Eye pain

Eye pain may not only be caused by damage to the optic nerve or something wrong with the cornea. When the eyes hurt, they may signal diseases of completely different organs. Therefore, eye pain may be a danger signal, in which case you should immediately contact a doctor for examination. What are the causes of eye pain?

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When the eyes have nothing to do with it

Eye pain can occur due to arterial hypertension (constantly high blood pressure), after the flu or acute respiratory infection, as well as with vegetative-vascular dystonia, neurosis and other diseases associated with inflammation of nerve endings.

When the eye hurts, we think that the cause of the pain is in the eye. In fact, a completely different disease and organ may be to blame. For example, eye pain may torment a person with a migraine or so-called tension headache. The eye may also hurt with severe overstrain of the facial muscles.

Sometimes the pain felt in the eyes comes from other parts of the body. What we take for eye pain may actually be a headache or pain associated with facial muscle tension. To be sure where the source of eye pain comes from, you cannot tolerate it, getting by with painkillers and eye drops. You need to immediately consult a doctor for diagnosis. If the cause of eye pain is a serious disease not related to the eyes, it is enough to treat them so that the pain no longer bothers you.

The structure of the eye and the nature of pain

The eye is translated from Latin as oculus. It is an organ that belongs to both humans and animals, it is sensory, it has the ability to capture wavelengths and electromagnetic radiation, the eye helps us see objects and their outlines in the dark.

The eyeballs are paired organs, they have an irregular shape in the form of a ball. The eyeballs are located in the eye sockets of the skull. Since there are many optic nerves in the eyeballs, they are very sensitive. There are also many pain receptors in the eyeballs. Which, when damaged, overtired, or staring for a long time, transmit signals about pain to the brain.

Because the eyes are endowed with so many nerves and pain receptors, they are also very sensitive to pain in the internal organs of a person. This is why the eyes can react with pain when a completely different organ is damaged or inflamed.

The presence of nerve endings is also a good protection of the eye from various harmful effects. If they were not there, the eye could be easily damaged. But with the slightest external impact - mechanical, temperature, the eye immediately closes with the eyelid, and this protects it from damage.

Characteristics of eye pain

Eye pain can be sharp, pulling, or simply expressed as unpleasant and uncomfortable sensations inside or around the eye. This can be a pulling pain in the eyeballs.

Pain can occur not only when the eye is damaged or when a foreign body gets into it, but also when the eyeball is overstrained. This means that the eye muscles are overstrained. Eye strain pain can also occur when there is severe fatigue during or after working at the computer. Or watching TV for a long time. Then the pain occurs in the eye socket area.

Eye pain can occur in completely normal circumstances, but if a person has chosen the wrong contact lenses or glasses, his eyes may begin to hurt. The pain may be nagging or, on the contrary, severe, as if sand had been poured into the eyes.

The location of pain in the eyes can be the carotid artery, the oculomotor nerve, branches of the carotid artery, the eyeballs, or the eye socket itself.

In order not to worsen the condition of your eyes, you should immediately consult a doctor and have your vision checked if pain occurs.

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Ocular pain in the eyes

Ocular pains are those that depend on the external structures of the ocular surface. These pains can be signs of eye diseases associated with disorders of this structure.

Conjunctivitis

The conjunctiva is a thin membrane that covers the eyeball, and besides it, the eyelid from the inside. There are different types of conjunctivitis: it can be allergic, chemical, bacterial or viral. The pain in all these diseases is not very serious, but it bothers a person constantly. With conjunctivitis, itching and redness of the eyelids or whites of the eyes are also possible.

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Inflammation of the cornea of the eye

This disease very often provokes pain in the eye. It is very often combined with scraping (abrasion) of the cornea. What is the cornea of the eye? It is its mucous surface, which is designed to transmit light. Thus, a person sees.

When abrasion occurs, scratches or one scratch appear on the surface of the cornea of the eye, but this is enough for a person to be bothered by pain and deterioration of vision.

Scratches on the surface of the eye can occur when a foreign body gets into the eye. Abrasion can also occur when a person wears contact lenses without removing them or carelessly inserts them into the eye. And the cornea becomes inflamed due to infections that get into the area of the scratch. The scratch gives a person a feeling as if there is a foreign object in the eye.

Eye burns

Eye burns can be thermal or chemical. This is a very serious danger to a person's vision and health. A chemical burn can disfigure the eye when objects containing acid or alkali explode. A thermal eye burn occurs when a person suffers from fire, strong light radiation, such as welding, or prolonged exposure to the sun.

This can be avoided by protecting your eyes with dark glasses, and when welding, with special welding glasses or a mask.

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Phlebaritis

This is a disease that causes severe pain in the eyes. It occurs because the eyelid becomes inflamed and the sebaceous glands in its corners become clogged. When inflammation occurs in the sebaceous glands, a person develops a so-called stye on the eye. This is a small tumor in the form of a barley grain that hurts and itches.

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What is orbital pain?

Orbital eye pain occurs due to eye diseases. These pains are usually strong, dull, and localized in the eye socket or eyeball. These pains do not go away quickly even during treatment.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a very serious eye disease that is accompanied by orbital pain. However, glaucoma may not be accompanied by pain in 40% of cases. Glaucoma occurs due to increased intraocular pressure. Its consequences are severe - significant loss of vision and complete blindness, as well as poor vision in the twilight.

Increased pressure in the eyes can occur because the outflow of fluid inside the eye is difficult. This same fluid can be produced in excess, and therefore intraocular pressure can also increase. You need to undergo treatment prescribed by a doctor.

