Why are my eyes so freaking sensitive to light? Are yours?

[Bertha Venation]

I want to work in the dark, I want to have just enough light to read by, and I wish I could wear my sunglasses while driving at night, because oncoming headlights blind me.

Oh, yeah, and my vision has changed radically since my last exam -- just a year ago.

What's up with this?! I'm getting my eyes checked next week and the opto better have an answer....

Are you really sensitive to light? How do you combat it? Do you know what causes it?

[MemphisTiger]

1. Welcome to the club

my past eye exam the doctor asked if I got hit in the head. I guess he failed that whole bedside manners class. He said my eyes were very sensitive to light. I guess it's just from getting a little older. I'll be 30 next month. Yay for me.

[Bertha Venation]

5. happy birthday

early. I'll be 42 next month. Maybe it is just aging.

[auntAgonist]

10. I don't believe it's aging ..

I'll be 48 this week ..argghhhh ..

seriously, I bet your Dr asks you what meds you're on.

[kslib]

2. Do you wear contacts?

People might think I'm nuts, but I SWEAR that my eyes are really sensitive to light when I wear my contacts. I don't drive at night because of the headlights, and I can't go outside without sunglasses (it's WAY too bright!)

:shrug:

[Lavender Brown]

4. My doc says contacts do make your eyes more sensitive to light

and watering up.

[Bertha Venation]

6. no contacts, just glasses, includin Rx sunglasses

I usually wear them when it's cloudy, too. :shrug:

[NJCher]

3. have you stopped by the loners forum yet?

There's a thread there on the highly sensitive people book. Maybe that's a possibility, although I'm glad you're getting your eyes checked by a professional next week.

Some people are just sensitive to stimuli. I'm sensitive not only to light but sound, too.


Cher

[Bertha Venation]

There's a loners forum? Dude...

who knew? I'll check it out. Thanks for the tips, Cher. :hi:

[Carson]

12. Perhaps that explains my son's condition (see post below)...he's also

always been sensitive to loud noises.

[auntAgonist]

7. Check to see what

medications you're taking and their side effects.

[Bertha Venation]

8. a duh moment

I would never have thought of that. D'oh! Thanks, my friend.

[jonnyblitz]

9. oh hell yeah! I even bring sunglasses out with me at night

just in case, for some reason, I end up out all night into the next day (which HAS happened). I wear sunglasses on cloudy days because the grayness blinds me! I can't handle headlights either, especially in rearview mirrors. those halogen lights are the worst!!

[Carson]

11. My son is very photo-sensitive...almost to the point of photophobic.

He's been that way since a baby (he's 9 now). Taking his picture with a flash is near impossible (imagine every school picture with eyes closed) and eye exams have always been a nightmare.

Any kind of direct light is painful to his eyes. His adjustment to sunlight (walking from inside to outside) takes longer than normal. He has sunglasses he wears outside on really bright days.

There are some kinds of diseases that produce photophobia but my son has none. I've never received a satisfactory answer to why he has always been this way. It's been frustrating but we've managed to cope.

If your symptoms have come on suddenly, perhaps doctors will be able to give you an answer. Best wishes.

[donsu]

13. can you say UV rays?

nt

[johnnie]

14. It has been my observation that people with lighter eye color ..

..Have more sensitivity to light. That's not scientific, just what I have observed. My eyes are light and I have a problem with sensitivity also.

[fluffernutter]

15. hmm, i wonder if you have something there-

my eyes are blue and i am sensitive to light as well,

[tridim]

16. Same here.. Blue eyes. Does chlorine bother you as well?

I've never been able to open my eyes in the pool. It really bummed me out as a kid.

[fluffernutter]

17. yep. i can only do it for short amounts of time.

goggles are my friend in the pool

[tridim]

20. And what about cutting onions?

I mean, the fumes sting everyone's eyes a little bit, but I feel like I'm going to die if I have to cut lots of onions. I used to work at Applebees and I had to leave the kitchen when someone else was prepping onions. Gawd help me if I had to do it.

[johnnie]

19. My mother, sister and I all have sensitive eyes

And we all have blueish eyes. My father, older sister and brother have brown eyes and have no problems.

[midnight armadillo]

24. I believe there is a correlation between eye color & light sensitivity

I have heterochromatic eyes - they're a mix of green, blue, and light brown. They usually appear to be somewhat light green, but with the right shirt outside they show up as very blue. My son inherited them with a left eye that's greenish-brown in the middle with a bluish rim, and a right eye that's half that color and half medium blue. I've noticed he squints a lot in bright light too, but at 15 months our conversations on the subject are somewhat limited.

