Home Care:

You may need to make changes in the home to help with dizziness, visual problems, or nervous system disorders.

Call your health care provider if:

Call your health care provider if you have symptoms of nystagmus or think you might have this condition.

What to expect at your health care provider's office:

Your health care provider will take a careful history and perform a thorough physical examination, focusing on the nervous system and inner ear. The doctor may ask you to wear a pair of goggles that magnify your eyes for part of the examination.

To check for nystagmus, the health care provider may use the following procedure:

• You spin around for about 30 seconds, stop, and try to stare at an object.
• Your eyes will first move slowly in one direction, and then will move quickly in the opposite direction.

If you have nystagmus due to a medical condition, these eye movements will depend on the cause.

Questions asked in a medical history may cover the following areas:

• When were the movements first noticed?
• How often does it occur?
• Has it ever happened before?
• Is it getting better, worse, or staying the same?
• Are there side-to-side eye movements?
• Are there up-and-down eye movements?
• What medications are being taken?
• What other symptoms are present?

Tests that may be performed include:

• CT scan of the head
• Electro-oculography: An electrical method of measuring eye movements using tiny electrodes
• MRI of the head
• Vestibular testing by recording the movements of the eyes

There is no treatment for most cases of congenital nystagmus. Treatment for acquired nystagmus depends on the cause. In some cases, nystagmus cannot be reversed. In cases due to medications or infection, the nystagmus usually goes away after the cause has gotten better.

Some treatments may help improve the visual function of patients with infantile nystagmus syndrome:

• Prisms
• Surgeries such as tenotomy
• Drug therapies for infantile nystagmus