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<\/p>\nA top eye expert has urged people to get checked out if you have experienced any of the following symptoms… they can be warning signs of blindness.<\/p>\n
While some people are born blind, others can either suddenly or gradually, lose their sight completely or partially.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kyla Black, director of Optical Practice at Boots Optician told the Daily Mail: ‘Many people experience temporary problems which are often treatable.’<\/p>\n
This can be with glasses, that an optician will prescribe after a test, or lifestyle changes they recommend.<\/p>\n
‘However, in rare cases, there are warning signs that could indicate more serious issues within the eye.<\/p>\n
‘It is always recommended to get your eyes out if you notice any changes to your vision.’\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As you get older, you’re more likely to experience sight loss, added Sheraz Daya, an eye surgeon at Centre for Sight, who has over 40 years experience.<\/p>\n
‘We have a population that’s getting older, and they need to be educated about prevention.’<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A top eye doctor has revealed four warning signs you need to book an opticians appointment<\/p>\n
1. Blurred vision<\/p>\n
The first warning sign, Ms Kyla warns, is blurred vision, which she explained is ‘when we look at an image and it loses some of its sharpness and definition’.<\/p>\n
‘This can be caused by a change in your glasses or it could simply be a sign of tired a sign of tiredness,’ she said.<\/p>\n
‘However, if it comes on suddenly, persists, or is accompanied by other symptoms, it could indicate a more serious issue that requires medical attention.’<\/p>\n
Slightly different, is changes to peripheral vision, which Mr Daya warned could be a sign of a glaucoma.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that there are 708,000 in the UK are living with glaucoma, damage to the optic nerve, which can cause irreversible vision loss and blindness if not treated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The silent sight robber, he warned, ‘is not easy to detect’. He explained: ‘A lot of people who have it, don’t know it, because they don’t feel anything.<\/p>\n
‘You just one day go “Oh, that bus went past, I didn’t see it”. Or your peripheral vision goes,’ he said. But he warned at this stage it is often ‘too late’.<\/p>\n
So he urged people to get a check up at least once a year that includes an optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan which can detect it.<\/p>\n
2. Flashers and floaters<\/p>\n
Next, she warned, to look out for flashers or floaters which appear as specks or threads that drift in your vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Many people experience flashes or floaters at some point, especially as we get older. These are usually harmless,’ Ms\u00a0Black reassured.<\/p>\n
‘Flashes can appear as arcs, sparkles or flickers of light at the edge of your vision which are not visible.’<\/p>\n
But she added: ‘Rarely, flashes and floaters can be caused by retinal tear or detachment.’<\/p>\n
This, she explained: ‘Is where the retina\u2014which is the light sensitive layer at the back of the eye\u2014separates from the back of the eye.’<\/p>\n
The serious medical problem called retinal detachment, if left untreated, could lead to permanent vision loss in the eye.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is thought to affect around every one in 10,000 people in the UK every year and is most common in over 40s.<\/p>\n
If you experience them, as with any other new changes, Ms Black says you should get it investigated.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
This graph above shows where floaters and flashes that you see actually are in the eye<\/p>\n
3. Red eyes<\/p>\n
The third troublesome sign to look out for is red eyes, she warned, which can be in one or both eyes.<\/p>\n
‘It could be a sign of a minor eye condition like conjunctivitis that may require mild treatment,’ she explained.<\/p>\n
‘However if you’re experiencing significant discomfort and\/or pain, it could indicate a more serious issue, so early diagnosis is essential.’<\/p>\n
While conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, most likely won’t cause you blindness, but in rare cases, if left untreated, it can lead to sight loss.<\/p>\n
4. Straight lines suddenly appearing wavy<\/p>\n
If you notice lines suddenly becoming wavy, she warned this could be another warning sign.<\/p>\n
‘This symptom could indicate that you have an eye condition like age-related macular degeneration (AMD),’ Ms Black explained.<\/p>\n
‘AMD is a common condition that generally affects people as they get older.<\/p>\n
‘Although it doesn’t generally cause complete blindness, it can make day-to-day activities like reading and recognising faces difficult.’<\/p>\n
However Mr Daya said: ‘AMD is the leading cause of permanent blindness in the elderly.<\/p>\n
‘They’re not blind… It’s not that they can’t see at all. They just lose their central vision. If they look directly at something, it’s missing.<\/p>\n
\u2018Macular degeneration usually starts off as dry macular degeneration, and then it becomes wet.<\/p>\n
\u2018When it becomes wet, patients will notice their vision dropped, or they find that straight lines are becoming a bit squiggly.<\/p>\n
He added: ‘Those who smoke are at a higher risk of AMD, and they get it worse. So the advice is people should quit smoking.’\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A top eye expert has urged people to get checked out if you have experienced any of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[92,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-490747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115355058180648103","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}