photophobia

[Scribbler]

I was wondering about this as sensitivity to light is one of the biggest problems for me. Is there actually too much light reaching
inside the eye (thinking long term consequences like MD/damage to retina) or is it just the sensation of too much light entering the eye? I have a strong avoidance reflex to glare (i cant drive at night bc of the car headlights or on a sunny day)- surely this reflex to avoid is your body telling you the light is doing you harm? Ive had it for 4 years now, and if anything it is getting worse.
Haden

[Phillips55]

Hi, I actually had unbearable light sensitivity and it was due to a binocular vision imbalance that was completely fixed by vision therapy. It may not be causing your problems but you might want to seek out a vision therapist and have an exam. Vision theapy is controversial but In my case it corrected my problems.

[LaDiva]

I was photophobic because the surface of my eye was damaged from dry eye. Once the surface healed, I no longer had problems with light. I am guessing there are different things that can cause this. What does your eye doctor say?

[Rebecca Petris]

There's a lot of different causes of photophobia - some related to the front of the eye (like anything from dry eye disease to inflammatory stuff like iritis), some related to the back of the eye, like glaucoma, albinism etc. Here at DEZ we're generally talking about ocular surface disease and it's hard to imagine any way in which the light is actually dangerous to the eye when the entire disease process is in the cornea not retina. If you don't have other health conditions going on, I think that reflex is just telling you your cornea and/or tear film aren't in great shape, nothing more. But ask your doctor to clarify.

Dry eye disease symptoms are a pretty broad spectrum. For some people it's all about pain. For some people redness. For some people it's slightly reduced vision. For some people it's photophobia. Some people have photophobia even with minimal clinical signs of dry eye but where everything else has been ruled out so it's assumed to be caused by the dry eye.

[Scribbler]

I have mgd and my tears break up too quickly. I will write up a detailed report of what happened to me soon and post in the intoductions. I have been using autologous serum eyedrops for 7 weeks now. I have mgd from industrial solvent vapour burns. This was the issue i am particulatly interested in, is that if the surface film of tears and cornea are responsible for the refraction (or whatever) of incoming light, then if this system has been impaired, it could mean too much light is reaching the inner eye, and is likely to cause longterm damage to the retina, hence the bodies reflex to avoid glare. The other possibility is that the disruption of the tear film leads to merely a sensation of too much light, and is not dangerous to vision.

[Rebecca Petris]

if the surface film of tears and cornea are responsible for the refraction (or whatever) of incoming light, then if this system has been impaired, it could mean too much light is reaching the inner eye, and is likely to cause longterm damage to the retina, hence the bodies reflex to avoid glare..

I've never seen anything remotely suggesting such a thing in the medical literature. Have you?

[Scribbler]

Ive read that years of exposure to uv and sunlight cause md and cataracts. The extreme pain i get from going out in the midday sun, even while wearing my shade 5 welding goggles obviously gives me concern that a sensitivity to light in a high uv country will speed up the likelihood of tbose vision threatening diseases.

[littlemermaid]

Dr Marcus Ang, in Ladakh, at 5:10 'as we suspected... dry UV radiation has led to... cataracts... dry eye... pterygium' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_NQG...ature=youtu.be

Let's be grateful we have access to some medical treatments. More info in PubMed 'Nepal dry eye'. If interested in good news stories, follow ophthalmologists and eye charities on Twitter. Eye doctors can be very cool.

[Scribbler]

Thanks littlemermaid that was interesting. Those places like Nepal probably have similsr UV levels to oz and nz. I know UV causes eye problems, bc my friend in auckland who has pale skin and has always been sensitive to burning, now has surface cataracts at age 35, and the hospital won't cut them off until they start affecting his vision bc so msny people in nz have them from the sun.
But i am trying to understand photophobia and whether it signifies damage is happening to the eye in someone who didnt used to be sensitive to the sun but now is due to dry eye (i wrote up my story in the introductions). I asked one opthamologist if the pain from light is causing damage to my eye, he said no bc its just a 'sensation' of too much light. He said the eye will rebalance. I said but its been 4 years. If i was just finding everything glarey and the light overbearing, and not experiencing pain, then i would agree with him that it was just a 'sensation'. But my eyes get extremely sore after a few hours in bright sunshine. This pain comes from overstimulated nerves in the cornea, which means the tear film not doing its job obviously and theres too much light hitting the cornea. This must mean theres too much light hitting the sclera/conjunctiva and getting in through the eye to the retina, we just can't feel it as these areas are not innervated. I see it now that my eyes are sensitive like my pale friends and are more susceptible to cataracts and macular degeneration, its not just a 'sensation.' Please tell me if my logic is wrong.