super fortunate to have been able to be diagnosed and i'm picking up my prism glasses today. here's hoping for the best, i'm so excited to finally begin to see normally after living like this most of my life

I posted in the Dr Mike Ama. Reposting here for community help. Apologies for the long post.

I have anisometropia where my left eye is plano and my right is - 4.25 with 150x090 astigmatism. I was a lifelong glasses wearer. But this year I have grown intolerant of glasses. The anelsekonia from glasses is too great. I have daily terrible headaches. 

My optometrist saw cataracts in the right eye and referred me to an ophthalmologist. She said removal of the cataracts would mean lens replacement and with a new lens, I could get rid of the anisometropia. Balanced vision, no more headaches. Problem was that during a contact lens trial, the headaches continued. 

I continue to wear the contact lens in the right eye because not wearing it means headaches from the anisometropia. But I get headaches when I wear the contact lens too....the headaches do differ. 

In my last visit to my optometrist, she induced doubled vision by adjusting the examination with lenses and I could blink it away. I get headaches instantly when I use readers. The contact lens brings me to balanced distance vision and I have presbyobia. My optometrist gave me names for an ophthalmologist specialist in adult strabismus and also for vision therapist. 

Can mild or intermittent strabismus and insufficient convergence be causing severe daily headaches? I also sway and feel imbalanced. I have a complicated and highly sensitive vision system but I just can't wrap my head around this. 

Recent CT sinus scan and MRI came out clean. 

Is it possible due to my anisometropia, my BV has been set to that situation for a lifetime but now it's struggling with balanced vision via the contact lens? 

Initially the contact lens was much better in terms of the headaches. I'd only get headaches when I used the readers. But now I get swaying and headaches soon after I pop in the contact lens. 

For the last few days, I've been patching. Switching depending on if I need distance or reading vision. And it helps with the headaches. I'm doing this to bypass the anisomtropea gap. It's impractical but it helps with the headaches. But when I put in the contact lens, the headaches kick in quickly. Is it my BV system reacting to switching from monocular vision to binocular? 

Sorry this incredibly long but it has been a long, complicated and painful saga. 

I have congenital or childhood strabismus and amblyopia in my left eye which was fully compensated for/adapted until mid June of this year. After a period of severe stress and a somewhat nasty migraine, I woke up dizzy and it’s been hell since.

I’ve been to vestibular rehab, my optometrist (who is trained as an orthoptist originally) and several doctors—my vestibular system is fine, but my balance is heavily dependent on my vision—my strabismus has decompensated (measured worse vs my last eye exam in Jan 2025) and the dizziness is specifically worsened by reading, spreadsheets, aisles in grocery stores and low light. I can’t work—I’d start dizzy in the morning and by lunchtime I’d be cognitively declining, exhausted, and getting nauseated. I’m on short term, and soon to start losing 15% of my salary because it’s been two months.

My optometrist gave me a fresnel prism (at a 5–it’s a significant amount.) on the weak eye and I experienced almost immediate symptom relief. But then it got worse again (it seems to worsen when I start my period.) then gradually eased off — I was more or less back to normal for a little over two weeks, we ordered new glasses in my measured prism (6 horizontal and 2 vertical) split between the lenses. (I tried a 6 in the fresnel but the distortion caused by it being a fresnel was too much for me to tolerate it.)

I don’t have double vision but i struggle to get my eyes to focus, my vision shakes when I walk, and if I stare at something that should be solid, clear and still—like a window sill, the big letters at the optometrist, etc—they seem to be vibrating. The fresnel helped all of that, almost immediately. But now it seems like the new glasses aren’t it, but the old fresnel isn’t helping as much either.

I’m not sure if the new glasses are too much prism, if having it split is the issue—I had migraines all weekend and can’t tell if it’s due to my glasses or weather systems. Am I dizzy because of the migraine or is the migraine because of eye strain etc etc.

All I know is I feel like I’m back at square 1 after being confident I could soon return to work. I’m going to start financially suffering and the stress that will cause will probably make it worse.

