Neuro-Ophthalmology is a subspecialty of both Neurology and Ophthalmology. This practice deals with vision problems that do not come from the eyes themselves but are instead related to the nervous system. Almost half of the human brain is used for vision related activities including sight and eye movement. Neuro-Ophthalmologists receive specialized training and have expertise in problems of the eye, brain, nerve and muscles. Their course of education includes 5 years of clinical training after medical school and they are usually board certified in Neurology, Ophthalmology, or both.
Although some problems seen by Neuro-Ophthalmologists are not worrisome, other conditions can worsen and cause permanent visual loss, or become life threatening. Sometimes the problem is confined to the optic nerve or the nervous system and other times it is related to a general medical condition. Neuro-Ophthalmologists have the unique ability to evaluate patients from neurologic, ophthalmologic, and medical standpoints to diagnose and treat a wide variety of problems. Often, seeing a Neuro-Ophthalmologist first can help patients avoid needless medical testing.
Some of the common problems evaluated by Neuro-Ophthalmologists include:
- Optic nerve problems such as optic neuritis and ischemic optic neuropathy
- Visual field loss
- Unexplained visual loss
- Transient visual loss
- Visual disturbances
- Double vision
- Abnormal eye movements
- Thyroid eye disease
- Myasthenia gravis
- Unequal pupil size
- Eyelid abnormalities
[This service is available from Dr. Gopalaswamy at the Sunrise location]
About Dr. Ramesh Gopalaswamy
Dr. Gopalaswamy is board certified in Neurology, is a certified Neuro-Ophthalmologist, and is a member of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS). His special areas of interest also include neurophysiology, neuro-otology, balance and fall prevention, and sleep disorders.
