Symptoms & Causes of 19 Common Eye Problems

Cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness in Kenya. According to the Kenya Ministry of Health, they account for nearly half of all blindness cases nationwide, making early detection and timely treatment especially important.

The development of cloudy regions in the eye focal point implies to cataracts. Light goes through a good eye focal point to your retina, where images are created. With cataracts influencing your eye focal point, the light can't go through to the retina easily enough

The signs and symptoms of Cataracts are as follows:

• Clouded Vision
• Low visibility at night
• Faded colours
• Difficulty viewing bright light and glare
• Seeing bright circles

Prevention And Treatment

You need to protect your eyes to prevent or delay cataracts. Some key steps that you can take include:

• Wear sunglasses and a hat to block the sun or extra brightness.
• Avoid drinking alcohol and smoking.
• Eat green leafy vegetables such as spinach and collard greens. 
• Get your eye checked regularly every year if you are above 60 years.

Treatment of cataracts depends upon your condition and the growth of cataracts:

• Home Treatment: If diagnosed early, you can add small preventive changes in your lifestyle to manage cataracts.
• New Glasses: New prescription eyeglasses will reduce strain on your eyes and help you see better with cataracts.
• Surgery: This is the only sure way to get rid of cataracts. The surgical process is safe and effective. Your optometrist may suggest surgery if the cataract is hampering your everyday activities such as reading, walking, driving, etc. During surgery, the clouded lens is replaced with an intraocular lens, which is an artificial lens.

2.Macular Degeneration

Age-Related Macular Degeneration or AMD is an eye issue related to ageing and harms sharp and focal vision. Focal vision is required for seeing articles clearly and for everyday errands like working and driving. AMD influences the macula, the focal part of the retina that permits the eye to see fine details. There are two types of AMD- dry and wet.

• Dry AMD: The more common form of AMD, caused by gradual thinning of the macula and the buildup of drusen (tiny yellow deposits). It progresses slowly and leads to gradual central vision loss.
  
  
• Wet AMD: A more advanced form where abnormal blood vessels grow beneath the retina and leak fluid or blood. It can cause sudden, rapid vision loss if left untreated.

The signs and symptoms of Age-Related Macular Degeneration are as follows:

• Blurred vision
• Partial vision loss
• Formation of blind spots
• Low visibility in dim light
• Changed size of objects

Prevention And Treatment

The treatment you will receive will depend on the stage and type of AMD. Your doctor will keep track of your condition with regular eye exams and keep you updated. Meanwhile, you can:

• Eat green leafy vegetables 
• Perform physical exercises
• Avoid smoking or drinking

Doctors prescribe special dietary supplements in moderate dry AMD, which will stop your condition from worsening further. These may also help slow down the AMD in one eye if you have late dry AMD in another. Currently, there is no treatment available for late dry AMD.

Treatments that will be able to help in wet AMD are:

• Medicines: Anti-VEGF injections
• PDT: Photodynamic therapy or PDT combines laser treatment and injections. It is a two-step treatment in which abnormal blood vessels gets damaged using laser treatment, and then a drug is injected. Afterwards, with the help of a cold laser, the drug is activated, which damages the abnormal vessels further.

3.Glaucoma

Glaucoma is an eye condition where the eye's optic nerve is harmed and is declining over time. Generally, it brings about pressure development inside the liquid in your eye, which might conceivably damage the optic nerve responsible for sending images to your mind. This expanded pressure is likewise alluded to as intraocular pressure. This could again prompt permanent vision loss.

The signs and symptoms of Glaucoma are as follows:

• Peripheral vision loss
• Tunnel vision
• Itchy eyes
• Sudden visual disturbance
• Redness in eyes

Prevention And Treatment

There is no cure for glaucoma, and early treatment is the only way to improve your condition. Therefore, a comprehensive dilated eye exam is required as early as possible. Your doctor will start your treatment right away to stop your disease from getting worse.

• Medicines: Prescription eye drops help in regulating eye pressure. They prevent further damage to the optic nerve by lowering the eye pressure.
• Laser Treatment: Doctors may use laser treatment to drain the fluid to lower the eye pressure.
• Surgery:  If medicines and laser treatment do not achieve the desired results, your optometrist suggests you undergo surgery. They will use a surgical method to drain the fluid from your eye to lower the eye pressure.

Glaucoma is a severe eye condition that may cause permanent vision loss if left untreated. Be sure to take all the medicines prescribed by the doctor. Go for regular eye checkups and inform the doctor about the side effects of the treatment, if any.

Glaucoma also runs in families, so encourage your family members to get their eye exam as early as possible.