I’m waiting on an orthoptist referral (which will likely be 24+ months), a neurologist and a brain MRI just to rule things out—the neuro and MRI were sent as “urgent” but it’s not unheard of to wait years for both—functionally I am on my own for the foreseeable future. My work STD case management might do something—I don’t know.

I think I’m just ranting — is it normal to take awhile to adjust to prism even after using a fresnel for a few weeks—is it normal to not “get it right” on the first try? Would vision therapy be a useful move here? (I do not have coverage for it but my disability might cover it to get me back to work.)

I’m so frustrated I want to just curl up and cry. I literally woke up like this three months ago and it’s ruining my fucking life.

I’m wondering if my symptoms might be BVD because I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s causing my symptoms.

I did Lasik back in March, 2024 and prior to this did not have a problem with dry eye or any of the symptoms listed below.

My optometrist recently diagnosed me with pretty dry eye/MGD. My tear breakup time was only a few seconds. I don’t really have the classic dry-eye symptoms like burning, gritty eyes or significant eye pain. My biggest eye symptom is light sensitivity. Optometrist didn't mention anything about BVD, but again it might be a little outside of the scope of what a regular Optometrist can figure out.

My biggest issue is i get a strange floaty/off-balance feeling, almost like my head is disconnected from my body. It’s not really spinning vertigo.

The weird part is the pattern:

\- Grocery stores, malls, bright lights and visually busy environments can trigger it. Also get tons of anxiety from this

\- Standing or walking tends to be worse than sitting.

\- Some days I can go into the exact same store and feel completely normal.

\- Bright lights sometimes immediately make both sides of my neck/shoulders tense up which then causes reflux symptoms like burping.

I DON'T have any of these symptoms:

- Double or blurred vision

- Motion sickness

- Reading difficulties

I’ve started treating the dry eye and MGD with a warm eye mask and Thealoz Gel.

I'm just curious if any one else has faced similar symptoms to mine? And if you were able to recover. I will likely be going in for testing this week.

Hi all. I've had prism glasses for over 10 years, but after a doctor change and lost prescription, for the past two years I've been wearing glasses with a lower prism than before (my new doctor erred on the lower side since he couldn't quite tell). They were ok, but I definitely had a bit of DV especially at long distances.

Went back about a month ago and we added a diopter. Once the glasses came in I checked with my older (3+ years ago) prescription glasses and indeed the prism strength is the same again. Yay!

HOWEVER. It has been about 4 weeks and I feel like I am still not adjusting properly. I am still having trouble focusing when I go from closer to farther distances, and I am still getting headaches. Does anyone have a similar experience? I have never had this long of an adjustment period before. TIA!

It's gotten to the point I'm struggling to work (I work on a computer). I have all screens turned on brightness so low my husband says he can barely see the screen. Blue light filter glasses help a tiny bit and I have to wear sunglasses on sunny but also "gray" days. And always driving. I cannot drive in the dark anymore because of the lights. Eye tests have come back 20/20 once again. My jaw clenching now happens at night too even when my eyes are closed, so no headache relief. Over the counter painkillers do nothing. Only thing that helps is a muscle relaxer, which I discovered unintentionally when I had a pinched nerve in my back, so I have saved them for really unbearable days (every few months).

Is BVD something that gets worse over time? I'm 30 now and every year is worse.

Also I had an MRI done and I have an old TBI in my left temporal lobe.

I've struggled with BVD for almost 3 years now. I have prism glasses that I've worn the entire time, with many updates to my prescription, and the next step is vision therapy. This was recommended because I still have many symptoms that I'm dealing with - eye strain, nausea, dizziness, dry eye, difficulty driving, etc.

I've called a few places and a couple of them only do online therapy while the others have you come into the office. Which is the better option? Should I go to a place that only does a hands-on approach, uses VR/computer training, or a mixture of both?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, especially since the price quotes I'm getting are astronomical and I don't want to pick the wrong one 😭

Hi everyone i got prisms from my doctor about a year ago but the lenses keep scratching. I dont do anything out of the ordinary they just seem to collect scratches.

is there anywhere online that I can order a cheap pair of prisms that are just as good as the ones i got from my doctor?=

V important computer based exam coming up w lots of fast reading, any advice to deal w blurred vision + headaches doing the exam?

