Causes And Treatment For Blurry Vision
If you have minor vision problems, such as being nearsighted or farsighted, you may be used to a little blurriness in your vision. However, if you start to notice that you're experiencing frequent blurriness to your vision regardless of where you look and seemingly without cause, there may be another problem affecting your vision. Some medical procedures and medicines can cause this, as well as minor issues like dry eyes, but it could potentially be something more serious, so talking to your optometrist or ophthalmologist is a good idea if you're worried.
Possible Causes
- Medication: Certain medications can cause blurry vision as a side effect. Though this isn't often very harmful, you should stop taking the medication immediately and talk to your doctor, because it's a side effect that should not happen if it can be avoided. Wait for your doctor to give you advice before you attempt to switch medication.
- Medical Procedures: If you've recently had a procedure done on your eyes, such as eye surgery, you should expect some blurriness for up to a few weeks as your eyes heal and adjust. Corrective surgery won't be noticeable instantly after surgery. If you're worried that the problem might be a result of something else, speak to your ophthalmologist and make an appointment for an eye exam.
- Visual Activities: If you're a heavy reader, you may notice that your vision gets a little blurry after you're done reading. This is a common occurrence after you've been focusing on something close to you for a long period of time, especially if you have dry eyes; focusing on something like a book or screen causes you to blink less, which can exacerbate the problem.
- Vision Problems: Blurred vision can result from a number of vision problems, such as cataracts, presbyopia, glaucoma or macular degeneration. Because there are so many possibilities, if you've started experiencing blurry vision with no apparent cause just recently, you should get an eye exam as soon as you can to look for potential causes.
What To Expect From An Exam
An eye exam consists of multiple processes depending on what you need. Your doctor will give you some combination of tests; you'll most likely get a slit-lamp examination, a refraction test and a tonometer test. Most tests are simple and painless, and will require you to use eye drops, but nothing more. During the tonometer test, your doctor may use a tool that makes you feel a slight puff of air on your eye.
Treatment
Treatment for visual problems often comes in the form of visual aids like glasses or contacts, even in cases of something like cataracts. Unless the problem is serious, you may not need surgery at all. If the problem can't be solved by corrective lenses, you may need eye drops to fix something like dry eyes or an infection.
If you do need surgery, the vast majority of eye surgeries are outpatient procedures, can be performed quickly, and won't require you to be sedated. You may need to wear a protective lens or dark glasses until the eye or eyes heal. For more information, contact Arizona Eye Specialists or a similar organization.
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