Three Conditions You May Not Know Your Eye Doctor Can Help With
When people think about seeing an eye doctor, chances are high that their minds usually gravitate towards getting eyeglasses or being screened for major conditions like glaucoma. But that's not all that an eye doctor is capable of helping you with. If you struggle with one of these conditions on a regular basis, you should know that your eye doctor can potentially help.
Allergies
Seasonal allergies often impact people's eyes. However, you may not think of going to see an eye doctor for your allergies. In reality, you should!
While the entire body undergoes a change with an allergic response, there's also a great deal of it that's localized to the eyes. This is, after all, where you're experiencing your symptoms. Your eye doctor can determine if it's an allergen or something else, like a bit of debris that got into your eye. From there, they can prescribe eye drops that will help on contact instead of having you take an oral medication that can potentially make you wait hours for relief.
Itchiness After Time in the Sun
Have you ever spent a lot of time out in the daylight only to come home and realize that your eyes are unbearably itchy? This isn't a coincidence. What's happening here is likely that you've experienced an eye sunburn.
Believe it or not, eyes can develop a type of sunburn called photokeratitis. The good news is that eye sunburns rarely cause lasting damage, but the bad news is that it can make your eyes feel itchy, gritty, and even painful for several days. Getting an eye examination will ensure that you haven't experienced further damage to your eyes, and your doctor can prescribe medication to help bring down the inflammation and itchiness so you can heal more easily.
Eye Film
Have you ever awakened for the day and noticed that your vision seems to be blurry, even after being awake for a while? If so, you may be experiencing some mucus discharge in your eyes.
This is a fairly common problem for people to have. Mucus can be produced by the tear ducts due to infection or even due to an allergic reaction. Think of it as a small amount of pus getting mixed in with your tears and making it hard to see when it coats the surface of the eye.
Again, this is rarely a severe condition, but seeing an eye doctor can help you to find out what the cause is behind it and get medication to keep it from happening again.
To learn more, contact an eye doctor and get an eye exam.
Share