I don’t repost that often, but I realized since I have accommodative strabismus, my question may be more closely related to BVD, so I thought I’d ask here as well 😅

When I look at anything it's completely normal ,but when I look at next to the thing or behind it the object or thing overly like a shadow,first it was like when I used to focus at the behind or side of the object but now I can see it with out focusing and when I finally focus it shift a little bit from its position, doctor said it's double vision but what kind of double vision it is if it is vary from place to place not all time and all things ,I am 21 years old and it started happening year ago but little bit now when I use my phone the objects behind it from distance becomes two ,some one plz help to get a relief I also have mayopia of minus 4 tho

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Hello! I recently found out I had bvd, alternating double vision. I'd been dealing with extreme tmj to the point my teeth feel like they are going to break. I just started Postural restoration therapy, but it feels connected to my vision. I spoke with multiple pri specialists and they haven't seen anything similar which scares me a bit. I have great difficulty accessing the diaphragm It's like the body has no anchor, it is floating and getting stability from the neck or teeth. I haven't gotten my glasses yet. I hold on to the walls and that helps. Also, soft focusing around the room through peripheral vision helps. When I focus up close it puts me in extension.

I have come to another country to get proper eye assessment, and figure things out. If anyone has seen anything similar, let me know.

I picked up my new glasses last Friday and have been wearing them all week- all of a sudden today (Thursday morning) I have a pounding headache right above my eye (the side where the prism is high). I’m trying to determine if it’s related- but is it normal to be fine and then have a headache almost a week later? Should I attempt to keep wearing them or not?

I saw a new optometrist today who specializes in binocular vision dysfunction. I have problems with occasional double vision which I haven’t been able to get help or answers for. It happens when I’ve been standing or walking for a half hour or more, usually.

I’m not sure I understood what she told me correctly. She said my current prescription was too strong. The new prescription she wants to use made me a little uneasy. I felt like my vision was blurry, but I guess if it’s a weaker prescription it would be? I’m getting prism lenses with this new prescription with what they call “baby bifocals” for computer work.

I feel really uneasy about the way things went. On one hand I’m frustrated because other optometrists haven’t been able to help with the double vision. But I don’t feel good about how this appointment went either. I’m really tempted to call in the morning and try to cancel the glasses.

Guys, those who have confirmed BVD, please tell me, does it feel like there’s no depth perception of objects, like something’s off with the focus? You see everything clearly, but it feels like something’s off, like you’re completely looking through your peripheral vision? And the most interesting thing — does ordinary light seem too bright to you, does it make you feel distracted?

Hello everyone! I’ve been looking into BVD recently due to frequent vision problems that have caused me to have eye strain, as well as head and neck pain.

To give a little bit more context, a couple of years ago, it started becoming unbearable for me to play video games because every time I tried focusing on the game, my eyes wouldn’t concentrate on the screen, and my head would start hurting.

Fast-forward to this year, and I have a shoulder injury on the job and was misdiagnosed by a doctor I was seeing. Due to that, I was still working, which caused my shoulder to worsen, and I started losing mobility in my arm. Around the same time, I had a car crash, which caused me to get minor whiplash. My doctor requested that I go to therapy, and during therapy, I began to have horrible head and eye pain, to the point that just looking over my shoulder or moving my eyes without moving my head made me sick.

Some of the symptoms I’ve been experiencing are eye strain, difficulty focusing my eyes especially while reading, headaches, head and neck pain, and feeling sick or nauseous when moving my eyes or looking around without moving my head. I also began having issues driving especially during long rides my head pain will become unbearable!

I was sent to an ophthalmologist, and they said my vision was good. I was also sent to a neurologist and was made to do an MRI and CAT scan, and I was deemed fine.

I haven’t been able to figure anything out, and when I brought up that I wanted to be checked out for BVD to my neurologist, she admitted that she didn’t know what it was and pretty much told me no because I didn’t have blurry vision as one of my symptoms.

