In November 2018, Optik Magazine published my article on Visual Stress. With a circulation of over 11,000 specialists in the Eye Care Industry in Canada, I am certain that more specialists will now understand how the discomfort and visual perceptual symptoms of Visual Stress impacts their patients and clients.
While it may be hard to believe, filtering with colour can make a difference in reducing many of the persistent symptoms of concussions and brain injuries as well as standard visual perceptual and visual processing symptoms associated with migraines, learning and attention difficulties, and other neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions.
The article came about following a presentation on Visual Stress in April 2018 to a large group of 900 Eye Care Professionals in Toronto. The presentation was very well received with many great reviews and requests for more information.
Take a look at the article, there is a bit of a history, an outline of the symptoms and related conditions, a bit of my personal story, a description of the research, and information on the various solutions available to alleviate and help manage the symptoms of Visual Stress. And a bonus, the information is in both English and French. This is very helpful for our francophone clients as there isn’t much available on Visual Stress in French. While we are set up to do our assessments in both languages the materials and research and much of the documentation is only in English.
What this article has done is given us the opportunity to get the facts out - Visual Stress and the assessment and treatment protocols are evidence-based. So, it is not a matter of proving it anymore – it is more about getting the information out so that people can see the research and gain a better understanding of how important it is to investigate Visual Stress as a possible cause of client/patient symptoms. If not, the symptoms may be attributed to some other cause and treatments, designed for other conditions, will likely be ineffective, causing frustration by both the healthcare provider and the person suffering from symptoms.
Too often we see clients in our clinic who say they have tried everything yet still suffer from undiagnosed and untreated light sensitivity, headaches, vestibular problems, cognitive fatigue, etc. As soon as they put on their precision tinted lenses it is like a cloud has lifted. They can open their eyes, no longer feel dizzy, their head clears, and their outlook completely changes. “There is something I should have tried – and a lot sooner!”
Hopefully, articles like this will ensure they get assessed sooner – and receive treatment sooner so they can get back to work or school and life, sooner.
A big thank you to the team at Optik Magazine!