Vertigo and Vision Changes: The Connection

Types of Vision Changes Associated with Vertigo

Vertigo can cause vision changes including visual blurring, oscillopsia (illusion of visual motion), and difficulty with visual focus. 1, 2
Visual blurring is particularly common in stroke/ischemia-related vertigo, where patients experience vertigo with nausea, vomiting, and visual blurring. 2, 3
Patients with vestibular disorders may experience difficulty with visual focus, problems changing focus from near to far and back, double vision, eye strain and fatigue, and vision-derived nausea following vestibular injury. 4

Autoimmune disorders (e.g., multiple sclerosis) may present with vision problems alongside vertigo, with visual symptoms being a distinguishing feature from Ménière's disease. 1, 5
In stroke/ischemia-related vertigo, patients may experience visual blurring and drop attacks. 2
Vestibular migraine features more photophobia than visual aura. 2

Visual symptoms can help differentiate between different causes of vertigo. 2, 5
Not recognizing that visual symptoms may be the key to differentiating central from peripheral causes of vertigo can lead to diagnostic errors. 6
Deficits in the ocular-motor system may mimic cognitive impairment functionally. 4
When patients report both vertigo and vision changes, careful assessment of the timing of visual symptoms in relation to vertigo episodes is important for diagnosis. 1, 2