Are you suffering from headaches? You may want to ask yourself when your last eye exam was!

If you have undetected or uncorrected vision problems, you may be suffering from headaches needlessly.

Headaches Can Be Caused By Eyestrain

A routine eye exam can uncover a variety of issues that may be causing headaches. While most headaches aren’t necessarily caused by vision problems, it is important to get your eyes checked on a regular basis to make sure.

Eyestrain is caused when the small muscles of the eye are forced to work harder than normal. This can result in tired, aching eyes, blurred vision and frequent headaches. Eyestrain associated with headaches can be caused by a number of things such as:

• Astigmatism: the cornea is not a normal shape. This causes people to squint in order to focus their vision which can lead to headaches.
• Hyperopia: also known as farsightedness, the eye focuses images behind the retina instead of directly on it, causing blurred vision, eyestrain and headaches.
• Presbyopia: this occurs as the lens becomes hard and inflexible with age. Lens hardening makes it more difficult to focus, causing sore eyes and, you guessed it, headaches.

It’s important to remember that most eye conditions can be corrected with prescription glasses or contact lenses. In addition, those who already wear prescription glasses or lenses and get headaches may not be aware that their eyes have changed over time. Many people simply need their prescription updated.

Whatever the case, if your headaches are a result of vision problems such as the above mentioned, relief is in sight. All it takes is a visit to your eye care professional!

More Serious Issues Can Be At The Root Of The Problem

Glaucoma has also been known to cause headaches. Glaucoma is an eye disease characterized by a buildup of fluid in the eye, causing increased internal eye pressure. This pressure may lead to severe headaches in some cases.

People with cataracts may also suffer from headaches. As cataracts develop, usually due to age, the lens of the eye becomes clouded and the person’s ability to see is slowly diminished. As vision becomes limited, the eye works harder to see and focus, often causing eyestrain and head pain.

Get Your Eyes Checked

If you’re in doubt about the cause of your headaches, a good place to start is at your optometrist’s office! Because our eyes naturally compensate for vision problems to a certain degree, some issues may affect us without us realizing it. For this reason, many people often fail to link headaches to problems with the eyes.

Your health, comfort and well-being are important to us. If visual impairment is causing your headaches, one of our Vision Source® members can identify the problem and help you improve your quality of life. Feel free to call or make an appointment to answer any questions you may have!

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Top image by Flickr user Guian Bolisay used under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license. Image cropped and modified from original.

The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.