The majority of us understand the importance of having annual physical examinations, or at least performing blood tests every year to make sure everything’s fine. Similarly, we have all heard about the importance of going to the dentist every year for a check-up. However, not everybody talks about annual examinations of your visual health. Are they necessary?
Visual problems are not always apparent. People can live with myopia and other visual refraction problems for many years without even realizing it. Our eyes and brain work together to accommodate vision and try to make out for any deficiency we have. Thus, even if you do not realize you need a pair of glasses, you would be amazed to see the world around you and every detail you were missing after receiving your corrective lens.
But how do you know you need a check-up with the optometrist? Moreover, is there any sign and symptom that should warn people against more severe eye problems? What causes poor eyesight? In this article, you will find a straightforward and applicable answer to all of these questions.
Signs and symptoms of vision problems
1. Blurred vision
This is one of the most common visual symptoms, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a visual problem. Even after rubbing your eyes you will get a temporarily blurry vision that will resolve after a few seconds, and the same happens if you suffer from hypotension or hypoglycemia. You have to take care of these conditions right away, but in these cases, blurry vision has nothing to do with your eyes but your nervous system instead.
However, certain conditions such as diabetes and stroke may cause a permanent and unexplained change in your visual field. One of the symptoms is a blurred vision, which is maintained over a prolonged period in diabetes or suddenly appears with no apparent reason during a stroke. However, keep in mind that other symptoms of stroke include face drooping, weakness in one extremity, slurred speech and loss of balance. If you have a combination of these, look for medical attention right away.
2. Double vision
The clinical name is diplopia, and in these cases, you get overlapping images in your visual field instead of seeing clear borders. Similar to a blurry vision, you may experience temporary double vision in some instances, as in extreme tiredness or after consuming too much alcohol. However, double vision may be a sign of specific eye problems, as in cataracts and dry eye syndrome. In some cases, cranial nerve palsies may also cause double vision because it affects normal movement of muscles that control your eyes.
3. Recurrent headaches
If you have visual difficulties and headaches, chances are you suffer from visual problems or need a change of your corrective lens formula. Headaches due do visual issues are not very easy to differentiate from other types of headache, but they are often associated with pain around your eyes and eye strain. If you spent too much time in front of a screen, your eyes tend to become fatigued, and you start feeling a headache that starts behind your eyes and may even trigger a migraine. This type of headache is especially common in people over 40 years old because they undergo presbyopia, a difficulty to focus nearby objects.
4. Low academic performance in children
Since visual problems are somewhat compensated by the brain, we may live for many years with them without realizing, especially children. They do not report any difficulty to their parents, but one of the warning signs that may be useful to note is low academic performance. Not every case is explained by visual problems, but it is definitely one of the diagnoses we need to think about, especially if they are unable to take notes from a blackboard, and have difficulties focusing their visual attention.
5. Flashes of light or floating spots
We often call them eye floaters, and they are floating spots that you can see in your visual field. When you try to look directly at them, they would float away because they are not literally in front of you but inside your eyes. However, there’s no need to worry, because the majority of cases are harmless and temporary. These cases are no more than temporary changes in the gel-like substance that’s inside your eyes. However, maintaining this sign for a very long time points out at possible damage to the most important lining of the eye, the retina. They are more common as we age, and even if some people tend to discard them automatically, having them for an extended period of time should warn us about the necessity of having a visual check-up.
6. Sensitivity to light
It is also known as photophobia, and it is a very common symptom in various diseases, including meningitis and migraines. However, it is also common in patients with visual problems such as cataracts and macular degeneration. Even conjunctivitis or dry eye syndrome may lead to extreme sensitivity to light. So, it depends on the rest of the symptoms you have, and if you experience this symptom very often, you will need to be examined by an ophthalmologist to know exactly what is going on.
7. Red and swollen eyes
Having red and swollen eyes may be a sign of ocular infection, especially if they are itching or hurting. In cases of eye infections, patients would also have other symptoms, such as blurry vision and light sensitivity. They are often resolved by using antibiotics, but these should be prescribed by your doctor. Thus, do not hesitate to go to your specialist or general practitioner to get an accurate diagnosis.
8. Eyelid drooping
The clinical name of droopy eyelids is ptosis, and it is common in cases of trauma and certain problems in the nervous system. In some cases, it is acquired by birth, but in other cases, it appears suddenly and unexpectedly. Depending on the condition, it may or may not be an emergency because sudden ptosis may signal stroke and more uncommon diseases such as myasthenia gravis.
9. Itching or burning discharge in your eyes
This symptom is usually paired up with swollen and red eyes. It is a warning sign of ocular infections and should be attended by your specialist or general practitioner as soon as possible. As noted before, this type of infection is resolved by using antibiotics, but it should be carefully chosen according to the statistics on your country, your symptoms and other parameters. Thus, do not self-medicate and follow your doctor’s guidance to the letter.
10. Eye pain
Ocular pain is not only caused by ocular problems. Your doctor may need to examine other causes as well, such as sinusitis. However, it is also found if you have cellulitis, orbital edema, and other conditions that may lead to a dysfunction of the optic nerve. Eye pain is a sign that requires urgent medical attention, especially when it is severe or associated with trauma.
What causes poor eyesight?
Poor eyesight is a very common problem caused by refraction defects in the visual field. The majority of them are caused by changes in the length, and internal structures of the eye, and their causes are summarized as follows:
Myopia
It happens when the eyeball grows larger, and light rays converge in front of the retina. In this situation, patients will have poor eyesight when trying to focus on distant objects, which is why this condition is also known as nearsightedness.
Hyperopia
It happens when the eyeball becomes smaller, and light rays converge behind the retina. In these cases, the patient will have poor eyesight when trying to focus on nearby objects, which is why this condition is also known as farsightedness.
Astigmatism
In astigmatism, the problem is not the length of the eye but the transparent structures that accommodate vision and allow light to enter in contact with the retina. In astigmatism, there’s a problem with the normal curvature of the lens or the cornea. Thus, light still passes through but in a different way. This causes a fuzzy and distorted vision that may be accompanied by myopia or hyperopia.
Presbyopia
It is an age-related change to the muscle fibers that accommodate vision. They are attached to the lens and change its structure to focus on nearby or distant images. However, in presbyopia, these structures lose their flexibility and become stiff, unable to change the shape of the lens when images are too close.
These are the most common causes of poor eyesight, but there are many others related to chronic health conditions such as diabetes or hypertension. Thus, regardless of your age and health conditions, it is important to pay attention to any signs and symptoms of eye problems. Even if visual problems appear not to be a severe problem, the microvasculature of the eyes reflects any problem we have in other parts of the body. Thus, it is very important to perform a complete eye examination as a part of your annual screening, even if you do not yet have any concerning symptoms.