Minutes matter during an eye stroke. Know what to watch for.
We expect changes to our bodies and our health over the course of our lives, but for the most part, we expect them to happen gradually. Gray hair, wrinkles, aches and pains, and even trouble with our eyesight—these are all fairly normal and expected parts of aging, and in most cases, they show up little by little, over time. But when changes happen suddenly, it can be a cause for concern.
That’s especially true when it comes to vision. Abrupt vision changes can be an indicator of eye stroke, a condition that affects one or two of every 100,000 people per year. While there are things you can do to lower your chances of experiencing an eye stroke, there often isn’t any warning before one happens. And although permanent damage can happen quickly, faster treatment increases the chances of a good outcome, so it’s essential to recognize the signs of eye stroke as soon as possible. Here’s what you need to know to spot it.
Eye stroke occurs when blood flow is blocked to part of the retina.
The eye is a very vascular structure—it has a high number of blood vessels. This makes it especially sensitive to any kind of changes in the body’s blood flow, like raised blood pressure or decreased circulation. These vessels are concentrated in and around the retina, the light-sensitive membrane at the back of the eye, which sends images through the optic nerve to your brain.
You’ve heard of strokes in the brain, and how serious they can be. Eye strokes happen in a similar way, when a blockage—usually a blood clot—cuts off blood flow to part of the retina or the optic nerve. The lack of blood results in damage to these important tissues, and causes vision changes that can very quickly become permanent if not dealt with right away.
Signs of eye stroke involve sudden, usually painless vision changes.
Although there are risk factors that can increase your chance of eye stroke, the event itself usually happens quickly—sometimes literally overnight. Many affected people wake up in the morning to find that although there’s no pain, their vision has changed noticeably. Here’s what to look out for.
Signs of eye stroke:
- Partial or total loss of vision, usually in just one eye
- A dark or shadowed area in your field of vision
- New or increased “floaters,” or specks that move through your field of vision
- Blurriness
It’s always important to report abrupt vision changes to your care provider, since the suddenness could indicate a serious condition—with eye stroke being a key example.
The interconnectedness of eye health and whole-body health also means that the risk factors for eye stroke don’t need to be specifically eye related. Some are unavoidable, like age or gender, but others can be managed with care and lifestyle choices.
Risk factors for eye stroke:
- Being middle-aged or older
- Being male
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Heart or circulatory diseases
- Blood clotting disorders
- Previously experiencing a stroke
Whatever your risk, it’s good to be aware of it early, so that you and your care provider can make the right choices for you and be prepared for the future.
Eye stroke is a medical emergency, and needs immediate attention.
The earlier you get treatment for an eye stroke, the more likely it is that outcomes will be good. If your care provider can diagnose the problem and get blood flow back quickly, the damage to your vision may be temporary—but the longer blood flow is blocked, the more likely it is that effects will be permanent. Permanent vision loss can occur in as little as hours, so if you suspect an eye stroke, go to the emergency room.
Providers use a variety of tools in a comprehensive eye exam to diagnose an eye stroke. Many of these are the same tools you’d see during a routine eye exam. Critically, providers will check your retina and optic nerve, which may involve dilating your eyes, and may compare the affected eye and the unaffected eye. You’ll also be asked about your medical history, especially around the risk factors listed above—and if your provider suspects you could be at risk from additional blood clots, they may refer you for cardiovascular tests.
Emergency treatments exist, and long-term impacts can be managed.
If your provider diagnoses you with an eye stroke, there are a number of treatment options they can try. These usually focus on finding a way to remove the blockage in your blood vessel or otherwise restore blood flow. Your provider might use medications or massage to break up or move a blood clot, or they might try to lower the pressure inside your eye by drawing out a tiny amount of fluid. In some cases, hyperbaric oxygen therapy—pressurized, high-oxygen environments—can stave off tissue damage and help you heal.
But whether it happens suddenly due to an eye stroke or gradually through other processes, we can all expect to experience vision changes as we age. Accordingly, eye care providers have developed plenty of strategies and treatments to help us adjust. Special lenses, assistive technology, and vision rehabilitation therapies help people who’ve experienced any degree of vision loss to find new ways of doing the things they care about.
A trusted eye care provider can make all the difference.
If you have questions about something as important as the health of your eyes, you want to be able to ask a trusted source of information. Heritage handpicks our nationwide network of providers, instead of relying on someone else’s list, so you know we stand behind our choices. And if you take advantage of your regular eye exams, you and your provider can build up a history of your eye health, so you can more quickly spot changes and begin treatments as early as possible.
Over the course of our lives, our vision is all but guaranteed to change in ways we can’t predict. But with expert care in your corner, you can face uncertainty with confidence. Learn more about Heritage’s individual and family vision insurance plans, or find a provider today who you can rely on for the future.