4.Myopia (Nearsightedness)

This eye condition refers to nearsightedness when you can easily see the articles near you while getting a foggy vision of the items far away. This happens because of irregular bending of light (refraction) because of the state of your eye. The resultant pictures are engaged before your retina instead of being close to it.

The signs and symptoms of myopia are as follows:

• Blurred vision for distant objects
• Eyestrain
• Severe headache
• Difficulty in viewing distant objects

5.Hyperopia (Farsightedness)

Not at all like nearsightedness; hyperopia, or farsightedness, refers to an eye problem in which you have a clear vision while looking at objects far away, but get a blurred image of nearby objects. If you regularly feel tiredness in your eyes, combined with problems focusing on nearby objects, you may be experiencing hyperopia.

The signs and symptoms of hyperopia are as follows:

• Blurred vision for close objects
• Headache
• Tiredness of eyes
• Difficulty in viewing things nearby

6.Astigmatism

Whenever your vision escapes the focus because of the unusually curved cornea (the primary tissue covering the front of the eye), this eye disorder is referred to as 'astigmatism' or 'keratoconus'. Individuals with a family background of intense astigmatism are more likely to get this eye problem. Besides, individuals who use power instruments without wearing glasses are likewise inclined to the wounds of acquired astigmatism.

The signs and symptoms of astigmatism are as follows:

• Distorted vision
• Disturbed visibility at night
• Headache
• Eyestrain

7.Presbyopia

Human eyes' failure to focus on adjacent articles because of progressive vision loss is referred to as "Presbyopia", an eye disease typically connected with ageing. Generally, it stays unnoticeable until the mid-40s and proceeds with ageing until 65 years old or so. Most people become aware of presbyopia when they feel a sense of urgency to hold reading materials at a manageable distance.

The signs and symptoms of presbyopia are as follows:

• Blurred vision
• Inability to read
• Eyestrain
• Headache

To better understand this age-related vision condition, explore our complete guide to presbyopia, its symptoms, and available treatment options.

8.Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is essentially a diabetes-related eye problem, which influences the eyes by damaging the veins spread all through the light-sensitive tissues of the retina (the rear of the eye). Anybody with type 1 or type 2 diabetes can develop this eye condition, particularly those with diabetes for quite a while with fluctuating glucose levels. Usually, both eyes get impacted by diabetic retinopathy.

The signs and symptoms of diabetic retinopathy are as follows:

• Floater in vision
• Vision loss
• Fluctuating vision focus
• Impaired colour recognition
• Dark spots in vision

Prevention And Treatment

The best possible way to prevent diabetic retinopathy is to manage your diabetes.

• Maintain blood sugar levels
• Eating healthy
• Physical activity
• Lower Cholesterol intake
• Maintaining blood pressure levels

Treatment of the condition involves stopping your vision from getting any worse. After a dilated eye exam, your physician may start treatment right away if you have changes in your vision.

• Medicines: Injections called anti-VEGF drugs help to reduce or reverse diabetic retinopathy.
• Laser Treatment: An optometrist will use laser surgery treatment to reduce the swelling in your retina by shrinking the blood vessel and stopping leakage.
• Vitrectomy: Vitrectomy is an eye surgery that your physician will recommend if there is a lot of bleeding in the retina or you have a lot of scars. 

9.Dry Eyes Syndrome

One of the functions of tears is to keep your eyes wet and lubricated, and when they neglect to give satisfactory lubrication to the eyes, you may have dry eye syndrome. From your body being unable to create and provide enough quantity for lubrication, there can be many reasons for insufficient lubrication for your eyes.

The signs and symptoms of dry eyes syndrome are as follows:

• Burning sensation in eyes
• Eye redness
• Eye fatigue
• Low vision
• Eye infection

10.Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis, likewise referred to as pink eye, is a condition that inflames the tissues coating the rear of your eyelids and covering your sclera (conjunctiva). Therefore, your eyes can turn irritated, red, foggy, teary and discharging, giving you a false indication that something is in your eyes. It is additionally quite possibly the most commonly occurring eye problem .

The signs and symptoms of conjunctivitis are as follows:

• Redness of eyelid
• Swelling of conjunctiva
• Excessive tearing
• Burning eyes
• Thick Yellow discharge from eyes

11.Retinal Detachment

Whenever the retina is isolated or detached from its primary tissues holding it in its place inside the eye, the condition is referred to as retinal detachment. Sometimes, the problem starts with a smaller region of the retina being torn (referred to as retinal tears or retinal breaks), prompting retinal detachment.

