Studies how visual disorders after brain injuries can be improved by training
Visual disorders following acquired brain injury are common and affect a person’s everyday activities and quality of life. Tony Pansell is exploring how vision can be improved again – with the help of visual rehabilitation. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2025
What are you researching?
“My research field is called neuro-optometry and concerns how vision and eye-movement control are affected by acquired brain injuries. We’re also studying how patients can be helped to recover better vision through vision training and customised glasses. One group we’ve learned a great deal from is people who’ve suffered a concussion, who often have a relatively fast healing process and are both motivated and responsive to vision rehabilitation. The knowledge we’ve gained from them has also been of use for patients with other types of brain injuries.”
Why is this important?
“Good vision is not only needed for reading and writing, but also for maintaining balance, moving about, eating and recognising people. Vision is based on a complex interaction between many different functions – healthy visual pathways, good motor control of the head and eyes, and cognitive abilities linked to directing attention and perceiving what we see. Our patients often have a combination of disorders. Vision disorders after a brain injury are very common and healthcare in this field needs developing.”
What are your main findings to date?
“Our studies show that our ability to see well at short distances is affected more than long-distance vision after a brain injury. This manifests itself in things like eye strain, blurred vision and a sense that letters move when reading. Another common symptom is a hypersensitivity to movements in your field of vision called visual vertigo, such as when you’re in a busy environment, watching TV or scrolling on your phone. The first type of disorder is muscular, the second type concerns how the brain interprets vision. Both can be treated.”
About Tony Pansell
Professor of Optometry at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Tony Pansell was born in 1972 and grew up in Eksjö, where he started grinding military glasses in his parents’ optician’s practice at the age of 13. He graduated with a degree in optometry from Karolinska Institutet in 1999, intending to return and take over the optician’s practice. However, the opportunity presented itself to stay in Stockholm and enter postgraduate studies. Tony Pansell currently works as a research group leader at St Erik Eye Hospital’s Marianne Bernadotte Centre with a clinical position at the neuro-ophthalmology department. Tony Pansell was appointed Professor at Karolinska Institutet on 1 November 2024.