Iriit

This is also an eye disease that can be accompanied by severe pain inside the eyeball and redness of the whites of the eyes. Iritis is called inflammation of the iris around the pupil. The eye with iritis is especially irritated and hurts in bright light. There is information that iritis is usually accompanied by arthritis - a disease of the joints and bone tissue, so it is necessary to undergo a thorough examination of not only the eyes, but also to examine the condition of the bones and joints.

Inflammation of the optic nerve

The optic nerve is not on the front surface, but at the back of the eye. Therefore, pain from inflammation of the optic nerve is usually deep and pulling.

The causes of this disease can be previous colds and flu, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, tonsillitis, syphilis, brucellosis. The causes of inflammation of the optic nerve can also be various intoxications of the body, as well as diseases of the internal organs: kidneys, liver, blood diseases, deterioration in the quality and speed of blood flow. The optic nerve of the eye can also become inflamed due to pregnancy, which is proceeding with deviations, eye injuries.

When the optic nerve is inflamed, a person's vision quality may be greatly reduced, he sees objects in shapes that are not the same as they are, and interference and scotomas (defects in the visual field) may appear in the field of vision.

Sinusitis

This is a condition that occurs due to viral or bacterial infections of the paranasal sinuses. It can be a cause of eye pain because the nerves that are in the eyes receive pain impulses coming from the sinuses - it is close.

Uevit

With this disease, which occurs from inflammation of the pigmented areas of the eyes, severe pain in the eyes is noted. This is also accompanied by redness, inflammation, severe pain. Other symptoms are nausea, vomiting, a halo around a lamp or other light source. The causes of uveitis can be foreign objects getting into the eyes, as well as injuries to the eye shell. If uveitis is not treated, you can lose your sight.

Foreign body in the eye

When a foreign body gets into the eye - even an eyelash, a speck of dust, or a small fly - the eye begins to hurt, the eyelid automatically closes, and the eye begins to tear - an automatic reaction to a stranger in the eye. A foreign body can injure the eye, an infection can get in, causing the eye to become inflamed and hurt, and there is a burning sensation that is difficult to bear.

How to help?

First of all, you need to rinse your eye with running water, not too cold. Then you need to put some albucid solution in your eye, and if you don't have it at hand, you can try to displace the foreign body by blinking frequently and massaging your closed eye towards the inner corner.

If you have been injured by a foreign body while working with electrical tools (wood or metal shavings, a microscopic piece of a part), you will hardly be able to remove the foreign body yourself. You need urgent help from an ophthalmologist. If you sit and wait, then keratitis or inflammation of the deep parts of the eye will begin to develop in the inflamed and damaged eye. Keratitis is an inflammation of the cornea, in addition. it becomes cloudy, vision becomes worse, surrounding objects blur. And then doctors will have to work very hard to save the eye. If they manage to save it at all. So, the first and most important rule for eye damage is emergency medical care.

An infection that develops in the eye

This infection can get into the eye both from the outside world and from the body if it is affected by viruses (for example, during a cold). Very often, viruses get into the eye area and cause inflammation and pain if a person has had infections of the genitals or, say, the bladder. Infections can affect the eye area if a person suffers from manifestations of sinusitis, if he has caries, herpes, tonsillitis and other infectious diseases.

Often doctors see all the signs of infection in the eyes, but cannot determine its source, much less cope with this infection and pain, since the body constantly maintains the infection due to autoimmune diseases.

For example, vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. The inflammatory process in the branches of the trigeminal nerve can also be the cause of severe pain in the eye, which is treated rather poorly until its cause is found.

Disease of the eye vessels

The eyeball contains many small vessels that feed it. If these vessels are inflamed or narrowed, the eyeballs begin to hurt a lot. This pain worries the person and makes him suffer due to the inactive blood supply to the eyeballs and the tissues that surround it (diagnosis - ischemia). This is a disease that is quite difficult to diagnose. It can be detected using the ultrasound triplex scanning method. Then the help of an ophthalmologist will not be enough - the active participation of a cardiologist is also needed.

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Dry eye syndrome

This is a disease of the age of computer technology, when no home or workplace can do without a computer. People work a lot, without taking their eyes off the monitor, and gradually they develop a burning and painful sensation in their eyes, as if sand had been poured there. This happens because the pupil dries out when a person blinks infrequently. The dry pupil is also affected by the operation of an air conditioner, fan, and heating devices.

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When to see an ophthalmologist for eye pain

• If the pain is accompanied by a foreign object getting into the eye
• If the pain is caused by a bruised eye
• If eye pain occurs for unknown reasons and lasts more than two days
• If eye pain is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, visual impairment, weakness
• If you feel discomfort in your eyes
• If eye pain is accompanied by blurred outlines of objects, visual impairment

How to protect your eyes from pain

When a person works with electrical appliances, household chemicals, or plays dangerous sports like hockey, where a puck can hit the face, it is essential to protect the body with a protective suit and the eyes with glasses or a protective mask.

Sprayers should be kept away from eyes and the instructions for them should be used correctly. The same applies to household products containing ammonia.

For children, it is also necessary to observe safety precautions when playing. For example, do not buy them small and sharp objects, arrows with iron tips. Do not leave them unattended with needles and scissors. This will protect their eyes from injury.

When wearing contact lenses, you need to take proper care of them, do not handle them with dirty hands, and dip them in a special solution to avoid eye infection.

Eye pain is in most cases a consequence of careless human behavior. Therefore, it is important to take care of your eye health to avoid damage.