Cullen was scratched from Thursday night's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs because of vision problems stemming from the hit he suffered Dec. 26 at the hands of New York Rangers forward Colton Orr.

"It's been frustrating, because physically, I feel great," Cullen said Friday as he watched the Hurricanes practice at the RecZone. "I can practice fine, I can skate, I can handle the puck. I'm just having trouble seeing things on the ice normally."

After suffering the injury, Cullen sat out two games before returning to the lineup. He made it through only one period before sitting out the next seven games.

His latest return lasted four games, before a team of specialists decided Cullen ought to stop playing before his issues worsened -- what he called his "ongoing saga."

Already missing Justin Williams (knee) and David Tanabe (concussion) indefinitely, with no prospect of imminent return for either, Cullen's status beyond tonight's game with the Pittsburgh Penguins is now just as much in doubt.

"Hopefully he'll feel better with time off and will make it back," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "Beyond that, I have no idea."

Cullen said he has difficulty shifting his focus from near to far, particularly among moving objects. Needless to say, that makes playing the game of hockey difficult.

"It really impairs the way that I see the ice," Cullen said. "It's been a struggle. When I play, I feel really good, physically. I've been able to play semi-effectively but going further the fear is that it will settle in like this or get worse as I get banged around more and more."

In addition to Mike Peters, the team's eye doctor, Cullen is also working with concussion expert Kevin Guskiewicz at the University of North Carolina and Cary neuro-optometrist Susan Durham.

The team continues to maintain Cullen did not suffer a concussion, even though he was unconscious before he hit the ice and suffered many symptoms of a concussion -- headaches, fatigue, vision problems -- during his recovery.

"To be honest, it's still debatable," trainer Pete Friesen said. "Concussions a lot of time, they don't make sense. ... We don't want to give it a name, but it could be a concussion, it could be post-concussion (syndrome).

"Most of the time if you have post-concussion syndrome, you've probably had more than one concussion -- five or six. It's not once. This is it for him, just this one."

Friesen said that while Cullen's vision problems may stem from a concussion or other brain issues, they may also be the result of trauma to his optic nerve or the muscles that focus the eye.

Cullen has passed all of the concussion-related neurological testing, including a special MRI exam Guskiewicz developed during his groundbreaking work with the NFL, and no longer experiences exercise-related headaches or sleep issues.

Now, he's trying special contact lenses and a regimen of eye exercises, but at this point it may be that only time can fix his vision.

"Day-to-day activity, you don't even really notice it," Cullen said. "Even in practice, it's pretty structured. You kind of have to play to find out. I don't regret playing, because I was able to figure it out.

"But now I really know that it's something I can't keep playing with, because I can't play at the level I know I need to be at."

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