Oscillopsia

What is oscillopsia?

Oscillopsia is a vision problem that makes it seem like your surroundings are moving — jumping, jiggling or vibrating — when they’re actually still. It’s typically a symptom of an underlying neurological condition that affects the alignment and movement of your eyes or the systems that control your balance.

Oscillopsia can be hard to live with. Some of the conditions that cause the symptom are treatable, but sometimes, it’s permanent.

Is oscillopsia dangerous?

Oscillopsia can be dangerous if it’s a symptom of another medical condition that hasn’t been diagnosed and treated yet, like a brain tumor or multiple sclerosis.

What causes oscillopsia?

Oscillopsia can be caused by damage to parts of your inner ear or brain that are important in balance and eye movement. The parts that are injured typically help your eyes fixate or focus on an object and coordinate your eye and head movements. When your head and eyes aren’t in sync, objects in your environment will appear to be moving even when they’re not.

Causes of oscillopsia include:

• Neurological conditions that damage your central nervous system, like seizures, tumors, stroke and multiple sclerosis.
• Diseases that affect your inner ear, like Ménière’s disease.
• Conditions that can cause swelling in your brain like meningitis.
• Inherited (passed down through families) like albinism or nystagmus.
• Alcohol use disorder or substance use disorder.
• Side effects from medications for mood (lithium), infections (aminoglycosides) or seizures (carbamazepine, zonisamide).
• Eye conditions like strabismus and cataracts.
• Vitamin B-12 deficiency.

Is there a test to diagnose oscillopsia?

Your provider will perform an eye exam to look for issues with the alignment of your eyes. You may have oculomotor and coordination tests as well.

Your provider may also perform a neurological exam to detect other issues you may be having with your eyes.

You may also have additional tests to look for other underlying health conditions. These tests may include:

• Computed tomography (CT) scan.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.
• Ear exam.
• Blood tests.
• Urinalysis.
• Electrocardiogram.
• Echocardiogram.

How is oscillopsia treated?

Oscillopsia treatment will depend on the cause of the condition. If the cause is nystagmus, treatment options may include:

• Contact lenses or special glasses that help clear your vision.
• Medication to treat conditions that cause nystagmus.
• Injections of botulinum toxin (Botox®) into the muscles that control your eye movement.
• Surgery to reposition the muscles that control your eyes.

If the cause of oscillopsia is something else, your healthcare provider will discuss other treatment options with you.

Vision therapy

Different types of vision therapy may treat conditions that cause uncontrollable eye movements. An eye care specialist called an optometrist can help you with exercises that strengthen your eyes and improve your eye control. These exercises may include:

• Moving your eyes slowly from side to side and up and down.
• Bending your head from side to side and forward and backward.
• Moving from a seated position to a standing position with your eyes closed and open.
• Walking across a room with your eyes open and then closed.
• Throwing a ball from one hand to the other.

Oscillopsia treatment may also include oculomotor-based auditory feedback techniques, which help you “listen” to your atypical eye movements and gain better control over them.

Medication

Healthcare providers sometimes use medications to treat the causes of oscillopsia. There isn’t any one specific drug to treat oscillopsia itself, but based on the cause, your provider may prescribe a medication like:

• 4-aminopyridine (Ampyra®), a treatment for multiple sclerosis.
• Baclofen (Lioresal®), a muscle relaxant.
• Clonazepam (Klonopin®), an antianxiety medication.
• Gabapentin (Neurontin®), an epilepsy medication.
• Memantine (Namenda®), a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

In some cases, your healthcare provider may prescribe a beta-blocker or an anticonvulsant to treat conditions that cause oscillopsia.

Adaptation

If your baby is born with a condition that causes oscillopsia, their brain may adapt to it and fix the problem over time. But sometimes, even with treatment, oscillopsia doesn’t go away. In these cases, you’ll have to learn to live with the symptom. Your healthcare provider can discuss ways to deal with the impact oscillopsia will have on your or your child’s daily life and to improve that quality of life.

Can oscillopsia be prevented?

Unfortunately, oscillopsia is a symptom of other health conditions. If you have one of these other conditions, oscillopsia may come along with it and you can’t prevent it.

When should oscillopsia be treated by a healthcare provider?

If you have jumpy, shaky vision or any other kind of unexplained vision issues, you should see a healthcare provider right away. They may refer you to an eye care specialist, like an ophthalmologist.

Oscillopsia can be associated with conditions that can get worse without early, effective treatment. Don’t ignore the signs of oscillopsia. Getting treatment sooner can improve your outcome.

Are oscillopsia and vertigo the same?

Oscillopsia and vertigo are both symptoms of underlying health conditions. Vertigo causes a spinning sensation that affects your vestibular system. Your vestibular system is a sensory system that’s in charge of providing your brain with information about head position, motion and spatial orientation.

While similar, oscillopsia is involved with your ocular motor system. You see things moving that are stationary. With vertigo, the whole room is spinning around you.