According to the National Institute of Health, the vast majority of Americans who reach at least 75 years of age will experience blurry vision. This visual impairment can have one or more of various causes. The NIH considers visual impairment as any vision problem that causes a substantial decrease in quality of life.
Senior citizens often suffer from blurry vision. The elderly are more often affected by blurry vision than younger people for several reasons. A long life allows more time for common eye problems to develop. Aging eyes are more susceptible to infections and injury. Many older people also sometimes have less access to eye health care due to financial or transportation restrictions. In this case, vision problems may get worse because they are not treated.
But blurry vision is not only a problem of those who have reached an advanced age. Eye problems are sometimes present at birth. They can manifest at any time, depending on the specific problem that causes the visual impairment.
There are many causes of blurry vision. It may come on suddenly, or it may develop so slowly that it is not very noticeable. Even eye injuries may not cause blurry vision right away.
Any change in vision usually requires a doctor’s evaluation. In this article, we will discuss some of the more common and serious causes of blurry vision and touch a bit on the treatments that are most often used to restore normal vision, or at least attempt to improve it to some degree.
1. Visual Disturbances
A visual disturbance is anything that interferes with normal sight. This includes injuries and abrasions, infections, diseases of the eye and even some medical conditions that seemingly have nothing to do with the eyes. Diabetes is an example of the latter. Be warned: Blurry vision can be a symptom of a serious problem in another part of the body.
Treatment of a visual disturbance depends on the cause, of course. Sometimes no treatment is necessary because the disturbance is only temporary and the blurry vision will eventually clear up on its own. Other times, as in the case of infection, only a course of antibiotics is needed. More serious visual disturbances may require surgery or extended treatment. And some causes of blurry vision are permanent and can not be treated by any current medicine, treatment or surgery.
To reiterate a very important point: Only a doctor can diagnose the cause of visual disturbance and prescribe treatment in all but a few cases of minor eye irritation. A normal vision that suddenly turns blurry requires emergency medical care because it can be a symptom of stroke. Even a vision problem with a slow onset can be an indication of a problem that needs medical attention. It is best not to take any chances with your health. Listen to your eyes.
[nextpage title=“Next” ]2. Head Injury
Even mild head injuries can cause blurry vision.
A concussion can cause detached retina and bleed into the inside of the eye. This is a serious issue that requires surgery to fix. Permanent blindness can result if treatment for this condition is delayed.
A serious blow to the head can cause swelling of the brain. The resulting increased intracranial pressure can choke the optic nerve. This requires quick medical attention because a pinched optic nerve can lead to permanent blindness.
The eyes are filled with a clear semi-fluid called vitreous humor. A head injury can cause blood vessels in the eye to bleed into the vitreous humor and cause blurry vision. This often clears up on its own, but medication may be necessary to speed recovery.
[nextpage title=“Next” ]3. Stroke
A stroke causes loss of control of muscles, sometimes including the ciliary muscles that flex to control the shape of the eye’s lens. Blurry vision results when the brain loses control of the ciliary muscles. This is why it is so important to seek immediate medical attention if your vision becomes blurry all of a sudden. Sometimes blurry vision is the only symptom of a stroke.
The visual impairment that follows some strokes can be permanent, but sometimes vision returns to normal acuity on its own. There are no treatments to correct vision problems caused by stroke, and corrective lenses do not help.
[nextpage title=“Next” ]4. Low Blood Sugar
Both low and high blood sugar can cause blurry vision. The effects of high blood sugar can cause permanent damage to the eye. Blurry vision due to low blood sugar, on the other hand, is usually temporary.
When the level of sugars in the blood drops too low, it can cause hypoglycemia in the brain. This is what causes the blurriness. Vision returns to normal when the blood sugar level does.
If you experience blurry vision when you know your blood sugar is low, you may not need medical attention. If your vision remains blurry after your sugar is brought under control, seek medical help right away.
5. Cataracts
A cataract is a condition of the eye’s lens that makes it progressively opaque. Symptoms include seeing a halo around lights, blurry vision, increased need for light to see, poor night vision and sometimes double vision.
The blurriness caused by cataracts is usually barely noticeable at first, but it gets worse with time. Corrective lenses can help with vision loss due to cataracts only during the earliest stage of progression of the condition.
Cataracts are treated with relatively minor surgery. Sometimes lasers are used for the surgery, but sometimes the lens has to be removed and replaced with an artificial one.
[nextpage title=“Next” ]6. Glaucoma
Open-angle glaucoma is a condition resulting when the eye does not drain as it should. This keeps the pressure inside the eye high and the optic nerve gets pinched, just like with a head injury. There are no symptoms in the early stages of this type of glaucoma, and there is no pain. But it can cause permanent damage if not treated. Open-angle glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness among senior citizens.
Narrow-angle glaucoma is caused by the iris being too close to the eye’s drainage point. An acute attack is very serious and occurs when the iris blocks the drain. When this happens, the pressure within the eye rises quickly. Left untreated, an acute attack can cause blindness. Symptoms include eye pain, nausea, headache and suddenly blurry vision.
[nextpage title=“Next” ]7. Macular Degeneration
This eye disease is characterized by the deterioration of the retina’s center cells. The main symptom is blurriness or opaqueness in the center of the field of vision.
The earliest stage may have no symptoms at all. Vision loss becomes noticeable in the middle stage, and blindness is possible at the most advanced stage.
There is no treatment for macular degeneration, but some lifestyle changes can help slow the progression of the disease and lessen the severity of vision loss.
You can lessen your risk of developing this condition by not smoking, getting plenty of exercise and protecting your eyes from ultraviolet light.
