After a serious brain injury, there are many different side effects that a victim could suffer from, such as speech and language difficulties, memory problems, behavioral and emotional changes, and headaches and vision loss, among other changes. For the purposes of this article, we will be focusing on the loss of vision that can occur following a brain injury.
When trauma to the brain occurs following a motor vehicle accident or medical malpractice incident, it is very likely that some degree of vision loss will have occurred. This is because the brain is involved in vision, as the brain sends signals to the eyes. This is why any time someone experiences a loss of vision, it can be life-changing to say the least.
Some of the different ways that brain injury victims’ vision can be impacted include:
- Blurred vision. This change in vision can cause a person to lose the ability to see fine detail. As a result, objects and words appear hazy and out of focus due to the lack of sharpness of vision.
- Double vision. When damage to the brain occurs, it can cause muscle weakness in eyes. Consequently, a person may suffer from double vision, which causes a person to see two images overlapping each other.
- Partial blindness. This type of vision impairment leads to limited vision such as seeing partial objects. Some types of partial vision loss following a brain injury can include: hemianopsia, the loss of half of one’s visual field, either horizontally or vertically; quadranopsia, the loss of a quarter of the visual field; homonymous hemianopsia, the same quarter or half of visual field affects both eyes; and bitemporal hemianopsia, the loss of the outer or inner half of vision in both right and left eyes.
- Complete blindness. This devastating result is possible with certain types of brain injury.
Any of these vision impairments can make it difficult if not impossible to read, drive, work, participate in hobbies, or perform daily routines. Although some types of vision issues can be corrected through prescriptions and visual rehabilitation, sometimes vision loss results in permanent disabilities.
If you suffered any type of vision impairment as a result of medical malpractice, you need to be compensated accordingly. Impaired vision is a major disability and we will fight to get you the maximum compensation possible. Please call us today for a free consultation at 703-721-4233. We would be happy to answer your questions and get to work on your case.