Can a car crash blind you?

Unfortunately, if you become the victim of a Pennsylvania car crash, it could render you partially or totally blind, especially if you suffer a head injury during the crash. EveryDayHealth.com reports that over 1.4 million Americans receive treatment for traumatic brain injuries each year.

While blindness due to a car crash sometimes occurs because of injury to the eye itself, you stand a much greater chance of losing your vision in a car crash if you receive a TBI. This is one of the reasons why all head injuries, however supposedly slight, represent a serious threat. You should get immediate emergency medical help any time you receive one.

Even a minor whiplash injury can cause you to experience vision problems, such as the following:

  • Double vision
  • Difficulty focusing between near objects and far objects
  • Words on a page appearing to move
  • Nausea and vomiting when you shift your gaze

The three most serious injuries, however, that could lead to your permanent total blindness are the following:

  1. Retinal detachment
  2. Vitreous hemorrhage
  3. Optic nerve damage

Retinal detachment

Your retinas are the thin layer of tissue lining the back of each of your eyes. It helps turn the images entering your eye into signals that go to your brain through your optic nerves. If either of your retinas becomes detached from the back of your eyes, you will become blind in that eye without surgical intervention. If both of your retinas become detached, only surgery can prevent you from becoming completely and permanently blind.

Vitreous hemorrhage

Each of your eyes contains vitreous humor, a clear, jellylike substance through which the images entering your eyes pass before striking your retinas. If you receive a head injury that causes blood vessels in your eye to bleed into your vitreous humors, this will drastically affect the quality of your vision. Without medical intervention, you could completely lose your vision.

Optic nerve damage

Often a head injury causes swelling in your brain. This, in turn, can put pressure on your optic nerves, cutting off their blood circulation and blinding you unless and until the pressure is released. If your optic nerves remain without their proper blood supply for too long, this will cause complete irreversible blindness.

This is general educational information and not intended to provide legal advice.