Temporary Blindness After a Car Accident
A motor vehicle accident can cause many serious injuries that can affect your life during recovery or even leave you with lasting symptoms. One possibility that can be frightening to experience after a car accident is temporary blindness. This can happen as a result of eye injuries, orbital bone fractures or traumatic brain injuries.
What Car Accident Injuries Can Cause Temporary Blindness?
Temporary blindness after a car accident can occur due to factors related to the crash itself or the nature of injuries sustained in the collision. If you notice vision problems such as blurred eyesight, spots in your vision, cloudy vision, reduced visibility or total blindness after a car crash, it may be a symptom of an injury to your eye or another part of the body.
Common examples include:
- Traumatic brain injuries: head and brain injuries sustained during a car accident, such as a concussion, can affect the area of the brain responsible for visual processing. This can lead to vision changes and disturbances, including temporary blindness.
- Orbital bone fractures: breaking a bone in or around the eye socket (one of the orbital bones) can lead to temporary or permanent vision impairment. Even if the bone eventually heals, a major fracture could cause permanent damage and vision changes.
- Eye trauma: various other types of eye injuries or trauma can impede vision in a car accident. Examples include airbag impact injuries, penetrating injuries from flying debris, corneal abrasions, retinal detachment and temporary eye swelling.
- Whiplash: although whiplash is a neck injury, it can result in blurred vision or temporary vision loss. When the head and neck are whipped backward and forward rapidly in a car accident, this can damage the nerves in the cervical spine that are responsible for vision.
- Emotional injuries: you may also suffer temporary blindness or vision problems due to your psychological shock or stress. Higher levels of adrenaline or anxiety coursing through your body from the crash can trigger physiological responses, including temporary changes in vision.
In most cases, vision problems from a car accident are not permanent. However, serious injuries could have lasting effects, including long-lasting or permanent blindness. This may interfere with your quality or enjoyment of life and your ability to perform your job.
What to Do if You Experience Temporary Blindness After a Car Accident
It is critical to see a doctor immediately after a car accident if you notice changes in your vision. Even if your temporary blindness resolves itself quickly, see a doctor to have any serious underlying injuries diagnosed and treated. Temporary blindness and other changes in vision could point to major injuries that need treatment to prevent long-term complications.
Seeking Compensation for Temporary Blindness as a Car Accident Victim in California
It is important to learn your rights after suffering temporary blindness from a car accident in California. This is a serious symptom that could qualify you for financial compensation. Since California is a fault state, you have the right to seek financial compensation from the person or party who caused your car accident. This party can be held responsible for serious injuries and related symptoms that have affected your life, including temporary blindness.
For more information about seeking justice for temporary blindness after a car accident, contact the Los Angeles injury attorneys at Rose, Klein & Marias, LLP to request a free legal consultation.