Often, when either children an adults experience poor vision, it can be due to a number of conditions such as changes in the body or in the eye, diseases affecting the eye, side effects of medicine or injury. Commonly, people also suffer from visual disturbances due to aging or eye stress. This can cause changes in your vision, which might make it uncomfortable or difficult to get through daily activities such as reading the newspaper or looking at a computer screen for long periods. Common symptoms of these types of vision problems include blurry vision, headaches, eye strain, squinting and trouble seeing from short or long distances.
One of the most common signs of a vision problem can be blurred vision. If you report blurred vision when you're focusing on faraway objects, you may have myopia, or be nearsighted. If you suffer from blurred vision when you're looking at something at close range this could mean you suffer from hyperopia, or farsightedness. Blurred vision can also be a sign of astigmatism which occurs because of an irregularity in the way the cornea is formed, or the curvature of the lens inside the eye. In all cases of blurry vision, it is essential to have your eye care professional examine your vision and prescribe a solution to help clarify your sight.
Another indicator of a vision problem is difficulty discerning different colors or strength of color. This generally means the patient has a color perception problem, or color blindness. Color blindness is generally not known to the patient until proven with a test. Color blindness is generally found in males. If a woman has difficulty seeing color it could indicate ocular disease, and an optometrist needs to be consulted. If you struggle to distinguish between objects in dim light, it could mean the patient suffers from night blindness.
A problem commonly found in aging patients is cataracts, which can have numerous indicating signs which include: hazy vision that is worse in bright light, trouble seeing in the dark or reduced light, trouble discerning small writing or objects, the need for brighter light when reading, unexpected improvement in near vision while distance vision worsens, puffiness of the eye, and a pale look to the normally dark pupil.
Pulsing eye pain, headaches, unclear sight, redness in the eye, colorful rings around lights, nausea and vomiting are indicators of glaucoma, a severe medical illness, which needs immediate medical attention.
When it comes to children, we recommend you keep an eye out for weak eye movement, or eyes that cross in or out, which could indicate a condition known as strabismus. Specific behavior, like rubbing one or both eyes, squinting, or needing to shut one eye in order to look at things better, can often point to this issue.
If you experience any of the symptoms mentioned here, visit your eye doctor promptly. While clearly some conditions could be more severe than others, anything that limits normal eyesight will be something that compromises your quality of life. A quick appointment with your optometrist can save you from unnecessary discomfort, or further eye and vision problems.