It has been said that if you find a job you love, you won’t have to work a day in your life. For Drs. Israeloff and Zimmerman at the Neuro Visual Center of New York, who find great joy and fulfillment as neurovisual specialists, this couldn’t be truer! Binocular vision problems can be debilitating and life-altering, and our doctors have dedicated their professional lives to treating these conditions and helping patients get their quality of life back. Here are a few examples in their own words.
From Dr. Israeloff:
“Looking back over the past year, I have many patients who have come so far in their journey of healing. One of my favorite cases is a man who was referred by his vestibular therapist. He had been in vestibular therapy for over a year and he was making little progress. He was off balance, constantly dizzy and could not drive on the highway. His balance was so poor that he had to use a cane to walk. During the Neuro Visual examination, I found this gentleman had significant visual problems. With every head turn, his images would subtly break into two. This very poor fusion of the images caused by Binocular Vision Dysfunction was the reason the vestibular therapy was not working. After wearing his aligning lenses for a few weeks, this patient’s life was turned around. He was no longer walking with a cane and he drove himself to his progress assessment appointment. This was a half-hour drive on a highway. He was so happy to have his freedom back.
“I often say that working with dizzy patients is not easy. Dizziness can cause significant anxiety, destroy a person’s quality of life and be very hard to diagnose and treat. These cases of success inspire me to try my best every day with my patients. I try to view every patient as a puzzle that needs to be put back together. At the Neuro Visual Center, we truly feel that improving a person’s visual system can transform their lives. I am looking forward to 2019!”
From Dr. Zimmerman:
“In May of this year, I had a sweet, chatty eight-year-old boy come in. He is on the autism spectrum but is very high-functioning. His mother brought him in and was concerned with his poor reading skills and poor hand-eye coordination. He never was able to consistently catch a ball, and would avoid sports or activities that required tracking objects. He had been wearing glasses for a few years, and had done Vision Therapy with little improvement in his symptoms.
“During my exam, I noticed he had a right head tilt and would walk on his toes. When showing him a moving target, he was unable to track it with just his eyes, but instead would use his head to bring his eyes to the object. At the end of my Neuro Visual exam, it was determined that he had convergence insufficiency and vertical heterophoria. The aligning lenses were then prescribed, and he was told to come back in two months.
“At his two-month follow-up, his gait was normal, walking now heel to toe. His mother was amazed that since getting the aligning lenses, her son was now able to catch a ball, one-handed, and throw it back. He is now enrolled in basketball, a sport that he would have avoided playing before. Due to it being summer, his mother said it was hard to determine the change that the lenses had had on his reading. However, they were both excited to see the improvement it will have on this upcoming school year.”
Happy Holidays From the Neuro Visual Center of New York!
Changing the lives of patients is a gift that Dr. Israeloff and Dr. Zimmerman are blessed to be able to enjoy all year long. This year, we here at Neuro Visual Center of New York would like to wish all of our patients a happy and healthy holiday season, and encourage any and all who are experiencing the symptoms of binocular vision problems to let us help you get your life back on track. For questions or concerns, contact us at (516) 224-4888.
