Peripheral Vision Loss

Normal sight includes central vision (the field of view straight ahead) and peripheral vision (the field of view outside the circle of central vision). The inability to see within a normal range of view often indicates peripheral vision loss. In severe cases of peripheral vision loss, individuals only see with their central vision, which causes the sensation of looking through a narrow tunnel. For this reason, peripheral vision loss is sometimes referred to as tunnel vision.

Peripheral Vision Loss Signs and Symptoms

The primary symptom of peripheral vision loss is tunnel vision. When this symptom occurs, you are only able to see a small circle straight ahead. You may also have difficulty seeing in low light and have trouble walking.

Peripheral vision loss does not always occur rapidly. As a result, many sufferers do not immediately realize they are experiencing a loss of peripheral vision, and do not receive diagnosis until examined by an eye care professional.

Peripheral Vision Loss Causes

Several conditions cause peripheral vision loss. Some conditions are serious and require immediate treatment, while others will simply clear up on their own. Any loss of vision or change in sight, however, should prompt an immediate examination by an eye care professional to rule out or begin treatment for any serious medical conditions.

Conditions which cause peripheral vision and require medical treatment include glaucoma, damage to the retina, detached retina, retinitis pigmentosa, brain damage due to stroke or loss of blood, occlusions (eye strokes), optic nerve damage, optic neuritis, compressed optic nerve head, and concussions or other head injuries.

In addition to these conditions which can lead to permanent vision loss, some factors cause temporary tunnel vision and may not require medical treatment. These include alcohol and drug use, high levels of adrenalin, extreme stress, panic, and anger. Peripheral vision loss due to these factors will clear up on its own with no treatment.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Eye care professionals diagnose peripheral vision loss by using a field of vision exam to test your range of vision. If peripheral vision loss is detected, the eye care professional will determine the specific cause by performing further medical testing, observation, and by looking at your medical records. Once an underlying cause is determined, an eye care professional will recommend the treatment options. Depending on the cause, this might include surgery, medication, or vision therapy.

Blurry Vision

There are many potential causes for blurry eyes. The answer to why you have blurry vision is best answered by your eye care professional, who can offer diagnosis and prompt treatment so that your vision does not get worse. Some conditions that cause blurry vision are easy to treat, but others require quick medical attention.

Common Causes of Blurry Vision

Astigmatism—Refractive errors and irregularities on the cornea can make objects appear blurry from any distance. Prescription glasses, contacts, or refractive surgery can correct this problem.

Myopia or nearsightedness—Objects that are farther away appear blurry due to refraction irregularities. It can also be accompanied by headaches and eye fatigue.

Hyperopia or farsightedness—You may have to strain to see closer objects clearly, while objects further away are clearly visible. Hyperopia can cause headaches, eye strain and blurry vision when reading.

Presbyopia—Age-related hardening of the eye’s lens; causes symptoms similar to hyperopia. It can be treated with multifocal glasses or eye surgeries.

Computer Vision Syndrome—Eye strain related to an ergonomic problems and excessive use of computer screens. Frequent re-focusing rest breaks, special glasses, and an ergonomic workstation set up can help.

Pregnancy—Hormonal changes can affect the shape of your cornea, but more serious conditions like gestational diabetes or high blood pressure could also cause blurry vision during pregnancy. Contact your doctor immediately if this occurs.

Dry Eyes—Without sufficient tear lubrication, the eyes can feel irritated and scratchy while vision becomes blurry; artificial tears help in many cases while medications and punctal plugs can help in more severe situations.

Vitreous Injuries and Aging—As you age, gel-like vitreous can liquefy, causing microscopic bits of tissue to float around, casting shadows or “eye floaters” over the retina. An injury might also cause blood to enter the vitreous, also leading to blurred vision.

Eye Injuries and Infections—If the eye becomes inflamed from injury or an infection like conjunctivitis, blurry vision may result.

Post-LASIK Blurriness—Blurry vision is normal for a few days after surgery, but if it does not steadily improve, contact your eye care professional

Serious Causes of Blurry Vision

Note: people with cardiovascular conditions and diabetes need to be especially vigilant when any vision problems arise, as these can signal serious systemic health problems as well.

  • Eye Occlusions
  • Retinal Detachment
  • Cataracts
  • Glaucoma
  • Diabetic Retinopathy
  • Macular Degeneration

Contact your eye care professional right away if you experience blurry vision symptoms.

Double Vision

Double vision, also known as “seeing double” or the medical term diplopia, is the perception of two images of a single object. This occurs when two nonmatching images are sent to the part of the brain that processes visual input. Over time, the brain eventually begins to compensate for this misinformation by suppressing one signal so that only a single image is perceived. There are many different causes for double vision, ranging from life-threatening to benign. Consequently, when diagnosing double vision and creating a treatment plan, it is critical for a medical professional to determine the specific cause in order to develop an appropriate treatment plan.

