Health & Fitness

There are several conditions which can cause blurred vision to occur. Most of the time there is a disturbance which interrupts the light pathway on its way to the retina. The optic nerves send image messages to our brains, and some conditions may interfere with this communication and can lead to blurry vision as well. When your vision is blurry or you are seeing abnormal spots everywhere you look, it is important to have a thorough eye exam to properly be diagnosed. Some causes may be very minor and can be treated easily and quickly before the problem gets out of hand.

If you let serious eye problems go on without proper diagnosis and treatment, they can become much worse over time and even lead to partial or complete blindness. Some of the eye conditions which may cause blurred vision can also have other symptoms to help them become more distinguishable. Refractive error conditions include myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism. For people with astigmatism and myopia, objects close up may appear clear, but far away objects will be blurry. The opposite is so for people who experience hyperopia.

One of the symptoms for presbyopia is blurred vision for near objects. This is a condition experienced mostly by people over 40, and it happens when the eye lens becomes less flexible. Cataracts mostly occur for older people as well, usually those over 50. A cataract is when the lens of the eye becomes cloudy. The cloudiness blocks some of the light that must pass through to the retina, and this leads to blurry or distorted vision. Usually, patients will experience this in both eyes, and rarely only one.

Disease and Blurred Vision
Some eye conditions can be side effects of other diseases. For example, diabetic patients can experience diabetic macular oedema. The macula is part of the retina, and its job is to maintain our central vision capacity. This is the part of the vision you use to read, for example. Oedema means swelling, and therefore, macula oedema is the swelling of this part of the retina. Central serous chorioretinopathy is another eye condition where blurred vision is experienced. This condition also involves a swelling of the retina, but the swelling forms a dome shape. This is usually due to fluid leakage from under the retina.