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Poor Vision: Know The Signs

In patients, whether young or old, sometimes poor vision can be the result of several possible conditions such as anatomical changes or abnormalities in the eye or visual system, diseases affecting the eye, side effects due to medicine or eye injuries. Many people also experience visual abnormalities associated with age or eye strain. These experiences can lead to changes in your eyesight, which may cause pain and even make it harder to perform everyday activities, like reading books or working on a computer for extended periods of time. These vision problems can be expressed through the following symptoms: eye strain, headache, blurred vision, squinting and problems seeing at close and far distances.

Blurred vision is one of the most commonly occurring signs of a vision problem. If you report blurred vision when you're focusing on faraway objects or signs, you could be myopic or nearsighted. If you have blurred vision when you're looking at something at close range it could mean you suffer from farsightedness, or hyperopia. It can also mean you have astigmatism due to a flaw in the shape of the cornea, or the curvature of the lens inside the eye. Whatever the cause of blurry vision, it's essential that an eye care professional thoroughly check your vision and decide on the most effective way to rectify your sight.

Another warning sign of a vision problem is trouble distinguishing shades or brightness of color. This generally means the patient has a color perception problem, or color blindness. Interestingly, this condition is often unknown to the patient until diagnosed via a consultation. Color blindness is mostly found in males. If present in a female it could indicate ocular disease, and an eye doctor should be consulted. For those who have difficulty distinguishing objects in low light, it is a sign of possible night blindness.

Cataracts, a condition commonly found in aging people can have a number of indicating signs which include: hazy vision that weakens in bright light, trouble seeing in the dark or reduced light, trouble discerning small writing or details, muted or faded colors, seeing duplicates in one eye, redness of the eye, and a milky white appearance to the normally dark pupil.

Throbbing pain in the eye, headaches, blurry sight, inflammation in the eye, rainbow coronas around lights, nausea and vomiting are also signs of glaucoma, an acute medical illness, which needs immediate medical attention.

In children, it is important to watch for uncoordinated eye movement, or eyes that cross in or out, which could indicate a condition known as strabismus. Specific things children might do, like rubbing one or both eyes, squinting, head tilting, or the need to close one eye in order to see things better, can often indicate strabismus.

If you experience any of the symptoms we've mentioned here, visit your eye doctor as soon as possible. Even though some conditions could be more severe than others, anything that restricts normal eyesight can be a burden, and impact your quality of life. A brief consultation with your optometrist can prevent being avoidably uncomfortable, not to mention further eye problems.

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