Symptoms of Diplopia

Common symptoms of double vision include the visual appearance of objects overlapping each other or appearing adjacent to one another. This visual overlap can vary as the affected individual turns or tilts his head or gazes from side to side.

There are two types of double vision: monocular and binocular. With monocular diplopia, double vision is affecting both eyes and does not resolve itself when a single eye is covered. For binocular diplopia, the eyes are simply misaligned and when one eye is covered, the condition is resolved. Each eye is seeing the correct single image when working alone, but when the eyes are working together, the brain perceives two adjacent images.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Correctly diagnosing the cause for diplopia is essential to developing an appropriate treatment plan. An eye care professional will start by taking a detailed medical history, including when the problem first began, whether it was a sudden onset or developed gradually, and whether the double vision is a frequent problem or an intermittent concern. The eye care professional will conduct a physical examination to measure visual acuity in each eye. This is necessary to determine whether the double vision is monocular or binocular.

An eye care professional will also examine how shifting the head’s position affects the double vision. If a neurological cause is suspected, close attention will be paid to the pupils and eyelid position when looking for ocular or orbital abnormalities. In some cases specialized imaging, like an MRI, may be necessary.

Treatment for double vision depends on the cause. In the case of monocular diplopia, refractive errors can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses; if cataracts are the cause, surgery can correct this problem. For binocular diplopia, however, a serious condition is typically associated with the eye misalignment. Correctly diagnosing the disease, like diabetes, high blood pressure, or myasthenia gravis is essential to determining the appropriate course of treatment.

Hyperopia (Farsightedness)

An eye condition affecting roughly 50 percent of individuals who need glasses, hyperopia (commonly called farsightedness) is characterized by difficulty focusing on nearby objects while being able to see objects at a distance properly. Hyperopia occurs when your eyeball is too short or when your cornea is flatter or less round than normal. This causes light entering the eye to come to focus at a spot located behind the retina, rather than being properly focused at the retina (the back of the eye where photoreceptor cells are located).

Hyperopia Symptoms

Farsighted individuals experience difficulty maintaining concentration or focus on close objects. If you have hyperopia, you may unknowingly exert extra effort to bring images of close objects into focus. This additional effort leads to eye strain, headaches, and sometimes fatigue after periods of going work such as reading or writing.

Hyperopia Diagnosis

Farsightedness in children often goes undiagnosed during eye exams performed at school because these children can easily read the letters on an eye chart. Children are usually diagnosed with farsightedness after complaining of headaches or experiencing difficulties with tasks in school such as reading. An eye care professional diagnoses hyperopia in patients of all ages with a comprehensive eye exam.

Hyperopia Treatments

Depending on the severity of hyperopia, farsightedness can be treated in several ways or, in extremely mild instances, might require no treatment at all. Most cases of hyperopia are treated with corrective lenses (either glasses or contacts), which adjust the way light is bent when entering the eye, allowing it to focus at the retina.

Most farsighted individuals adjust well to wearing glasses or contact lenses. As an alternative, corrective surgeries such as LASIK or conductive keratoplasty have been developed to provide permanent treatment solutions, eliminating or reducing the need to wear corrective lenses. After a comprehensive eye exam, an eye care professional will help patients with hyperopia decide which treatment options are right for them.

High Order Aberrations

In an ideal world, everyone would have perfectly-shaped eyes. The reality, however, is that practically every eye has some form of aberration somewhere in it. These aberrations may or may not cause vision problems, but don’t be too surprised if your eye doctor informs you that you are having difficulties due to some such imperfection. In addition to relatively straightforward vision problems such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, it is also possible to suffer higher order aberrations that distort images in a much more complex manner.

What Is an Aberration?

Any deviation from normal refraction of incoming light waves can be considered an aberration, even if that aberration is so minor that it causes no vision problems whatsoever. Any change in the shape, consistency, or functionality of any part of the eye can distort the way light is focused and turned into images by the eye. Nearsightedness and farsightedness involve a simple distortion of the eyeball’s shape, while astigmatism usually involves a fairly simple distortion of the cornea. These conditions are thus easy to diagnose and correct.

Causes

Higher order aberrations can be caused by a number of factors. The thickened proteins that create cataracts, for instance, can interfere with proper refraction, as can a lack of tear film in people with chronically dry eyes. Corneal scarring from disease or injury, and irregularities in the lens or vitreous humor (the gelatinous substance inside the eye), can also cause higher order aberrations. These little imperfections in the eye can bend and shift the waveforms of incoming light in all sorts of ways. Eye doctors have learned to recognize these different types of distortion, assigning them such names as trefoil, quadrafoil, coma, defocus, and spherical aberration.

