VEW 2022: Concussion management with Dr. Mena

Podcast

Vitto Mena, Jr., OD, MS, shares highlights from his VEW 2022 presentation, "Sports EYEllustrated: keep your head in the game."

Vitto Mena, Jr., OD, MS, advanced clinical director with Special Olympics, and international sports vision association member, as well as the sports vision director with Optical Academy, sat down with Optometry Times® editor Kassi Jackson to share highlights from his presentation, "Sports EYEllustrated: keep your head in the game," which he presented during this year's Vision Expo West in Las Vegas.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity:

Jackson:

Hi everyone. I'm joined today by Dr. Vitto Mena, advanced clinical director with Special Olympics and international sports division association member, as well as the sports division director with Optical Academy.

He's here to share highlights from his discussion titled, "Sports EYEllustrated: keep your head in the game," which he's presenting during this year's Vision Expo West in Las Vegas.

Thank you for being here, Dr. Mena. Would you please just share with us the key takeaways from your presentation?

Mena:

Sure. So with Sports EYEllustrated, the take home message that I want to give to the audience is that a lot of times when we think of concussions, we're thinking about sports-related concussions. And the number 1 reason concussions occur is actually a motor vehicle accident.

And sometimes even if you're in your home and you slip in your kitchen, and you bang your head on the counter, people can suffer what's called a mild traumatic brain injury. And what happens is, a lot of times when you suffer from a mild traumatic brain injury, usually symptoms can resolve themselves within 7 to 10 days.

However, there are some patients that they just have symptoms that keep lingering for a month, 3 months, years, and a lot of these these patients have complaints. They go to their primary care doctors, they go to other doctors and when it comes to concussion, number 1, they gotta rest for at least a week. So no sports, no electronics, none of that for at least a week. Sometimes you could even do it for a month of not doing anything.

Because what happens is they have convergence, insufficiency, accommodated insufficiency; so not only do they have trouble going back to their sport, but they have trouble when they're in school and with learning. And so just maybe making a small change to their prescription and their glasses can make a world of difference. Sometimes it could be a light sensitivity issue, and just putting on some sunglasses to help minimize that. Other times it could be a nutritional deficit that now they can't absorb the nutrients that they need.

And so it really takes a team when it comes to concussion management. It's not just really a one size fits all approach.

Recent Videos
Nora Lee Cothran, OD, FAAO, details a real-world study that found IOP-lowering benefits when switching patients with glaucoma to latanoprostene bunod treatment.
Mile Brujic, OD, FAAO; Nate Lighthizer, OD, FAAO; Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO, FSLS; Ben Casella, OD; and Ben Gaddie, OD, FAAO shared their insights from the conference.
Dr. Stephanie Woo discusses the upcoming CRU Eye Symposium
Agatha Sleboda, OD; Arti Shah, OD, FAAO; and Kent J. Nozacki, OD provide the best tips that they give to their patients during natural disasters events in light of the recent Greater Los Angeles wildfires.
Optometrists local to the Los Angeles area overview their efforts to continue providing support to patients affected by January's wildfires.
Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO, FSLS, reviewed key takeaways from The Future of Myopia Management: Perspectives from Leading Experts talk from SECO 2025.
Dr. Nate Lighthizer shares key takeaways from the SECO Showcase on anterior segment technology and full laser certification course offered at SECO.
Dr. Ben Casella highlights the importance of SECO to the optometric community.
Dr. Mile Brujic discusses a case series on a novel gel for lacrimal occlusion.
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.