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Common Symptoms

Common symptoms of the eyes

We often dismiss common symptoms that we experience on a day to day basis. Migraines, twitching eyelids, tearing eyes and redness are just some of the common things experienced regularly by so many people.

Floaters

Flashes (Photopsia)

Ocular Migraine

Pain

Photophobia

Tearing

Redness

Eyelid Twitch (myokymia)

Floaters

Floaters are deposits of different sizes and shapes within the eye’s vitreous humour which is normally transparent. The common type of floater is due to changes in the vitreous humour, its natural ageing process.

This vitreous debris casts shadows on the retina, and it is the shadow that is visible to you. Other serious causes of floaters, blood in vitreous, pigment in vitreous. This will present with associated symptoms of flashes, curtain vision loss etc.

Call your health care provider if the floaters present with flashes and or vision loss. This could indicate vitreous/Retinal detachment.

Flashes (Photopsia)

Photopsia is the presence of perceived flashes of light.

Common causes:

  • Posterior vitreous detachment
  • Retinal break or detachment
  • Migraine

Call your health care provider if the flashes present with vision loss.

Ocular Migraine

Painless, temporary visual disturbances (flashes, blind spots, visual distortions) that can affect one or both eyes. Typically harmless and self-resolve without meds within 20-30mins. Ocular migraine followed by one-sided HA’s referred to migraine with aura and the visual disturbance is referred to as an aura rather than ocular migraine.

Pain

Causes of pain in and around the eye:

  • angle-closure glaucoma
  • carotid occlusive disease
  • uveitis/ocular inflammation
  • ophthalmic herpes zoster
  • migraine
  • referred pain: sinusitis, tic douloureux
  • trauma

Causes of pain in the eyelid:

  • Blepharitis (eyelid inflammation)
  • Cellulitis (infection and inflammation of eyelid)
  • Chalazion (eyelid cyst)
  • Stye (infection of sebaceous glands in the eyelid)

Photophobia

The intolerance of the eyes to bright light.

Most common causes:

  • inflammation of the eye, conjunctiva, cornea, episclera and sclera (keratitis, uveitis, conjunctivitis, episcleritis)
  • migraine

Less common:

  • meningitis
  • trigeminal neuralgia

Tearing

Common causes:

  • dry eye syndrome
  • eye infections and inflammation
  • corneal ulcer
  • foreign body
  • entropian and ectropian
  • increased tearing with age

Redness

Common causes:

  • Allergy: redness associated with itch and photophobia
  • Infection: redness associated with discharge and photophobia
  • Inflammation: redness associated with photophobia and tearing
  • Subconjunctival hemorrhage: bleeding on the sclera, underneath the conjunctiva. Can cover only nasal sclera or temporal sclera or both.Usually a painless, harmless condition with spontaneous recovery within 7-10 days. Could be associated with high blood pressure or trauma to the eye.

Eyelid Twitch (myokymia)

Involuntary spasms of the eyelid muscles most common causes:

  • fatigue
  • stress
  • caffeine
  • nutritional imbalance
  • magnesium deficiency
  • dry eyes
  • allergies
  • eye strain

Call your health care professional if:

  • The condition continues for more than one week
  • The twitching involves other parts of your face
  • There is associated redness, swelling and/or discharge in the affected eye
  • The eyelid droops

Eye Disorders

The leading causes of blindness and low vision are primarily age-related eye diseases. Cataracts, Glaucoma and Astigmatism are just a few of these disorders that many patients suffer from. Other common eye disorders include amblyopia and strabismus.
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Systemic Diseases and the Eyes

An ocular manifestation of a systemic disease is an eye condition that directly or indirectly results from a disease process in another part of the body. There are many diseases known to cause ocular or visual changes.
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Ocular Emergencies

Ocular emergencies can occur at any time. Trauma to the eye such as foreign objects, chemical burns or even retinal detachment can be extremely painful and can be a threat to the long term functioning of the eye.

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