visual system post-injury

• Cranial nerve involvement or vestibular dysfunction

Symptoms often emerge subtly and worsen over time if untreated.

Signs of Binocular Vision Dysfunction

• Double vision (intermittent or constant)

• Head tilt or squinting while reading

• Eye strain or frequent headaches

• Poor depth perception

• Motion sensitivity or balance issues

• Avoidance of visual tasks due to fatigue

📊 In post-concussion patients, up to 40% show signs of undiagnosed BVD.

How Vision Rehabilitation Treats BVD

• Prism lenses to realign visual input

• Binocular vision therapy to retrain eye teaming and depth perception

• Balance and posture therapy to support vestibular-visual coordination

• Gradual exposure training to rebuild motion tolerance and reduce visual fatigue

Quote to Remember

Final Thoughts

Binocular vision dysfunction can quietly derail reading, driving, and daily confidence. But it’s also one of the most responsive conditions to vision therapy. Recovery doesn’t mean settling for double vision—it means seeing clearly again, with both eyes on the same team.