Feel Better and Play Better - Emma Bruntil’s ALTIUS^® Story

Emma Bruntil, a wrestler for Team USA, first experienced debilitating migraines in December 2022. As many migraines sufferers experience, the reason behind her migraines wasn’t fully clear. It could be the injuries she’s suffered in her sport, including a neck injury that resulted in an uptick in anxiety. But no doctor could give her a real diagnosis for the cause of her severe migraines.

The biggest trigger for her migraines? Bright lights.

Due to her sport, Emma would spend hours in an extremely bright lit gym practicing and competing, which became a huge problem for her migraines.. She found herself suffering worse and more frequent migraines as she was constantly under some kind of bright light - weight lifting, practicing, competing. The light caused her not only to fall prey to another migraine, but also pulled her focus from what she really wanted to be concentrating on - her sport.

Her doctor prescribed her some medicine that seemed to help, but didn’t fully resolve the issue.

The only thing that started to help was wearing sunglasses. The sunglasses helped to remove some of the bright light that triggered her migraines, but she couldn’t wear sunglasses during practice or competition.

And she noticed that wearing the sunglasses before competing gave her a disoriented feeling. When she had to take the sunglasses off, bright lights felt harsher and overwhelming. She needed another solution to let her feel better and perform to her best abilities.

That’s when Dr. Mike Saxerud suggested that Emma give ALTIUS lenses a try.

As Dr. Saxerud explains, “Before the Altius lenses, we were able to reduce her migraine symptoms and improve her visual responses with a variety of neuro-optometric and vision therapy techniques.  However, the bright lights in the weight room and gym were the obstacles that kept us from continuing to progress. Once the Altius lenses were employed, we have seen tremendous improvements in her visual function and comfort that has allowed her to see more progression and get the extra edge needed to compete and win at the highest level.”

She got a sample of our Amber lenses. As someone who had never worn contact lenses or needed any vision correction, inserting and removing the lenses did have a slight learning curve. Because our lenses are soft with a vivid tint, the process was easier than she expected. She adapted quickly to wearing them. Her first time wearing them in competition resulted in her feeling better than she had in a long time. In fact, she won that tournament, out scoring her opponents 32-2.

Emma continued to wear the Amber lenses during her training and competitions, when she knew she would be faced with bright lights that could cause a migraine. She found that her light sensitivity wasn’t the only thing that ALTIUS helped with.

The anxiety that she started having after her neck injury improved significantly. She felt the overall calming effect that many experience when wearing ALTIUS lenses. When our eyes are less stressed, our mind tends to find better focus and release the anxiety caused by visual noise and disturbance.

Her wrestling also improved. She competed against an opponent that had previously beaten her 3 of the 4 times. Wearing the Amber lenses, Emma beat her opponent in 2 of the 3 matches, taking the win. She felt more confident and controlled, which helped her focus on technique and responding quickly to her opponent’s moves.

At one point in the match, her opponent ripped one of the lenses out her eye. Eye injuries are quite common in wrestling, but because she was wearing the ALTIUS lenses, Emma’s eyes were protected from the bright lights AND her opponent’s fingers.

With less visual distraction, her mind was able to concentrate on the activity at hand, and her body responded with a quicker reaction time. Her opponent in the Final X competition, which determines the Senior World Team, had previously received points on her by hitting her single leg. While wearing the ALTIUS Amber lenses, her competitor didn’t get one leg hit.

The Amber lenses also provide a fun intimidation factor for the combat sport of wrestling. The bright orange tint of the lenses are hard to miss, and Emma has heard plenty of comments about her eyes with the lenses on - most of which are very positive with people mentioning how cool it looks, like she’s a vampire. ALTIUS lenses may not be cosmetic lenses, but they do change the look of your eyes, which is a fun additional bonus for competitive sports.

Living in Colorado, Emma takes advantage of the many outdoor activities and wears the Grey-Green lenses to protect her eyes and her brain from any exposure to the bright lights.

We’re excited to follow Emma on her journey as she prepares for Senior Worlds and for the 2024 Olympics.

68 kg1st - Emma Bruntil, Titan Mercury