Conversations Unplugged
with Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
If your eyes struggle to work together, the problem may show up far beyond your vision. It can affect how you read, how long you can focus, how you move through space, and even how you hold your body. Neuro-optometrist Dr. Bryce Appelbaum has built his work around this connection between the eyes and the brain. In this conversation with STEMREGEN Founder and Chief Science Officer Christian Drapeau, they explore how screen time, head injuries, and changes in visual coordination can influence everything from attention and learning to posture, and why retraining vision may offer possibilities many people never knew existed.
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
Dr. Appelbaum explains that vision is about much more than eyesight. His work focuses on how the brain filters, organizes, and processes information coming through the eyes, then uses that information to guide action. When the eyes stop working efficiently as a team, whether after a head injury or under the constant demands of screens and near work, the brain can begin compensating. Reading may become difficult, attention can suffer, depth perception can change, and even ordinary tasks like navigating stairs or judging where objects are in space can become more challenging. “If you have a hard time controlling your eyes and their ability to focus,” Dr. Appelbaum says, “you have such a hard time controlling your mind and its ability to be focused.”
The encouraging part, according to Dr. Appelbaum, is that these patterns are not necessarily fixed. He describes using targeted visual exercises to retrain the brain and improve how the eyes coordinate, rather than simply adapting to poor function. Christian connects this with something he studied decades ago: visual imbalances can influence posture as the body continually compensates for what the eyes are telling the brain. Over time, those compensations can extend into the neck, back, and other parts of the body. For both Christian and Dr. Appelbaum, the opportunity is to address the underlying visual pattern while also supporting the body’s ability to recover and adapt.
That shared interest leads them into a larger discussion about repair and neuroplasticity. Dr. Appelbaum sees patients with visual challenges ranging from developmental delays to the effects of stroke and neurological injury, and his experience has convinced him that visual function can change with the right training. Christian approaches the same question through the body’s endogenous repair system and the role of circulating stem cells. Together, they envision an approach that combines targeted visual rehabilitation with support for the body’s natural repair processes. As Dr. Appelbaum puts it, the goal is to “push the envelope and learn from our patients,” then build the science needed to better understand what the brain, eyes, and body may still be capable of restoring.
