Do you often have headaches? The cause may be an untreated eye disease

We live in hectic times. We have little time to take care of ourselves, or we are not willing to set it aside. A high work pace, little rest and recovery, an unhealthy lifestyle. All this overloads the body and its individual parts. We only go to the doctor when the symptoms of a disease are really serious. Eye diseases are no exception, and they then cause other health problems. One of the most common is headache.

It does not pay to underestimate eye problems. Untreated eye diseases can result in back pain, a frequent feeling of fatigue, headaches and, in worse cases, chronic diseases and loss of sight. Patients with vision disorders are also more likely to develop depression.

Headaches caused by the eyes

The most common pain caused by eye defects is headache. It is caused mainly by:

• inflammations of the inner and/or outer eye – they can show as a stabbing or cutting pain at the root of the nose or in the inner corner of the eye
• glaucoma – when the intraocular pressure rises, a severe, at times even unbearable headache develops. It affects people of all age groups.
• injury – even a small injury of the cornea or conjunctiva caused by dust particles, an eyelash, sawdust and similar can cause a headache.
• refractive errors – refractive errors include, for example, astigmatism, presbyopia (age-related long-sightedness) or hypermetropia (long-sightedness). The effort to maintain sufficient visual acuity can lead to watering, burning and pain in the eyes, and then to a headache that can reach the intensity of a migraine.

Digital eye strain and related headaches and eye pain

A relatively new eye problem is so-called digital eye strain. It is also referred to as computer vision syndrome. As the name suggests, these are problems that arise as a result of working with computers and other electronic devices with a display.

Digital eye strain is most often caused by:

• the wrong lighting intensity in the room
• an unsuitable working distance from the display
• incorrect sitting
• poor placement of the computer in relation to light reflections – making it harder to see what is on the monitor

The factors above have an adverse effect on vision (blurred vision, harder focusing, watering eyes, dry eyes, burning eyes, eye pain, fatigue) and on other parts of the body. They cause pain in the cervical spine, arms and shoulders, as well as headaches and eye pain.
 

Headaches caused by the eyes can be relieved by reducing digital eye strain

It is not completely possible to prevent digital eye strain. If your job requires many hours of computer work, try to follow at least these simple tips. Your eyes will thank you:

• reduce looking at other electronic devices to a minimum – outside work, replace watching TV, your phone or tablet with active rest in the form of physical activity
• take regular breaks while working on the PC – take a walk, look into the distance, stretch. This will help not only your eyes, but also your spine, legs, arms,...
• make sure the room is properly lit
• work at the ideal distance from the monitor – depending on whether you work on a computer with a large display or on a tablet with a much smaller one, set the distance from the screen so that you can read comfortably. You must not be too far away, so that you do not have to strain your eyes by squinting, nor too close, so that the brightness of the screen does not tire your eyes.

How to deal with headaches caused by the eyes

As we wrote above, headaches often arise as a result of an eye disease. In most cases the headaches go away once it is possible to cure the disease or correct the eye defect. Many of them can be treated relatively easily and effectively if they are detected in time. Sometimes glasses or contact lenses are enough; at other times it is necessary to undergo laser eye surgery or another surgical solution.

At the same time, if we think about the possible risks of vision problems in advance, we can largely prevent headaches and eye pain.

Prevention is the basis in the fight against headaches and eye pain

The best protection against serious diseases is prevention, an important part of which is regular check-ups with an eye doctor. Preventive eye examinations significantly reduce the risk of serious eye disease.

The most dangerous eye diseases are those without symptoms until the disease is so serious that it cannot be cured completely. These include, for example, glaucoma. Several factors contribute to its development, but one of the main ones is high intraocular pressure. If left untreated, it gradually damages the optic nerve. If glaucoma is not discovered early enough, it can cause complete loss of sight. Glaucoma is also one of the most common eye diseases that cause headaches. A visit to an ophthalmologist can therefore help to solve not only the consequence, but also the cause of the pain.