Treatment

Treatment for a higher order aberration involves either correcting the underlying cause, or compensating for the resulting vision problem. If your higher order aberration is the result of cataracts or dry eyes, for instance, your eye care professional can recommend treatments for these disorders that to dramatically improve your vision. The fitting of intraocular lens can resolve not only cataracts but other lens disorders as well.

If your eye’s vitreous humor is contributing to the problem, vitrectomy or other procedures can address that issue. You may find that prescription eyewear or refractive laser surgeries such as LASIK can correct your vision adequately. Talk to your eye care professional about which treatments can help your higher order aberrations.

Ocular Migraine

The name conjures up pain, but ocular migraines are less about headaches and more about a vision problem. Ocular migraines are temporary visual disturbances that can last up to 30 minutes. This condition can affect one eye or both eyes simultaneously. An ocular migraine does not typically cause pain unless accompanied by a migraine headache.

Ocular Migraine Symptoms

Multiple visual symptoms can signal an ocular migraine attack. Ocular migraines can appear suddenly and distort your field of vision like a cracked mirror or window. It is frightening, but the symptoms usually disappear within a half-hour.

A small blind spot will appear, often surrounded with flickering lights and wavy lines surrounding the perimeter of the spot. The blind spot will enlarge and sometimes moves across your field of vision during the ocular migraine attack.

Ocular migraine sufferers can also experience prodromes that develop days or weeks before an attack. Prodromes can cause mood swings, food cravings, and sluggishness.

Ocular Migraine Causes

Many things that trigger migraine headaches are also root causes behind ocular migraines. If you have a family history of suffering from migraine headaches, your chances are much higher for struggling with ocular migraines.

Changes in blood flow to the brain occur while suffering from an ocular migraine. These migraines are triggered by a build-up of inflammation around the nerves and blood vessels in the brain and the rest of the head.

Middle-aged adults are the most common migraine sufferers. Women are three times more likely than men to suffer from migraines.

Common migraine triggers include cigarette smoke, perfume, bright or flickering lights, sleep deprivation, and stress. Certain foods can also be a problem including cheese, caffeinated drinks, red wine, chocolate, smoked meat, and artificial sweeteners.

Ocular Migraine Treatments

Since ocular migraines cause no pain and typically disappear within a half-hour, there is no specific treatment required for this eye condition.

If you are driving, reading or performing a task that requires good vision, stop the activity and relax during an ocular migraine attack. Resume your activity once your vision returns to normal. If it is accompanied by a migraine headache, visit your eye care professional to get an eye exam and discuss some treatment options.

Keep a log of your diet and activities to help you identify ocular migraine triggers. This will help you know what foods to avoid consuming and activities to avoid doing in the future.

Myopia (Nearsightedness)

Myopia, commonly called nearsightedness, is a refractive error of the eye, meaning that the shape of the eye or its cornea improperly bends light as it enters the eye. This hinders your ability to focus. Myopia is the most common refractive error of the eyes, and is caused by several factors including eye strain, overuse, and genetic predisposition.

Myopia Symptoms

Nearsighted eyes are longer than normal. When light enters a nearsighted eye, it focuses to a point in front of the retina, where photoreceptors are located. As a result, nearsighted individuals are able to see nearby objects clearly, but have difficulty focusing on distant objects. In addition to having difficulty seeing distant objects such as road signs, a television screen, or a chalkboard, myopia can also cause eye strain, squinting, and headaches. Nearsighted individuals might also experience a sense of fatigue during athletic activities or while driving.

Inherited myopia develops during childhood, and can progressively worsen as the eyes grow until individuals reach about the age of 20. After the eyes have developed fully, myopia can continue to progress due to eye fatigue and eye strain from activities which require the eyes to be focused on nearby objects like reading and computer work. Individuals without inherited myopia can develop nearsightedness from overuse as well.

Myopia Diagnosis

Myopia is usually diagnosed after the patient notices frequent headaches or difficulty seeing distant objects. After a comprehensive eye exam, an eye care professional will provide a myopia diagnosis. The severity of myopia has three classifications which depend on the strength of the prescription determined by an eye care professional: mild, moderate, and high.

Myopia Treatments

Several treatment options exist for individuals with myopia. These include contact lenses, glasses, and refractive surgery. Glasses and contact lenses correct the refractive error in eyes by bending light before it enters the eye, allowing it to focus on the retina. Refractive surgery, like LASIK surgery, physically reshapes the eye to correct the refractive error, eliminating or reducing the need for corrective lenses.

In addition to these treatments, which are intended to correct nearsighted vision, there are also various therapies available to hinder or slow the progression of myopia in childhood. These treatments include multifocal corrective lenses, atropine eye drops, and orthokeratology. The course of treatment which an eye care professional recommends for each patient depends on the severity of the myopia.