Introducing the Neurolens
Blog vol 6.34. Introducing the Neurolens
At Burlington Eyecare, we have recently added a battery of binocular vision tests to our exams. A company from Dallas, Texas, Newton, has developed a way to measure eye alignment at varying distances and fixation targets. Since 2020, with the Covid pandemic and a significant rise in screen usage, an average of over nine hours a day, we have noticed a lot more computer eyestrain.
In 2012 a company called Eyebrain Medical started developing a way of performing these measurements. They made a device 3 X 3 feet in size and weighing 100 pounds. The patient put their eyes into the attached goggles and performed varying eye movement tasks while the device measured their eyes through a series of infrared sensors and then printed out a report of the patient’s alignment. A lot of people had misaligned eyes and they found a strong correlation between misalignment and headaches, neck strain, and eye fatigue.
Would helping the eyes align relieve these problems? Researchers found that this misalignment was causing a condition called Visually Induced Trigeminal Dysphoria. When this dysphoria occurs, feedback from the extraocular muscles overstimulates the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal. The constant out-of-phase movements over a long day strain the trigeminal and cause headaches, neck strain, eye fatigue, and even dry eyes. These researchers developed a lens that can realign the eyes at different viewing distances by creating a contoured prism. The size of the prism changes as the fixation distance changes, minimizing prism adaptation and lining up the eyes for variable tasks.
They worked with prototypes and refined the lens design until the patients had comfortable, clear vision. We are now on to the 3rd generation measuring device, called the N3. This device uses a virtual reality headset to measure eye misalignments (Read more about it here).
Interestingly, studies with the resulting Neurolens have shown a significant increase in reading speed. A retrospective white paper also shows a significant reduction in headache symptoms when using Neurolens.
We are excited to provide this new technology to our patients and are assessing all our patients with the N3 headset (at no extra cost), fitting the lenses when needed. We are learning a lot with this new data available to us and are able to help symptomatic screen users in a new way. Neurolens is an excellent option for people complaining of eyestrain and headaches.
Til next week,
The good doctor
