title: Patching for Diplopia Contraindicated in Patients with Brain Injury?
abstract: Patching for double vision is a common palliative treatment for head-trauma patients with acquired strabismus when prisms are not feasible.
  
  
  
  We review literature on spatial neglect and discuss possible effects of monocular occlusion on spatial attention.
  
  
  
  Patching the left eye has been shown to worsen spatial judgments in some brain-injured patients with left neglect by inhibiting the right superior colliculus further impairing contralateral leftward orienting (the Sprague Effect).
  
  
  
  Because more peripheral parts of the visual field increasingly project to the contralateral superior colliculus with the temporal crescent being entirely contralateral, avoiding patching of the temporal crescent was advised, and in most cases can be achieved by taping off the spectacle lens and avoiding an elastic eye patch.
authors: *OD †MD Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (KEH), Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Ophthalmology (KEH), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Massachusetts Eye and Ear (KEH), Boston, Massachusetts; and Kessler Foundation (AMB), West Orange, New Jersey.
authors: Kevin E
authors: KE
authors: Houston
authors: A M
authors: AM
authors: Barrett
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001458:Bandages; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D000075202:Contraindications; D004172:Diplopia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care; D012683:Sensory Deprivation; D065855:Spatial Processing / Q000502:physiology; D013285:Strabismus / Q000503:physiopathology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult