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Learn to Recognise Ocular Migraines

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 14:15:24 GMT

Have you ever seen a patch of shimmering light that widened until it filled your field of vision?

If yes, then you may have had an ocular migraine. They’re usually not something to worry about, but they can be pretty alarming for someone who’s never had one before. The word “migraine” here can be a little misleading because ocular migraines aren’t always connected to painful headaches.

Visual Migraines Come in Different Types

The ocular migraines themselves aren’t often the problem, but depending on the type, they can be associated with something worse.

Migraine With Aura

One in five people who deal with migraine headaches might get ocular migraines as a warning symptom that the migraine is about to arrive. Make sure to discuss any visual distortions you experience before headaches with your doctor. Some people are able to reduce the frequency of their migraines by avoiding triggers like stress, exposure to bright light, and eating certain foods. Oral contraceptives and smoking may also be triggers.

Painless Ocular Migraine

Some people experience this strange visual phenomenon on its own, and it can look different to different people. Some might see flashing or shimmering lights, others see psychedelic images, and still others see zigzagging lines or stars. No matter how it looks, though, it will typically begin as a small distortion that soon spreads until it obscures everything before clearing up on its own. It should affect both eyes the same.

While painless ocular migraines aren’t associated with headaches, they can have other symptoms such as a temporary impact on speech and motor function. They may not indicate a serious medical problem, but they can interfere with normal activities like driving, reading, or writing. If you notice strange visual distortions while you’re on the road, pull over and wait for it to subside. This will typically take no more than an hour.

The Retinal Migraine

The third and rarest type of ocular migraine is potentially more dangerous. Unlike the harmless variety, retinal migraines only affect one eye (though they can still precede a migraine headache). Retinal migraines are the result of a reduced blood flow to the eye due to the vessels in the retina constricting.

Retinal migraines might only happen once every few months and long-term damage is rare, but make sure your eye doctor knows if you’re experiencing these. It’s important to determine whether it’s connected to a more serious condition.

Let Us Know if You’re Seeing Stars!

As your partners in vision health, we want to know about any changes you experience with your vision, whether they are temporary or permanent. If you think you’re experiencing a form of ocular migraine, schedule an appointment and let us know. You can also call us or email with your questions about ocular migraines.

For more information contact us.

What’s Unique About Women’s Vision?

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 14:00:46 GMT

When you think of the differences between men and women, vision and eye health probably aren’t on the list.

By the time you finish reading this, they might be new additions, because women face many different eye health concerns over the course of their lives than men do. Women are more vulnerable to a number of eye diseases than men, though they are less likely to sustain a sight-threatening eye injury. What can women do to ensure good eye health?

Which Eye Diseases Affect Women More?

Glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affect women more than men. AMD is the gradual loss of central vision and glaucoma is a group of conditions that cause permanent vision loss by damaging the optic nerve. Why are women more vulnerable? It’s a simple hazard of having longer life expectancies than men. Early detection through regular eye exams is the best way to fight them.

Sight-threatening conditions aren’t the only ones that women are more vulnerable to; chronic dry eye and basic refractive errors (the main reason people need glasses) disproportionately affect women too. The symptoms of dry eye include redness, irritation, discomfort, and blurred vision. If dry eye goes untreated, it can lead to a higher risk of eye infection, so come see us if you’re experiencing symptoms of dry eye.

What Are the Risk Factors for Eye Diseases?

The biggest risk factor for developing eye diseases is age, but others for women include pregnancy, birth control, and menopause, because each of those involves a major change in hormone levels. Hormone changes can also make dry eye more likely, and there is some indication that birth control can increase a woman’s likelihood of developing cataracts.

One risk factor we can actually do something about is neglect. A lot of women get so wrapped up in looking after the health needs of their families that they forget to take care of their own! If you’re a busy mom, don’t forget to schedule your own appointments too.

Fun Facts About Women’s Eyesight

All that eye disease talk can get very serious, so we want to leave things on a lighter note. Some of the differences between men’s and women’s eyes are harmless but fascinating. Women have been shown to be better at distinguishing subtle differences in colours than men are (particularly greens and yellows), while men are better at tracking motion. If you’ve argued with a significant other over paint swatches, you might be able to blame biology!

The Optometrist Is Your Best Resource for Eye Health

We encourage all of our patients to be proactive about their eye health. That includes avoiding bad habits like smoking and building good ones like eating healthy foods, getting plenty of sleep, and scheduling regular eye exams. However, feel free to ditch the schedule and come in sooner if you notice any changes in your vision between regular appointments.

You Can Train Your Visual Skills on the Go

You won’t need a gym to train several of these visual skills. A simple exercise for depth perception, for example, is to hold a pen at arm’s length and repeatedly put the cap on it. You could also hold a small pebble at arm’s length and try dropping it into a drinking straw.

A great way to train peripheral awareness is by turning our heads to the side while we use a computer or watch TV. We can improve the flexibility of our eyes by switching rapidly between focusing on something close and something far away. To practice dynamic visual acuity, try cutting out different sized letters from a magazine and taping them to a turntable. Then see how well you can identify the letters when it spins at different speeds.
Keep Your Eye on the Ball, Athletes!

Keeping our eyes sharp (and healthy) is something we might overlook when thinking about staying in shape for sports. If you want to learn more about sports vision please get in touch with us!

If you need more info contact us!

Sports and Visual Skills

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 15:40:21 GMT

As an athlete you may keep a constant eye on your weight, cardiac health, strength and flexibility, but what about vision?

Superior vision skills are just as important to an athlete’s success as strong muscles. Athletes have to be able to process visual information very quickly so that they can respond to it. The great news is that, like muscles, some visual skills can be improved with practice.

What Visual Skills do Athletes Use?

Here are some of the most essential visual skills that help athletes perform at the top of their game:

Colour vision. It’s a lot easier to recognize the difference between teammate and opponent when you can see the different jersey colours!
Depth perception. Athletes need to be able to judge the distances of objects and other players.
Dynamic visual acuity. Beyond just having clear vision, athletes need to be able to see fast-moving objects clearly too.
Eye tracking. Athletes also need to be able to track fast-moving objects with their eyes instead of jeopardizing their balance by turning their heads or torsos.
Eye-hand-body coordination. Being able to adjust the position of your body, hands, and feet based on what you see is essential for succeeding in sports.
Peripheral vision. Athletes need to be able to react to what’s happening at the edges of their vision, not just the things happening straight ahead.
Visual concentration. An athlete needs to be able to focus on what matters even when there are a lot of distractions trying to draw their eyes.
Visual reaction time. The faster an athlete can process and respond to visual information, the faster they can get into position.
Visualization. Athletes need to be able to picture different scenarios to prepare themselves for potential obstacles and opportunities — all while focusing on the events of the moment.
Visual memory. An athlete must keep a great deal of visual information in their heads while playing, including the positions of other players based on where they saw them last.

You Can Train Your Visual Skills on the Go

Keeping our eyes sharp (and healthy) is something we might overlook when thinking about staying in shape for sports. If you want to learn more about sports vision please get in touch with us!