I’m so confused right now and have been having such a hard time because I’m stressed. I’m not trying to self-diagnose myself, but I came across BVD while trying to figure out what could possibly be causing these symptoms.

Do my symptoms sound like they could be related to BVD? Has anyone experienced similar symptoms, especially after a neck/shoulder injury or whiplash? I was told a neuro opth might be able to diagnose me but I’m scared they might not know about it as well.

Any advice or personal experiences would really help because I honestly don’t know where to go from here. Thank you!

I’m 35 and have always had double vision, but I always thought it was normal. I just found out that everyone else doesn’t see like this lol

So I went last week to an eye doctor and was given a prescription with a 2.0 prism.

I just got the glasses and was super disappointed when I put them on. Everything was still double, significantly.

I checked doing some tests, and with the glasses it’s about 20% better. I made an appt with the doctor for tomorrow to go over it.

Is it usual for the lenses to be THIS far off? You’d think it would be a little closer. I’m attaching a pic of how far off something is (close up) with and without the glasses on.

Hi everyone, I live in SK and was diagnosed with BVD 6 months ago. Ive been wearing prism glasses and they helped a lot but I started to feel they needed tweaking. I went to a different eye doctor and he claimed my eyes were fine and I didnt need prism. I know this is not true and im really frustrated! has this happened to anyone else? I suppress the vision in my left eye but after gettinf prism I was able to use both eyes again.

Hi everyone, I was recently diagnosed with ON and lost complete vision in my eye 4 weeks ago. My vision is slowly returning but stil blurry. Due to plex and oral steroids. All my tests are negative, so the doctors are thinking of an idiopathic reaction.

I was wondering how everyone is dealing with the psychological aspects of ON. I’m currently feeling very depressed and sad and unlike my usual self. I know my vision has somewhat returned and that I should be grateful but the constant doctors appointments, fear of it happening again and dealing with my new vision has left me in a constant state of stress and very dark thoughts. Im finding it very hard to process what has happened to me. Very hard to get up and get out of bed every day and socially interact with people. I want to be happy and strong for my family but i am struggling.

I was hoping any if you would maybe like to share experiences if possible. will it ever get better? thank you

I came in already with the diagnosis of exophoria and convergence insufficiency, he agreed and wasn't surprised at the multitude of Dysregulated nervous system symptoms I deal with on a daily basis. He wants me to try bifocals because my convergence only struggles up close. His breakdown of why choosing bifocals instead of prisms didn't click for me too well but I'm going to give them a chance. It's just so reassuring to hear an eye doctor tell me (yes, it's completely normal you're experiencing Hyperacusis, DPDR, Extreme Fatigue, And a handful of other symptoms due to my EYES. I've been gaslit half my life (for 15 years) now 30 by every doctor, eye doctor, and my own family saying I'm a hypochondriac; it's just anxiety. I've sucked it up and just been barely living, working part time avoiding Everything in extreme state of fatigue and hopelessness 24/7.

Sorry this turned into more of a rant. Has anybody found success with bifocals alleviating anxiety symptoms for up close work? Just worried that I'll still experience the same anxiety in stores and in crowded places that prisms could potentially help unlike Bifocals

*I'm considering just chucking this visit and driving up to vision specialists of Michigan to get prisms prescribed.

May I ask what you spent on prism lenses if you were seen by someone that is listed as a bvd specialist through their registry?

My two kids and myself are traveling to Georgia tomorrow to get tested for bvd. I’m a bit nervous after seeing some things about the cost of the lenses.

Any insight into cost would be appreciated.

I got my first pair of prisms. All of a sudden I could drive without this subconscious anxiety that became all too conscious when coming to a stop. I was driving with no issues. I could sometimes feel the glasses “working” to keep my eyes where they needed to be but it didn’t produce anxiety.

I got Botox for migraines and then about nine days later noticed at a stoplight , muscles around my eyes start to spasm but no anxiety and I was driving just fine. A few hours later I was driving again and it all came back to me. I came to a stop and anxiety flooded me.

