Any kind of loss of vision can be terrifying. If you’ve been in a car accident and are now experiencing vision issues, there’s a good chance the two are related—and the vision issue may be temporary or much more serious, depending on what happened.
There are two main ways a car accident affects your vision:
- Direct trauma to the eye. In most cases, if your eye was injured—such as by broken glass—you will know it. This is an emergency and you need medical care immediately.
- Side effect of a head injury. What’s more common is for car accident victims to have no direct eye injury, but to have taken a blow to the head and end up with vision issues. This can happen with head injuries ranging from a “mild” concussion to a traumatic brain injury. Remember, all concussions are brain injuries of some kind.
Both types of injuries deserve to be treated as an emergency, and both tend to get more severe the longer they go untreated. Do not take chances with your vision—in many cases, the sooner you see a doctor, the more likely it is you will be able to get your sight back.
We’ll discuss both types of vision problems below.
Vision Problems Caused by Eye Injuries
Examples of eye injuries in car accident include:
- Trauma to eye. If your eye is punctured or pierced by some kind of injury, you’ll likely require eye surgery or a similar treatment. Whether you regain vision will depend on what happened and how the treatment goes.
- Debris in eye. Dust and other debris may seem minor, but can scratch the cornea or even deeper into the eye. This may lead to blurry vision or difficulty keeping the eye open. Normal vision usually returns once the eye has been treated by a doctor and has a chance to heal.
- Hitting the dashboard or another surface. If you hit something head-on with your eye, even with the eye closed, the impact can damage the eye. It may cause swelling that causes temporary vision issues, or it may lead to retina detachment. A detached retina can cause permanent blindness in some cases. In other cases, it may be possible to recover.
Treat any eye injury or blindness as an emergency and see a doctor immediately.
Vision Issues and Head Injuries
One of the most common injuries in a car accident is striking the head against the dashboard or another object—and these head injuries can cause traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Up to 40% of people who suffer a TBI will have some kind of vision-related disorder, according to experts.
These vision disorders happen for several reasons:
- Swelling from the head injury puts pressure on the optic nerve, or rupture blood vessels in the eye, causing loss of vision
- The areas of the brain that interpret information from the eye may be directly damaged, or may be under pressure from nearby swelling, causing vision issues
- The brain may go through “seizures” of activity where visual disorders, disorientation, or even hallucinations come and go erratically
- The overall cognitive strain of the brain may make it difficult to interpret or understand what you are seeing
Every TBI is unique. In some cases these symptoms will be temporary, and in many others they will get better with time or rehabilitation but may never fully go away. It depends on the cause, the severity of your TBI, and whether you get the kind of treatment and care that you need. For some TBI patients, it’s possible for other areas of the brain to “take over” and start managing your vision over the course of months or a year.
If you are experiencing vision issues after an accident, you need to speak to a lawyer
Most of us rely on our vision every waking moment of the day. If your vision is threatened, do not take changes. Get the medical help you need and the legal help you deserve. Our lawyers can help you assert a strong car accident claim—and win the absolute most money you have a right to. Don’t settle for less. Let us give you a FREE consultation. Call us at (404) 341-6555 or fill out the form to the right to get your free consultation today.
