March 23, 2021 When visiting an ophthalmologist, one of the symptoms that patients report are headaches. Often, regular ophthalmological examination reveals the cause of the headache and resolves the symptoms of discomfort. Certain headaches are a symptom of medical urgency, and position the ophthalmologist in the first line of recognizing and resolving the condition.
One of the most common causes of headaches is poor distance vision, not wearing glasses, or wearing an incorrectly determined diopter on glasses. If headaches occur, especially in children and young people, you should first consult an ophthalmologist. Poorer visual acuity with redness and discomfort in the afternoon can be related to both the problem of farsightedness and the problem of nearsightedness. Children who are short-sighted strain and strain when watching the board or the TV and are relaxed and relaxed when reading the text. Getting closer to the TV as well as getting closer to a book or a book while learning with the appearance of an unprovoked headache can be one of the signs of myopia. Proper eyeglass correction, as well as counseling and instructions on good lighting are the responsibility of every eye doctor. If the child is right-handed, the lamp must be on the left side and have a power of 40 to 60 watts, matt colored. It is also very important to teach the child to draw or read at a distance that corresponds to the length of his forearm.
Farsightedness is harder to recognize. Sometimes children see well during the day but when they are tired or the lighting is dimmer they are very weak and difficult to read, write homework or watch on the blackboard or text on the TV. If farsightedness is suspected, the total refractive power of the eye should be controlled to the maximum stiffness and wide pupil. Then the child cannot make extra effort and sharpen the image, and the ophthalmologist will determine the correct correction for the glasses. Most often, determining the correct correction with either glasses or lenses solves the problem of headache.
In adults, headaches can occur if it is senile farsightedness in which there is a weaker sharpening of the image at close range. Proper correction solves the problem of headache.
Also, headaches can occur in people who already wear glasses. If you have not had an examination with your ophthalmologist in the past two years, and you experience occasional headaches, it is advisable to have an examination because it is very likely that the diopter is changing.
Asthenopia is another ophthalmic condition manifested by nonspecific symptoms such as eye fatigue, redness, pain in or around the eyes, blurred vision, double vision, and headache. The most common symptoms are when working on a computer or after reading. The cause is excessive strain on the eye muscles while concentrating on the object of interest, and during work it is recommended to rest the eyes by looking at an distant object once an hour, and in that way to relax the accommodation. Uncorrected hyperopia (farsightedness) can result in persistent attempts at accommodation when working at close range and cause irritating headaches during work. It is advisable to visit an ophthalmologist and prescribe the right plus glasses that will relax the accommodation and resolve the discomfort in the eyes. Accommodation spasm usually occurs in young patients and represents the appearance of eye pain, myopia and miosis during close work.
Headaches can also be caused by diseases of the surface of the eye, e.g. infections. Uveal and scleral inflammations should be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and treated for possible systemic etiology. It is especially necessary to pay attention to the pain when moving the eyeballs. This type of pain is always associated with deeper inflammation of the inner layers of the eye.
One of the most serious ophthalmic diseases, angular glaucoma, can also be accompanied by intense headache, nausea, blurred vision, and vomiting. Such patients leave the impression of a very serious patient and report immediately to the emergency rooms. An acute increase in intraocular pressure very often causes painful symptoms, while a gradual increase in pressure to a similar value is usually asymptomatic. It is most often acute glaucoma where there is a complete closure of the anterior ventricular angle and it is necessary to seek the help of an ophthalmologist as soon as possible because the condition can only get worse.
If we talk about headaches and pain in the eyes, it is very important to mention retrobulbar optic neuritis, which is presented by subacute vision loss and pain when moving the eyeballs. During the ophthalmological examination, the head of the optic nerve works properly and no damage is seen, but the drop in vision and pain when moving the eye are a sufficiently alarming sign.
– Doc. dr. Sanja Sefić Kasumović
Source: https://www.sefic.ba/