Refractive Error
A refractive error is something about the natural shape of your eyes that makes your vision blurry. Refractive errors are some of the most common vision problems people experience. The parts of your eyes work together like a relay team to pass light that enters your eye along a pathway to your brain. Light passes through your cornea — the clear part at the front of your eye. Your cornea focuses that light through your lens into a signal that hits your retina — the layer at the very back of your eyeball. Your retina converts that light into electrical signals that your optic nerve sends to your brain. Your brain then uses those signals to create the images you see. Depending on which type of refractive error you have, something about the shape of your eyeball, your cornea or your lens prevents your eyes from focusing correctly on objects you’re looking at. This distorts your vision. Symptoms include redness, itching and tearing of the eyes. It can also lead to discharge or crusting around the eyes. It’s important to stop wearing contact lenses whilst affected by conjunctivitis. It often resolves on its own, but treatment can speed the recovery process. Allergic conjunctivitis can be treated with antihistamines. Bacterial conjunctivitis can be treated with antibiotic eye drops.
Symptoms
-
Double vision.
-
Hazy vision.
-
Seeing a glare or halo around bright lights.
-
Squinting.
-
Headaches.
-
Eye strain (when your eyes feel tired or sore)
-
Trouble focusing when reading or looking at a computer.
Treatments
Treatments for refractive errors include:
-
Eyeglasses.
-
Contact lenses.
-
Vision correction surgery such as LASIK and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).
Usually, your eye care specialist will prescribe you glasses or contacts before you have vision correction surgery. However, you might be a good candidate for vision correction surgery right away. Talk to your eye care specialist about which treatment will work the best for you.