Common eye problems and eye conditions

Eye conditions are common conditions that can affect anyone sometimes without obvious symptoms at different stages in life. Let us take a look at some of conditions that can cause vision problem:

Long-sightedness

Long-sightedness is a common eye condition which affects your ability to see thing up-close. Long-sightedness will give an individual difficulty in viewing items up close but their farsighted vision will remain intact. An individual who is long-sighted may have difficulty seeing objects up close, blurred vision, eye fatigue and strain, crossed eyes in children, headaches, and poor concentration. This creates difficulty in tasks such as reading, writing, and using your digital device. This condition is usually treated using corrective lenses, glasses or contact lenses.

Short-sightedness

Short-sightedness or Myopia as it is medically known as affects an individuals ability to see clearly at a distance. They will experience blurry vision when driving at night, playing sport, reading a street sign which is at a distance.

This condition is treated with corrective lenses, glasses or contact lenses. And it is a common occurrence in individuals of all ages.

Presbyopia

Presbyopia is the change in an individual’s sight after the age of 40. This is caused by the eye’s inability to focus on short distances. This condition can be corrected simply with glasses or contact lenses. Multi-focal lenses provide natural vision at short and long distances. A regular eye exam is essential as your ability to focus declines in order to update your lens prescription every few years.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism  occurs when the eye is shaped more like a rugby ball, instead of being spherical in shape. This makes the light entering the eye to curve more in one direction than the other. In some cases common symptoms of astigmatism include eye strain, fatigue, reduced concentration and discomfort while other degrees of astigmatism can cause vision  at all distances to be indistinct and distorted. Astigmatism is commonly treated using corrective lenses, glasses or contact lenses.

Asthenopia and Digital Eye Strain

Digital eye strain is the condition that occurs when an individual’s eyes become fatigued after prolonged use in front of digital devices. Symptoms include pain around the eyes, headaches, blurry vision, sensitivity to light and sore, tired eyes. Most of our day can be spent in front of screens, or on our phones. This condition can also lead to neck and shoulder pain and headaches. There are digital lenses designed to help alleviate these symptoms so that you can continue your using your digital device with ease.

Binocular vision problems and Lazy eye

Binocular vision can occur when both eyes cannot keep focus on one point at the same time to create a single image, this causes depth perception problems and difficulty judging distances effectively.

Lazy eye is a main cause of binocular vision deficiencies. When the brain does not receive the same picture from both eyes, it can overlook the image in one eye in order to obtain a clear picture and avoid confusion. Vision therapy or training with a behavioral optometrist, is the most effective approach for overcoming binocular vision problems and should be started as soon as the condition is diagnosed.

Color deficiency blindness

Color deficiency is usually inherited and affects men more than it does women. Color deficiency usually creates confusion in the colors red and green for the individual and they have difficulty determining which is which. With this condition some shades of red, green, and yellow appear grey but many colors, especially purples and blues will appear normal. Absolute color blindness, which is being unable to see colors at all, is extremely rare though it does exist. Whilst there is no cure for inherited color vision problems, tinted lenses and lenses that reduce glare may be prescribed to improve contrast between colors.