At the 2025 Optometric Management Symposium, Andrew Lee, MD, gave a lecture on what an optometrist needs to know about strokes in the eye. Here he discusses the key takeaways from the lecture.

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Hi, my name is Andy Lee. I’m here at OMS in Orlando and just finished talking about ophthalmology for optometrists—specifically, what an optometrist needs to know about strokes in the eye.

There are 2 main types: the stroke of the optic nerve, called arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION), which is a small-vessel ischemic disease and typically doesn’t require a stroke workup; and central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) or branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO), which are essentially ocular strokes.

These retinal artery occlusions—along with transient ischemic attacks—should be treated as strokes and require an urgent stroke workup by a stroke specialist at a certified stroke center.

Because a stroke is a stroke—and when it comes to vision, time is retina, time is brain, and time is of the essence. OM