Glare in your vision makes daily life more challenging. It’s extremely frustrating when all you want is to see clearly. Sometimes, it’s extra brightness around headlines—other times, it’s blinding reflections from water. This is often a sign of underlying conditions, like myopia or hyperopia, that affect how your eye receives light. What causes glare in the eyes?
Glare in the eyes can develop due to all kinds of eye conditions, including:
- Refractive errors
- Dry eyes
- Photokeratitis
- Cataracts
- Corneal issues
- Glaucoma
Refractive Errors
Refractive errors occur when there’s a problem with the shape of the eye, lens, or cornea. These defects change how light enters the eye, and cause all kinds of frustrating vision problems. It’s extremely common to notice glare if you have a refractive error—especially if you’re looking at a source of light.
There are four main refractive errors:
- Myopia, or nearsightedness. This makes nearby objects appear clearly but distant objects appear blurry.
- Hyperopia, or farsightedness. This makes distant objects appear clearly but nearby objects appear blurry.
- Astigmatism, a defect of the shape of the cornea. This scatters light inside the eye and causes blurry vision at all distances.
- Presbyopia, an age-related problem with your natural lens. This makes it difficult to focus on nearby objects.
These conditions disrupt everyday vision, making everyday situations much more challenging. Fortunately, they’re also easy to treat. Your optometrist can examine your eyes and give you a prescription for contacts or eyeglasses to correct these natural errors. These new lenses restore your vision and reduce glare.
Dry Eyes
Your eyes need a film of tears to stay protected. This tear film—made of oils, water, and mucus—is a key part of your vision. Light passes through a smooth, clear surface to reach the inner parts of the eye. However, if these layers are unbalanced, you develop a condition called dry eyes.
Some common symptoms of dry eyes include:
- Constant stinging sensations
- Sensitivity to bright lights
- Random blurring of your vision
- A gritty feeling, like something is in your eye
- Glare when looking at screens or lights
If you’re dealing with dry eyes, visit your optometrist. Through dry eye therapy, they’ll work with you to help you find relief from your condition. This can be an excellent way to reduce your symptoms and get rid of vision problems like glare.
Photokeratitis
Your eyes are more sensitive than you might think. When they’re exposed to UV rays, they can develop something called “photokeratitis.” This is just like a sunburn, but on the eyes. This can cause glare, pain, and other temporary vision changes.
People with photokeratitis may notice:
- Extreme light sensitivity
- A gritty or painful sensation in the eyes
- Sporadic blurry vision
If you spend plenty of time outdoors, make sure to always wear UV-blocking sunglasses and shield your eyes however you can. Though photokeratitis is temporary, it can be frustrating, and prevention is often easier than treatment.
Cataracts
Your eye has a natural lens just behind the cornea. This lets light pass through and helps you focus at different distances. However, this lens sometimes clouds over with age. This is called a cataract.
Cataracts block light from passing through to your retina. This causes light to scatter inside the eye, especially when trying to focus on light sources, and creates glare. You can typically recognize cataracts from:
- Blurred or foggy vision
- Discoloration in vision
- Heightened light sensitivity
Cataracts tend to progress slowly. You may not recognize them at first. If you’ve noticed these symptoms, visit your optometrist as soon as you can. Cataracts are easily treatable through a simple cataract surgery that replaces your eye’s natural lens with an artificial clear lens.
Corneal Issues
The cornea plays an important role in focusing light onto the retina. If there’s a problem with the cornea’s surface, light can’t enter the light as it should. The cornea can be affected by injury, scarring, or even a condition called keratoconus where the cornea thins and bulges outward.
No matter the cause, an irregular cornea scatters light instead of focusing it. This often leads to glares and halos around lights and causes significant visual distortions.
If you constantly deal with glare, you should visit your optometrist. Eye conditions like keratoconus are complex and can cause lifelong vision problems if you ignore them. Don’t put your vision at risk!
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a group of extremely complicated eye conditions. This develops when your eye’s internal pressure is too high. Eventually, glaucoma damages the optic nerve, which causes permanent vision loss.
There are several types of glaucoma, each with unique defining characteristics. However, a common symptom is glare, halos, and light sensitivity. Glaucoma often develops subtly, so don’t ignore the signs that something’s wrong—any unusual vision changes should be reported and thoroughly investigated.
Don’t Deal With Glare—We Can Help
Glare shouldn’t be disrupting your everyday life—not when our team at Total Vision Pasadena can help. Whether your vision problems are caused by refractive errors, cataracts, or any other underlying condition, we’re ready to help. Contact our team today to schedule an appointment and take your first step towards managing your vision!
