Can a stroke affect my eyes?

Answers by Dr. Mitchell Gossman, an ophthalmologist at Eye Associates of Central Minnesota, located in St. Cloud

Can a stroke affect my eyes?

Sometimes.

Although fairly uncommon, having a stroke can impact that person’s vision. This happens when blood supply is lost to part or all of the retain Stock photo

First of all, “Stroke” is defined as a loss of blood supply to the brain that damages brain tissue resulting in loss of function. Most commonly, this is due to bleeding from a damaged blood vessel supplying the brain, or when a clot from a distant source, such as the heart, flows to a blood vessel in the brain, obstructing blood flow.

The retina is an extension of the brain, so if the blood supply is lost to part or all of the retina it can result in loss of vision in that eye. This can be partial loss of vision, total loss, or it can happen without your noticing this and have it detected during a routine exam. Fortunately, this condition is rare, happening in about 1 out of 100,000 people.

Vision from both eyes is blended forming a single image that’s delivered to the brain (specifically, the occipital lobes in the back of the brain, or the connections from the optic nerves to the back of the brain). This results in loss of vision in both eyes, even though the eyes themselves may be perfectly healthy. It doesn’t affect your visual acuity, but it can affect peripheral vision enough to be disabling for some things, including driving and reading.

The eyes are kept in alignment via a system of nerves controlling the muscles that move the eyes around and keep them lined up. If a stroke affects these parts of the brain (the brainstem) it can cause double vision when the eyes are misaligned, or abnormal eye movements that can cause a sensation of the environment around you moving (vertigo).

The most common cause of sudden, severe loss of vision is adults is ischemic optic neuropathy. This is a disorder that causes the blood supply to the optic nerve to be damaged resulting in loss of vision in that eye, sometimes even blinding. Fortunately, this is also rare, about 5 in 100,000 individuals. This is not due to a clot coming from elsewhere in the body to block the blood supply to the optic nerve, rather it is due to unknown causes and is not a “stroke” in the usual sense of a brain stroke, but the result is the same – loss of function of the optic nerve and loss of vision.

All these conditions have one thing in common, that they share the same risk factors. These risk factors also increase the risk of heart disease. 

These are:

• Hypertension (high blood pressure)

• Diabetes

• Hyperlipidemia

• Family history of cardiovascular disease

• Smoking

• Obesity

• Family history

Ischemic optic neuropathy has an addition possible risk factor, the use of drugs like Viagra for ED.

Your best course of action is to have a screening eye exam to form a baseline for future exams should one of these conditions happen to you, and of course to seek medical attention if any symptoms of loss of vision occur.

Find out more

Dr. Mitchell Gossman is a comprehensive ophthalmologist, along with Dr. Melanie Thares, an optometrist, at Eye Associates of Central Minnesota. The office is located at 628 Roosevelt Road, Suite 101, in St. Cloud. To make an appointment or to learn more, call 320-774-3789 or email info@eaofcm.com.

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