vision

It’s often said the brain is an extension of the eye, and for that reason a headache may be a symptom of an vision problem.  Headaches that are related to the eye can be of the forehead, temples, behind the eyes, and at the back of the skull. They may be excruciating or dull. They may or not be alleviated by Tylenol or sleep. They may even present with blurred vision.

If you are having headaches with blurry vision, your eye doctor may ask you the following questions:

• Where do your headaches occur?
• Do you wake up with headaches? Do they worsen with near work?
• How long does your vision stay blurry when you have the headache?
• If you were to grade the severity of the headache on a 1-10 scale, what number would you give?

Here are the 8 most common reasons for headaches combined with blurry vision, and how they are diagnosed and treated.

Remember the classic song, When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, by the Platters? While it’s true the occasional plume of smoke from a campfire wafting directly into your eyes never feels good, the discomfort is usually short-lived and typically relegated to minor irritation, stinging, and brief tearing up. 

Regardless, you never want to experience eye irritation from any outside, environmental factors – and there are certainly many more dangerous, damaging, and even surprising environmental factors than a puff of wood smoke to be aware of.

Depth perception is the ability to see in three dimensions: length, width, and depth and to judge how far away the object is located. Depth perception is only possible when we have good binocular vision which means the effective use of both eyes to view the world.

Our eyes view an object from slightly different angles and our brain compares and processes the two sets of information to form a single image. When both eyes see clearly and the brain can process a single image effectively, it is called stereopsis. Stereopsis is not present at birth but develops at 3-6 months of age.

An eye doctor may use one of many tests to check your depth perception. The most common test is called a vectograph and uses polarized 3D glasses. You may be asked to point out which animals, circles or forms are coming out of the page towards you.

It’s that time of the year again… Time to stock up on pencils, wide-ruled notebook paper, and get your kids’ eyes checked. All kids should have their eyes checked at the beginning of each school year, and prior to kindergarten. Many learning disabilities are diagnosed incorrectly and may in fact be vision problems.

Estimates claim 20% of children have refractive errors and require either glasses or contact lenses to improve their vision. Myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism are the most common refractive conditions. Additionally, lazy eye can be present in children and needs to be treated as soon as possible to prevent permanent vision loss.