I have a tough time in sunlight, and try to wear sunglasses in the day. I cannot stand direct overhead lighting, and gray overcast skies are totally blinding to look at. Bright headlights are tough to deal with too - they can be quite painful. My wife & in-laws all have brown eyes and think I exaggerate when I flinch at the direct floodlight bulbs in my mother-in-law's kitchen. They have no light troubles at all.

[johnnie]

26. I didn't know the name

That's about what color my eyes and I have those problems also.

[catzies]

25. That's my experience also. I have light green, light-sensitive eyes

And like Bertha Venation I'd wear my sunglasses all the time if I could.

Oh, and with light-colored eyes, the right sunglasses are VERY important.

[smirkymonkey]

30. Same here...

my eyes are very light blue and I have always been sensitive to light, even in childhood. I am one of those people who sneezes whenever I walk out into the sunlight or into a direct bright light.

People are always asking me how I can read in such dim lighting, but bright light just wigs me out. Even in the office, I have been know to unscrew the light bulbs above my desk because I can't bear direct light on me.

[WMliberal]

18. I sneeze twice whenever I go outside for the first time on a given day.

It's weird. I've done it consistently ever since I was an infant.

[Patiod]

37. I do it ANYTIME I change light

Not just the first time during the day

[the Princess]

21. I'm EXTREMELY light sensitive

That's why I sleep most of the day and am up most of the night. And when I am up during the day - the house is as dark as possible. But then - HE, comes home and turns on every light in the friggin house. *sigh* the compromises one makes for their spouse.

I think I may be part Vampire tho - you migh wanna check that out too! :)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. Are you by chance nearsighted?

If yes, do you have astigmatism, too?

I ask because I have a condition called Keratoconus. It causes me to have astigmatism, myopia and be photosensitive. Just something to mention to the Eye Doctor if this sounds like you.

[Bertha Venation]

23. astigmatism, yes.

but i've always been confused by near-sighted & far-sighted. which is which?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

28. Near is when you can see better close up.

Far is when you see better at a distance.

[Bertha Venation]

36. then I'm nearsighted

I see the eye doc on Monday. :shrug:

[ChickMagic]

27. I sure do

But I do get migraines and I have corneal erosion. Here's what the research docs say about photophobia:

Photophobia:
"Abnormal sensitivity to light. This may occur as a manifestation of EYE DISEASES; MIGRAINE; SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE; MENINGITIS; and other disorders. Photophobia may also occur in association with DEPRESSION and other MENTAL DISORDERS."

http://www.diseasesdatabase.com/umlsdef.asp?glngUserChoice=24599

Pleasant, huh?

[billyskank]

29. Being sensitive to light is all part of seeing!

:D

[Nikia]

31. My eyes are sensitive after dark exposure

They open up a lot so that I can see in the dark. I can even see colors in the dark, which shocked the heck out of my dad when I proved it to him because he didn't believe that anyone could. After my eyes have opened so much though, I get blinded if I see light. I have this problem in the morning too, which is why I prefer to leave the hall light on, since it helps acclimate me after a night in darkness. I think that I've figured out how to drive in the dark by not looking at oncoming traffic, but I still have trouble if there is heavy oncoming traffic and not a lot of light at the sides of the road.

[AllyCat]

32. Do you wear contact lenses?

Mine have always made me more sensitive to light.

[alarimer]

33. mine too

I have to wear sunglasses all the time, even when it is cloudy. The glare from the clouds is enough. It maybe aging but I have often thought it was because I am so used to wearing sunglasses that I can't live without them.

[no name no slogan]

34. Are you taking prescription meds?

After I went on lithium a few years ago, I got EXTREMELY sensitive to sunlight-- so much so that prescription sunglasses became a necessity.

I also have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and was doing lightbox therapy. After I went on the lithium, I couldn't do the lightbox anymore-- all the light freaked me out, and made me spacey all day.

If you've recently changed prescriptions, I'd check with your doctor. There could be something to it.

[ignatius 2]

35. Big time,every since I had laser surgery for diabetic retinopahy. The

doctor says thats odd as if I am making it up..even car lights at night blind me.

[Patiod]

38. I'm glad I am - it saved my face from sun damage

Since cutting my cornea twice during my teens (hard lenses + roller coasters = pain) I wore sunglasses AND a hat or visor whenever I was on the beach. My friends whose faces look like shoe leather used to mock me, now they laugh and say they wished they would have had a reason to wear sunglasses!

My boss and colleagues are constantly turning on the lights in my office, saying "why are you sitting in the dark?" Florescent light is painful, and if I'm blessed with two huge windows in my office, I'm sure as hell going to take advantage of it if the sun is out!