Low Vision Solution for Optic Atrophy and Optic Nerve Damage

October 6, 2023

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A research study conducted in Baltimore, United States, has shown that Optic Atrophy accounts for the prevalence of blindness in 0.8% of the population.

What if a low vision aid that lets you restore all your visual capacities could counter this vision loss?

IrisVision electronic glasses are one such low vision solution.

It restores lost vision for people with optic atrophy and optic nerve damage, including various other visually impairing diseases.

To understand this better, let’s take a brief look at how optic nerve damage can affect eyesight, and how IrisVision fills that visual gap for a person.

Optic Atrophy vs. Optic Nerve Damage

The optic nerve extends from behind each eye towards the brain. It comprises ganglion cell bundles whose primary function is to transmit visual stimuli to the brain. The brain then decodes these neural messages and translates them into images that we can comprehend.

Damage to the optic nerve can occur because of various reasons, such as a congenital disease (e.g. Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy), an eye disease (such as Glaucoma, Optic Neuritis e.t.c.), or damage to the optic nerve anywhere along the pathway to the brain caused by brain trauma, tumor or inflammation. To learn more about conditions that lead to optic nerve damage, read here. The severity and nature of vision loss depend upon the cause of optic nerve damage.

Optic Nerve Atrophy is the most advanced stage of optic nerve damage, and it has a detrimental effect on a variety of visual capacities of a person, including peripheral vision, central vision, and color vision deficiency.

What Are The symptoms of Optic Nerve Damage & Optic Atrophy?

People may experience different symptoms in case of different root causes:

Wide-angle glaucoma usually shows no symptoms, but a sudden loss of peripheral vision occurs.
Narrow-angle glaucoma shows the following symptoms:
- Red eyes
- Pain in eye movement
- Headache
- Nausea/vomiting
Symptoms of optic nerve head drusen may include:
- Central vision loss
- Dim vision
- Blind spots
The following symptoms usually accompany optic nerve damage due to brain stroke:
- Memory loss
- Difficulty understanding speech
- Fatigue
- Dizziness

How Does Optic Nerve Damage Affect Vision?

Optic nerve damage and optic atrophy are more prevalent in older adults. It leads to the deterioration of multiple visual domains. Some of the common ways it affects vision are:

Blurry vision
Reduced sharpness and clarity of vision (visual acuity)
Inability to see from the corner of the eye (reduced peripheral vision)
Color vision deficiency
Contrast sensitivity diminishes; a person may have difficulty in distinguishing written text from its background
Poor constriction of the pupil
Decreased brightness in either eye

Treatments for Optic Nerve Damage and Optic Atrophy

To treat optic nerve damage because of glaucoma, doctors usually recommend a combination of oral medication, eye drops, and microsurgery. These may sometimes have side effects. However, glaucoma is a lifelong condition that requires frequent follow-up and gradual vision loss over the years.

Timely treatment can halt optic nerve damage caused by inflammation, brain injury, or compression, but in most cases, it is difficult to restore the vision once lost.

You may wonder in today’s technologically and medically advanced world if there is anything that could light up the world again for a visually impaired person?

Yes. IrisVision is exactly that device that can turn the world around for blind and visually hampered people. Now that you know, let’s dive straight into the details of how it can help.

IrisVision: A Low Vision Solution for Optic Nerve Damage and Optic Atrophy

IrisVision is an FDA-registered medical device, which is clinically validated and developed by the collaboration of researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Stanford, and UPMC Pittsburgh.

It is a wearable low vision aid that uses the power of a Samsung smartphone fixed inside a VR headset. The IrisVision headset is powered by custom software that counters different low vision problems, such as magnification, contrast, and image clarity.

Given below are some modes and features of IrisVision Optic Atrophy Glasses, that can help you or a loved one.

IrisReader (Optical Character Recognition)

Given how Optic Atrophy affects a person’s ability to read, IrisVision is created with a special feature called IrisReader, that makes reading pain-free. From medicine prescriptions to cookbooks, or a novel, you can now read what you want to with ease.

IrisReader uses the technology of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and scans the page, after which it reads the text aloud to the user. This relieves the eye strain for users while still enabling them to understand a written text without a problem.

Bioptic Mode

While IrisVision helps scan and listen to lengthy texts, it also enables you to zoom in and magnify reading signs. The Bioptic mode of IrisVision lets you magnify a specific object or text without losing the context of the entire visual.

For a person with low vision, this can be immensely helpful in reading road signs, warning labels, or locating an item on your kitchen shelf.

14x Magnification Power

Optic nerve damage diminishes the clarity of vision, making it exceedingly difficult for a person to recognize the things in front of them.

To cater to this, IrisVision comes with a vivid, high-definition view that lets you autofocus on a far-away object up to 14x times its original size, meanwhile giving you a 70° field of view

Reading Color Mode

IrisVision is designed such that it also helps people with optic nerve damage overcome poor color vision.

Most people with optic damage face difficulty in recognizing and distinguishing an object from its background because of reduced color differentiation, hence IrisVision eases this process by offering multiple contrast options. You can use a high color contrast or whichever that suits you best for easy viewing.

Reading Line Mode

Reading Line Mode is a customized form of the different reading modes of IrisVision. This mode is specifically aimed at making it convenient to skim through lengthy lines of written text, such as in a newspaper or a book.

It comprises a bar magnifier to comfortably view a segment of the lines.

Netflix Live Streaming

As often as normal people want sources of entertainment in their leisure time, so do people with visual impairment. But it is overwhelmingly difficult to have a good time when you are inhibited by the absence of sight, and cannot take pleasure in any activity.

Therefore, the IrisVision device incorporates live streaming of both YouTube and Netflix using an internet connection, and browse your favorite shows for a pleasant pastime.

Smart Voice Commands

For a convenient hands-free experience and a user-friendly interface, IrisVision comes with a voice-enabled search. You can simply give out verbal commands and the headset browses through its various modes at your will.

Key Takeaway

Optic nerve damage is a painful eye condition to put up with for anyone, young or old. Its presenting symptoms and vision loss, both hinder even the basic daily routine activities of a person.

However, advanced low vision aids today can help achieve a better quality of life if not a complete cure to this disease. Read a firsthand account of Ryan, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 9, and resulting in lost of his vision, however the IrisVision low vision aid brought back sight and his independence.

Low vision aids have helped thousands of people with Optic Atrophy live better lives every day, and you can also be one of them.