Eye pain and problems due to car accident

[Stano1978]

I'm a 29 years old male that was in a car accident on New Years Day of this year. I was hit from the side where the other car came straight at me while I was stopped at a stop sign. To give you a visual, it was like a T-bone type of hit. Anyway, I hit the left side of my head on the door before the side air bags went off and suffered from a blow to the head and a slight concussion. Since that accident, I have had severe eye issues including pain behind my left eye, headaches that leave me irritable everyday, sensitivity to light, occasional blurred vision and spots. I had gone to my Opthalmolgists who diagnosed me with Optic-neuritis. However, over the past week, I have gone to another Eye specialist-Neuro-opthalmologist who said it was NOT optic-neuritis and could not define what it was I had. I then went back to my primary care doctor who referred me to a Neurologist. I have an appointment next week. I"m concerned b/c I could of had optic-neuritis and due to my severe pain, it could of now changed to something else. I'm nervous that I cannot get a straight answer from my doctor or these specialists and hoping that you could shed some light on my experience. Does my story sound familiar to you or do you have any recommendations of whom the correct specialist or doctor  is I should be following up with? I don't want to keep going back and forth from different doctors while my pain persists and cannot be defined. Any advice or suggestions of what to research would be much appreciated.


This discussion is related to Eye Pain after Concussion.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

I don't see how a car accident could cause optic neuritis.  Perhaps a traumatic optic neuropathy - but main symptom would be blurred vision, not pain.  So optic neuritis diagnosis leaves me a bit confused.  People can definitely have chronic pain and headaches after a trauma like this.  My main concentration would be on the health of the eyes, and in particular the visual accuity and visual field.  If normal, that would be a major plus after such a severe accident.  Then you could move forward with some possible physical therepy to help with the recovery from the blunt trauma to the head and neck.

MJK MD

[Stano1978]

Thank you for replying to my questions and concern. Would you say that I'm on the right path as far as following up with the correct specialists in order to figure out what is wrong with the health of my eyes? I did go to physical therapy for 3 months 3x a week for my head and neck and it seems that my eye issue isn't getting better. I'm really searching for an answer, a name to put on my pain, a diagnosis so that I can move forward with the healing process. I'm hoping that I will get some answers from the Neurologist next week.