Thanks to his vision, a person receives almost 90% of the information about everything that surrounds him. That is why it is so important to take care of your eyes throughout your life.
However, not everyone can boast of good vision. According to statistics, to date, 130 million people on our planet are pretty bad. The reasons for this sometimes become congenital, as well as acquired health features.
In most cases, vision deteriorates gradually and very slowly. Thanks to this, people manage to adapt to this or take all the necessary measures that can stop this process.
However, there are times when a person notes that his vision has fallen sharply. For many, this causes panic, depression, and significantly worsens the quality of life. Why does a person suddenly cease to see well and how to restore health to the eyes?
Main reasons
Can vision drop sharply? Yes, of course. Moreover, this phenomenon is different - temporary or permanent. In the first case, such a factor is not a danger to human health. Complaints that vision has fallen sharply can come from people after a long seat at the computer monitor.
Often the same symptom is observed with overwork or excessive strain. In such cases, complaints that vision has fallen sharply arise from the prolonged exposure of negative factors to the eyes. In addition, stresses, as well as lack of sleep, can become the causes of this symptom. Worrying in such cases is not worth it. If for these reasons vision has fallen sharply, what should be done to restore it? A person needs only to relax, without straining his eyes.
Often parents worry that their child has a sharp drop in vision. The reasons for this phenomenon will be considered below.
In childhood, the real scourge of the eye is a spasm of accommodation. This is the so-called false myopia, which provokes overwork of the muscle, which serves as a regulator of the lens curvature. At an early age, the development of congenital myopia, or true myopia, often occurs. This happens, as a rule, in school due to a sharp increase in eye strain.
However, it is always worth remembering that our body is a rather complex, interconnected system. That is why far from always a drop in vision can be associated with the eyes. And if there was no load on this organ, then it is worth going to a doctor’s consultation and checking your general condition. After all, a person begins to see poorly, for example, due to diabetes, pituitary adenoma and other diseases. In general, all the causes of sudden visual impairment can be divided into two groups. Among them are ophthalmic, which are associated directly with the eyes, as well as general, provoked by the state of the body.
Varieties of pathology
There is a certain classification of the process, for which symptoms are characteristic, confirming that the vision has fallen sharply. Among these conditions:
- Problems with accommodation. In this situation, the clarity of vision is reduced. A person begins to examine objects, increasing the distance.
- Peripheral vision problems. In this situation, a person is not able to clearly see objects that are in the side of his eyes.
- Refraction problems. With such a deterioration in vision, it is difficult for the eyes to distinguish objects that are at a distance.
- Violation of adaptation. In this case, it is difficult for the eyes to quickly get used to the lighting that is changing rapidly. In this case, it becomes difficult for a person to distinguish the colors of objects.
- Characteristic violations. Similar problems are accompanied by fogging in the lens area and the appearance of spots on the cornea. In this case, doubling of objects is often observed, as well as the formation of areas sensitive to light.
Anyway, if vision has fallen sharply, the causes of the pathology should be established immediately. After all, such a symptom is a kind of signal to action.
Ophthalmic factors
If vision has fallen sharply in one eye or in two at once, then the cause of this can be diseases of the organs of vision. Sometimes a similar problem arises in those people who are predisposed to such pathologies.
If for these reasons vision has fallen sharply, what to do in this case? First of all, you need to contact a specialist to exclude the likelihood of an ophthalmic disease. Consider those that are most common.
Cataract
Why did my vision drop sharply? This could happen due to the development of one of the pathologies of the lens, the most common of which is cataract. At risk are older people. However, such a disease can also be congenital.
It is believed that irreversible changes in the lens caused by cataracts develop due to metabolic disorders. Trauma, as well as the influence of free radicals, can have a negative effect.
The first symptom of cataracts is a decrease in vision. What to do in this case? You should contact an ophthalmologist and immediately begin treatment. If the disease is not stopped, then the likelihood of developing blindness is high. Conservative therapy in this case is ineffective. Elimination of cataracts is possible only during surgery.
Acute infections
Such pathologies, as a rule, affect not one, but both eyes at once. By their nature, infections can be fungal, viral, or bacterial. Consider some pathologies that are included in this group.
Ulcers of the membranes of the eyes
A similar disease, due to which there is a sharp decrease in vision, is formed as a result of infection. Sometimes mechanical damage contributes to its development.
Treatment of corneal ulcers is carried out using drops with an antibacterial effect, as well as anti-inflammatory and hormonal drugs.
Keratitis
This pathology is an inflammatory process that affects various structures of the eyeball. In addition to viral and bacterial keratitis, they are also allergic and toxic. After contacting a doctor and correctly conducted treatment, vision, as a rule, is fully restored. Nevertheless, after keratitis, muddy spots on the cornea can sometimes remain. A similar phenomenon is accompanied by a persistent decline in vision.
Conjunctivitis
If the child's vision has fallen sharply, then the causes of this condition are often these inflammatory diseases of the mucosa that covers the sclera and the inner surface of the eye. Conjunctivitis also occurs in adults. Diagnosis of pathology is carried out by an ophthalmologist. The specialist conducts an external examination, instillation tests, biomicroscopy, as well as a cytological and enzyme immunoassay of conjunctival scraping.