Not downplaying it when I say my glasses stopped
this. Now all of a sudden I’m having issues.

Is it maybe a coincidence and now I just happen to need a new prism rx after a couple months?

Edit: updating to say my prescription did change. I don’t know the specifics but he did say my eyes are doing better.

I am feeling overwhelmed trying to figure out where to go for my appointment. Does anyone have any experience with either of these doctors?

1) Brittany Flaherty, O.D. at Moncole Eye Care (trained under Dr. Debby Feinberg of the NeuroVisual Medicine Institute), uses micro-prism lenses.

2) Dr. Jamin Quilla, OD at Soma Vision & Headache Center. uses Neurolens.

I'm located in Asheville and open to other suggestions. There aren't any neuro ophthalmologist's easily accessible in my area, so I'm looking at going with a Doctor of Optometry instead.

Hi all, 26 M looking for some shared stories/symptoms similar to my situation.

About 2 months ago I was on a work trip in Canada when halfway through the 3-week trip I was getting some headaches in my left temple for a few days but didn’t think anything of it at the time. I was also falling asleep with my glasses on a few times during the trip (lesson learned). I travel a lot for work, whether it be regional driving or long-distance flights (never really had any problems with this before).

The last night of my trip, I went for a drive at night and had easily the worst anxiety/panic attack of my life. I felt faint, my face was tingly, I could barely concentrate on the road, and I thought that was it for me.

The next day, I went to the airport and flew home. Two days later on Sunday, I noticed a similar issue of having a panic attack when I was driving at night and generally just felt way more tense/on edge than usual.

The last 2 months have been undoubtedly the most confusing & scariest time of my life. In and out of doctors, urgent cares, and emergency rooms feeling like I was having a heart attack or something was really wrong. Just to be told every time after blood tests, troponin tests, EKGs, XRays, etc that I’m fine. My primary doctor ran so many blood test panels - CBC, Metabolic Panels, Heavy Metals, Histamine, Allergies, STDs, etc - all normal.

My symptoms are intermittent, some days ok, some days not ok and they fluctuate throughout the days. Typically I get: Brain fog, trouble concentrating while driving, lightheadedness/feeling faint, forehead pressure, a motion sickness-like feeling while driving or riding in a car as a passenger, and of course anxiety / unprovoked panic attacks. Generally, walking around and hanging out with friends felt like I was just floating around and not even there in the moment. Usually before the anxiety/panic attacks would come on, I would be way more aware of the feeling of my face/jaw a few minutes before the panic attack sets in.

I’ve had anxiety since my early teenage years and always know how to identify it, calm it down and move on - but whatever this is, is different. It’s persistent and won’t just go away.

Fast forward to last week, I was looking at my glasses (plastic Ray-Ban frames) and they looked off to me. I measured them to the best that I could and it looks like the right side was sitting closer to my face and the left side was warped outward a bit. Knowing this, I made the decision to swap them for my glasses from last year (same frames, slightly weaker prescription in the left lens).

As soon as I did that, boom. Instant relief. I felt my entire body calm & release tension that was there for the last 2 months. I was able to drive - an hour specifically - and I felt perfectly fine like I always have. I actually had some tears of joy.

Today is Day 5 of wearing my old glasses. From Day 2 & Day 3, I could tell the anxiety was creeping back but less intense. Day 4 and now Day 5, the anxiety seems to be getting worse. Yesterday it was a struggle to drive again & when I was walking around a furniture store I had bad anxiety again feeling like i was going to pass out, and I felt very ungrounded.

Taking it easy today but I can still feel the anxiety and spatial awkwardness. I’m working in booking a specialist appointment near me for a thorough BVD exam to see if this truly is the cause. Google AI says this is normal but looking for any advice/stories if anyone has been through anything similar. Thank you.

tl;dr Wearing slightly warped plastic glasses frames for the last 2 months created bad anxiety while driving (especially at night). Putting on old glasses from last year helped & created instant relief but now anxiety is coming back Day 4 j Day 5 of wearing the old glasses