9 reasons for vision loss and how to respond

Are you experiencing loss of your vision? Here are some common causes, associated symptoms, and how to respond if you lose your vision.

• Symptoms: Sudden loss of vision that occurs after an accident, sports injury, chemical burn or contact with irritating foreign material.
• What to do: Sudden vision loss is always an emergency. Go to the hospital immediately.

• Symptoms: A sudden change in vision accompanied by confusion, slurred speech, sudden numbness on one side of the body or sudden severe headache.
• What to do: Go to the hospital immediately. Prompt treatment can save your life and reduce your risk of permanent disability.

• Symptoms: A gradual decrease in your ability to focus on nearby objects that typically begins around age 40.
• What to do: Buy drugstore reading glasses or see an eye doctor for bifocals.

• Symptoms: Blurred vision, burning, dryness, irritation or a gritty feeling in the eyes. This often occurs in women during menopause.
• What to do: Use over-the-counter or prescription eyedrops. In severe cases, a doctor can insert plugs into the tear ducts to maintain moisture in the eye.

• Vision loss can be a side effect of diuretics, beta-blockers, antihistamines, sleeping pills and some pain relievers.
• Side effects sometimes disappear after a few days or weeks of taking a new medication.
• What to do: Talk with your doctor about whether a different drug should be substituted.

• Symptoms: In people with diabetes, blurred or spotty vision can occur when blood vessels in the retina are damaged.
• What to do: See your doctor. Surgery, either laser or conventional, can reduce loss of vision.

• Symptoms: Cataracts often happen in older people and result in blurred, cloudy vision.
• Cataracts may be accompanied by faded appearance of colours, glare or halos around lights, poor night vision or double vision.
• What to do: See your doctor. Clouded lenses can be surgically removed and replaced with artificial ones, improving vision in 90 percent of cases.

• Symptoms: Blank spots in your field of vision,  possibly accompanied by blurred vision, loss of peripheral vision, eye pain, headache and rainbow-coloured halos around lights.
• What to do: See your doctor. Surgery and medication, either in the form of eyedrops or pills, can slow glaucoma's progression, but can't bring back lost vision.

• Symptoms: Blurriness or loss of central vision. May be accompanied by straight lines appearing wavy, difficulty recognizing faces and the need for extra light while reading.
• What to do: See your doctor. Treatments include laser surgery, photodynamic therapy and medications that are injected into the eye as often as every month.
• Treatment can't restore lost vision but can usually delay further loss.

When it comes to your vision, always err on the side of caution. Seek out professional help. You may just need glasses, but it could be something much worse.