When confirming the disease, local treatment is carried out using eye ointments and drops. In addition, the conjunctival sac is washed with special solutions.
Leukoma
This disease also has another name - a thorn. The cause of the pathology, one of the symptoms of which is a sharp decrease in visual acuity, is inflammation or trauma to the cornea of the eye. The disease manifests itself and persistent opacification of the cornea.
Pathology often develops due to thermal or chemical burns of the eyes, penetrating wounds, corneal ulcers, bacterial and herpesviral inflammatory ailments, recurring pterygiums of the 3rd or 4th degree. One of the risk factors for the development of cataracts is surgical ophthalmic intervention. Congenital forms of the disease occur with intrauterine infection of the fetus. In addition to decreased vision, a patient with leukoma complains of increased lacrimation and photophobia. Pathology can be determined by the milky white color of the affected cornea. The only treatment is surgery.
Optic neuropathy
If a person complains that his vision on one eye has fallen sharply, the reasons for this may be ischemic lesions. At the same time, a person does not feel a pain syndrome. The examination reveals a pallor of the retina, as well as the presence of false swelling of the optic nerve.
Retinal migraine
Complaints about the sharp decline in vision occur in patients with discirculation in the central artery of the eye retina. In this case, when looking at objects, the patient has a blind area of a certain size. A similar type of migraine can alternate with ophthalmic. In this case, with a sharp headache, visual dysfunctions occur in the form of flickering or sparks in front of the eyes.
Retinal detachment
A similar pathology occurs in those cases when the photosensitive membrane in the eyeball is disconnected from the choroid. A similar process is accompanied by a decrease in vision, the appearance of a veil in front of the eye, flickering of "lightning", "flashes", "sparks", "flies", etc. The diagnosis of the disease is carried out using tonometry, perimetry, visometry, ophthalmoscopy, biomicroscopy, ultrasound of the eye, as well as electrophysiological studies. Treatment is carried out surgically or using laser methods.
There are various reasons for retinal detachment. So, pathology can be caused by thinning of this layer, eye injuries, tumor and inflammatory ailments of the organs of vision, heredity and other factors.
Retinal hemorrhage
The causes of this phenomenon, which causes a sudden drop in vision, are excessive physical exertion, venous congestion, fragility of the walls of blood vessels, intraocular hypertension or prolonged labor in time. Sometimes visually this pathology is almost invisible. However, it poses a great danger due to the presence of visual receptors in the retina. With any hemorrhage, an urgent appeal to an ophthalmologist is necessary, because in this case there is a high probability of detachment of the retina.
Symptoms of hemorrhage in the eye include:
- decreased clarity and visual acuity with a split image;
- limited movement of the eyeball;
- the appearance before the eyes of the grid and the flickering of "flies."
What to do if vision has fallen sharply for this reason? First of all, consult a doctor. Diagnosis of this disease is made by examining an eye fundus specialist using an ophthalmoscope. In addition, a general blood test is given, which will clarify the causes of hemorrhage. In the most difficult cases, surgery is performed.
In case of moderate hemorrhage, doctors recommend giving the eyes maximum rest and rest. Drug treatment can be prescribed in the form of vasoconstrictor and hemostatic agents.
Injuries
They can be chemical or mechanical. This group of pathologies also includes eyeball bruises. Thermal burns and eye socket fractures provoke vision loss. Injuries include foreign objects that have fallen into the eye. Particularly severe are injuries caused by cutting and piercing agents. The loss of visual function by the eye often becomes the result of just such an effect. As for chemicals, when they get into the eye, as a rule, its deepest structures are affected. If injury occurs, urgently need to see a doctor.
Other pathologies
A sharp deterioration in vision can result not only from eye diseases. Often its causes are various ailments of internal organs. Among them:
- Toxic neuropathy. In the case of intoxication of the body with alcoholic substitutes or products resulting from the breakdown of methyl alcohol, sometimes there is partial loss of vision.
- Intervertebral hernia and osteochondrosis of the cervical spine. With the development of degenerative disorders in the spinal canal, vascular compression occurs. This is the reason for the violation of the blood supply to the eyes.
- Pituitary tumor. With neoplasms, the localization of this gland of internal secretion, compression of the optic nerves and a decrease in the quality of visual perception.
- Diabetes. In this endocrine disease, metabolic disorders occur and the prerequisites of diabetic retinopathy arise with the formation of a large number of capillaries in the retina.
- Hypertension. Such a disease negatively affects the network of capillaries and disrupts the process of transporting oxygen to the retina.
- Traumatic brain injury. In cases where a fracture or damage occurred in the area located at the base of the skull, or in the visual center, the person’s visual ability will be immediately impaired.
- Retrobulbar neuritis. This disease accompanies the inflammatory process that occurs in the nerve endings. Among the main symptoms of the disease are blurred vision, flickering of “sparks” and “flies” in front of the eyes, pain and burning in them. It affects an ailment or one eye, or both at the same time.
In the case of diagnosing the above diseases, the doctor prescribes their treatment, which will eliminate the symptoms of pathology, including decreased vision.