The signs and symptoms of retinal detachment are as follows:

• Appearance of floaters
• Sudden light flashes
• Vision blur 
• Steadily receding vision

12.Uveitis

This is the name collectively given to a gathering of eye diseases irritating the uvea, the eye's centre layer containing the most veins. Uveitis may likewise bring complete damage to eye tissue, prompting the loss of eyesight in some cases. The symptoms of uveitis might disappear rapidly or keep going for quite a while. 

The signs and symptoms of Uveitis are as follows:

• Pain in the eyes
• Sensitivity to intense light
• Eye redness
• Vision blur.

13.Eye Strain

One of the most commonly existing eye problems, eyestrain, refers to a typical condition where your eyes get tedious and exhausted because of heavy use; for example, after staring at a PC screen for an extended period of time and driving significant distances. Eyestrain can be very disturbing in some cases, yet at the same time not capable of seriously affecting your eyes or vision.

The signs and symptoms of eye strain are as follows:

• Tiredness of eyes
• Dry eyes
• Headache
• Double vision

Our reading glasses are designed to help reduce eye strain and make reading more comfortable. If you spend long hours on digital devices, explore our guide on how to prevent eye strain from screens for practical tips to keep your eyes comfortable throughout the day. 

14.Nyctalopia (Night Blindness)

'Nyctalopia' or night blindness is a vision impairment wherein individuals can't see appropriately around evening time or in other faintly lit conditions. Not at all like ordinarily seen; night blindness doesn't prevent you from seeing around nighttime. You could feel increased trouble seeing or driving in places with low lighting.

The signs and symptoms of night blindness are as follows:

• Increased difficulty in seeing objects in the dark
• Vision blur in the absence of adequate light

15.Colour Blindness

Colour blindness, otherwise called colour deficiency, is an eye condition when the colours found in eye cones have a few problems, and you can't see the tones in a typical way. Red-green colour blindness, the most widely recognised type of partial blindness, is a kind of vision debilitation where an individual can't separate between red and green tones.

The signs and symptoms of colour blindness are as follows:

• Trouble in differentiating colours
• Difficulty in seeing different shades or tones
• Wrong identification of colours

16.Eye Floaters

Strings, dark/dim bits or spider webs floating around with the development of your eyes and shooting away while attempting to glance through them, eye floaters are spots in your vision. For the most part, these are created because of age-related changes occurring through the semi-solid substance (vitreous) inside your eyes, transforming into increasingly fluid.

The signs and symptoms of eye floaters are as follows:

• The appearance of dark strings in vision
• Dark spots in vision
• High visibility of spots against plain bright surfaces

17.Proptosis

The concept of bulging eyes or sticking-out eyes is referred to as "Proptosis", likewise named as "Exophthalmos" when Graves' disease brings about such projection. Common causes for bulging eyes include eye socket swelling, tissue growth, blood flow issues, or bone changes around the eye.

The signs and symptoms of Proptosis are as follows:

• Eye Irritation
• Blurred vision
• Double vision
• Eye pain

18.Strabismus (Crossed Eyes)

Strabismus (or "Crossed Eyes") addresses misaligned eyes pointing in different directions, and this misalignment can be irregular or consistent. Strabismus exists in four typical structures, for example, "exotropia" and "esotropia", "hypotropia" and "hypertropia". Strabismus usually happens because the muscles controlling the developments of the eye and the eyelid, the extraocular muscles, neglect to do as such in a coordinated way.

The symptoms of Strabismus are:

• Double vision
• Inability to focus on specific points
• Uncoordinated eye movement
• Loss of depth perception

19.Macular Edema

The macula is the focal region of the retina (comprised of the soft, delicate tissues situated at the rear of the eye, wherein macula inside the retina serves for sharp, straight-ahead vision) and undesirable accumulation of liquids there is alluded to as the "Macular Edema". Any collection of fluids inside the macula brings about expanding and thickening of the macula, which prompts distorted vision.

The signs and symptoms of Macular Edema are as follows:

• Wavy or Blurry vision
• Faded colours
• Partial vision loss
• Itchy eyes

Conclusion

Eyes are intricate, sensitive, and easy to take for granted,  until an eye problem gets in the way of daily life. Left unchecked, minor eyesight problems can quietly turn into more serious ones, which is why regular checkups matter as much as spotting the symptoms above.

At Optica Kenya, our opticians and optometrists are available across our branches nationwide to test your vision, diagnose any eye related problems early, and recommend the right eyeglasses or contact lenses for your needs. Don't wait for symptoms to worsen; book a free eye test with Optica Kenya today and give your eyes the professional care they deserve. 

FAQ’s

What are the warning signs of eye problems?

What are common eyes problems in older adults?

What causes sight problems, and can they be treated?

How do I know if I have an eye related problem that needs attention?

How do I check if my eyes are healthy?

What are some things I can do to improve my eye health?