Causes of Sudden Blurred Vision and Treating It Naturally

Sudden blurred vision can create quite a shock for anyone. One second, you’re walking down the street and then you blink and suddenly you can’t make out the street signs.

This scary condition can sometimes affect both eyes or just one eye. Either way, this can be a scary occurrence, especially if you are unsure what’s causing it. It can affect everyone differently and happen for a number of reasons.

It’s important to know the causes and treatments for sudden blurred vision. Experiencing it may seem like a cause for concern. But we can help you through the process with some all-natural treatments.

What Causes Sudden Blurred Vision?

Truth be told, a lot can cause sudden blurred vision. It can present itself because of pre-existing health conditions or a gradual worsening of your eyesight over time. In some cases, it can be due to a birth defect. Causes will vary from person to person. If you experience sudden blurred vision, you should speak to your eye doctor immediately to pinpoint the cause.

Here are some of the most common causes of sudden blurred vision:

• Floaters in the eye: Floaters are those little clear strands you sometimes see in the corner of your eye. They seem to move away every time you try to look at them. As you get older, floaters become more common and denser, thus blurring your vision.
• Excessive wearing of contact lenses: Wearing your contact lenses for too long can have some damaging effects on the eyes. The same goes for if you wear them too frequently. We all know that wearing contact lenses overnight will dry out the eyes. Well, wearing your contacts for too long or too often will also cause blurry vision. Dry eyes equal blurry vision.
• Chronic dry eyes: Chronic dry eyes can cause blurred vision, too. When your eyes don’t get the lubrication they need, the corneas produce a blurry image.
• Headaches and migraines: Ever had a headache after a long day at work and suddenly notice that your eyesight is blurry? Well, your eyes aren’t just tired. Migraines and headaches can affect the area of the brain that controls vision. This can distort and blur the images sent to the brain by the eyes.
• Astigmatism: Astigmatism is a refractive error in which the cornea is oddly shaped and reflects light into the eye unevenly. It’s not the same as myopia or hyperopia. Myopia and hyperopia affect the clarity of things in the distance or up close. You never know what’s going to be blurry when you have astigmatism.

These are only a few of the main causes of sudden blurred vision. Several other conditions, such as myopia, hyperopia, and presbyopia, can cause blurred vision. However, these refractive errors do not occur suddenly. They often develop over time as your eyesight gradually ages.

Symptoms

The symptoms of sudden blurred vision are easy to spot. Did you used to have good vision, but now it has become inexplicably blurred? Then you probably have sudden blurred vision.

As mentioned, this can affect either one eye or both, depending on the cause. For example, when caused by a migraine or a headache, it may only affect one eye. It will usually affect the eye on the side of the head that is in pain. If your migraine seems to be really settling into the left side, chances are your left eye will be affected.

For cases of astigmatism where both corneas have an odd shape, there will be a distortion of light no matter what. This occurs even if each cornea has a different shape from the other.

If fuzzy, blurry vision isn’t enough, some other symptoms include poor night vision, eye pain, and itchy eyes.

Treatment

Treatments for blurry vision can sometimes be tricky since many different factors can cause the condition. If you experience sudden blurred vision that persists longer than a few hours, talk to your eye doctor.

The first step in finding the right treatment for you is to find the exact cause. Your eye doctor may need to perform a slit lamp test. This is where they use eye drops to dilate your pupils to see what’s happening inside the eye.

Here are the treatments available for the most common causes of sudden blurred vision:

• Astigmatism: The quick way to treat this condition is to have your eye doctor prescribe bifocals. Bifocals will fill in for your cornea in the oddly-shaped spots and help your eyes refract light better. However, you can also alleviate the symptoms of astigmatism by simply eating well. A balanced diet of protein, beta carotene, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin A can help to treat astigmatism.
• Migraines and headaches: Blurred vision caused by headaches and migraines will often go away once the headache subsides. However, if it persists, talk to your doctor immediately.
• Excessive contact wearing: This one has the simplest treatment. Lay off the contact lenses! Give your eyes a break. Try doing eye exercises that can help treat your refractive errors. You may find that you won’t even need your contacts again!
• Dry eyes: Omega-3s, omega-3s, omega-3s! That’s it! Do you want to prevent dry eyes that cause blurry vision? Then make sure your eyes stay lubricated by upping your omega-3 fatty acid intake. You can find it in a lot of fish, fish oil, flax seeds, and eggs!
• Floaters: Floaters can be harmless if they’re small and appear sporadically. In this case, you can treat floaters by just relaxing, giving yourself a nice eye massage, or doing specific eye exercises for floaters. Try limiting your exposure to screens such as your smartphone, tablet, computer, or TV. Floaters that don’t go away easily and persist for long periods can be a sign of a more severe eye disorder. Talk to your doctor.

Sudden blurred vision can seem scary at first, but once you understand the cause, you can easily treat it at home. In fact, most of the time blurry vision happens because of stress. Just try to relax and take time to re-center yourself on those especially hectic days. Your health should come above all!