Cindy Hamm’s favorite hymn may well be We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe. That’s because the Lake Villa, Ill. woman is celebrating the return of much of her memory after putting all her faith in the work of the Mind-Eye Institute’s optometrists and the brain glasses prescribed for her.

“I have been wearing Mind-Eye glasses for about two-and-a-half years [as of October 2021], and much of my memory has returned, I am better able to concentrate, and can actually turn on the car radio and listen to a song all the way through it without lowering the volume,” says Cindy, whose symptoms included serious sound sensitivities following a head injury in a December 2018 car crash. She adds laughingly, “And I have stopped telling my husband, ‘You are talking too loudly.’”

Even more amazing to her is how the Mind-Eye glasses seemingly helped calm the heart palpitations that developed after the crash.

“I started experiencing rapid heartbeats – atrial fibrillation – after the accident and thought I might have to go on heart medication,” Cindy says. “But, within a day of wearing my second prescribed set of Mind-Eye lenses, the fibrillation changed for the better. I was literally blown away, thinking that eyeglasses could have such an impact.”  Although the heart palpitations are still present today, their occurrences are briefer and only occasional, Cindy reports.

The Mind-Eye Institute, headquartered in the north Chicago suburb of Northbrook, has achieved worldwide recognition for the use of therapeutic eyeglasses, lenses, prisms, and filters to vary the amount, intensity and angle of light that passes through the retina. The retina is part of the central nervous system and a primary portal through which information enters the brain in the form of light-generated electrical signals.

“By manipulating light, we are often able to lessen symptoms and restore comfort to patients needing to rebuild visual processing skills compromised by brain injury, head trauma, stroke, and other neurological disorders,” says Deborah Zelinsky, OD, Cindy’s optometrist and the founder and research director of Mind-Eye. “Our unique optometric testing and approach also help in developing new processing capabilities in patients with attention and other learning deficiencies.” 

Indeed, it is that “unique testing,” which prompted Cindy to remark about how “struck I was” by the thoroughness of Mind-Eye examinations. “During my first visit, the staff there checked my eyes, how I visualized location of sound with my ears, my levels of comfort and tolerance in being able move my eyes, my memory, and visualization abilities. The attention to detail was impressive. The team looked at what was working and what was not from both a structural and functional point of view.”

Cindy should know, serving in the health care field herself as a reflexologist and craniosacral therapist. 

“Unfortunately, my head injury forced me to slow down my business and my lifestyle,” she relates. “I could barely function after the accident. Working as a craniosacral therapist requires a lot of concentration, and my symptoms were hampering me to the point where I could not fully take care of my clients.”

What initially panicked Cindy the most, though, was her memory loss

“I had no memory for five or six hours after the accident. I kept asking the same questions over and over again. My husband knew something was wrong and took me to the hospital, but no brain bleed was found, so I was sent home.”  Later, Cindy would experience what she calls “’blank-outs,’ when nothing made sense. Sometimes I would drive past places where I needed to be and find myself miles past them down the road.” Making matters worse was her sense of being “overwhelmed with everything and anything.”

It was her physical therapist who told her about the Mind-Eye Institute. “She said, ‘Your concussion is not getting any better. You have to go to Mind-Eye,’” Cindy recalls. Reluctant at first to contact an unfamiliar health care practice, “I did not follow the therapist’s advice immediately. But, after she mentioned the Mind-Eye for a second time, I decided to call.”

And Cindy is thankful she did. 

She indicates her progress to date has been gradual but fruitful. “After receiving my third pair of prescription glasses, I really started noticing improvements in my symptoms. For example, I could listen to a television program once again at a normal volume.

“I am well down the road to recovery and telling everybody about what the Mind-Eye Institute staff can do,” she adds. “Their [brain] lenses are a positive gift [to yourself] and for anybody else [who has sustained a debilitating head injury].”