Have you recently experienced sudden vision changes? If so, you may need to seek professional care. Learn about other vision issues, too.
Did you know humans can’t see a full range of color and clear details until they’re about two years old?
For the first two years of our lives, our vision improves, but after that, it’s mostly downhill.
It’s normal for your eyesight to get worse with age, but it should happen gradually over time.
If you ever have sudden vision changes, like the ones below, get medical attention.
- Retinal Detachment
The retina or the reflective lens of your eye is located right next to the optic nerve. It helps the light you see be reflected back into your brain as an image.
Sometimes the retina can become detached, causing you to feel like there’s a curtain across your vision – almost like you’re living with a strong Instagram filter.
Other signs include having floaters in your vision or seeing flashing lights – and this can happen suddenly.
If you suspect a retinal detachment and have the above symptoms, go to your local emergency room. Waiting it out will not make it better and can lead to blindness.
- Pink Eye
While not permanently damaging (in most cases), pink eye is very contagious to those around you. It’s more common than you’d like to think, and you need to know what to look out for.
If you ever wake up with your eye(s) feeling crusty and hard to open, it’s likely pink eye. Other signs include your eye itching, gooey discharge, and of course – a pink bloodshot looking eye.
If you wake up with these symptoms, stay home, and wash your hands any time you touch your face. Do not touch your other eye, as the infection can spread from one eye to another.
There’s not much you can do for pink-eye, other than put in eye drops if you want to go to your ophthalmologist. Otherwise, you’ll need to keep clean and wait it out.
- Cloudy Vision and Eye Appearance
It’s unlikely you’re going to wake up one day with cornea issues, as it’s a gradual process. But if your eyesight is already bad and you haven’t been paying attention, it could feel like that happened.
Most people have cornea problems in their 60-70s. They’re common enough to be considered an age-related issue.
You can treat the problem with drops, but at one point, you’ll need a cornea transplant or an artificial lense put in.
This is something your ophthalmologist can see coming, so there’s another reason to see them yearly!
- Sudden Blindness in One Eye
Were you ever to have sudden blurriness or blindness in one eye, go to the emergency room immediately.
It could be a sign you’re having (or about to have) a stroke, and something in your brain is blocking the artery that goes to your eyes.
- Sudden Discomfort in Contact Lenses
Are you just tired of wearing contact lenses all of a sudden, or it feels like your prescription changed overnight?
This could be any number of things – including the very common “dry eye.” But if it persists or you’re tired of putting contacts in every day, talk to your doctor about LASIK eye surgery.
Sudden Vision Changes
Your vision changes gradually throughout your life, from age or biological factors. It should never change in the blink of an eye, or overnight.
If it does, please go straight to the emergency room, or have someone take you if your sudden vision changes stop you from driving.
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A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.