Only a few people in the world are aware of the fact that strokes not only happen in the brain but can also occur in the eyes. When a stroke happens in eyes it is called retinal artery occlusion. Eye stroke happens when the blood vessel that carries the essential nutrients and oxygen get blocked due to a blood clot or narrow vessel and the blood supply is cut off for some time. During that condition, the affected area can have serious damage which causes eye stroke.
Symptoms of having an eye stroke
Generally, you can observe the symptoms of eye stroke gradually over hours or days. It may also happen that you may also observe the symptom of eye stroke all of a sudden. The following symptoms are the biggest clue which indicates that you may have an eye stroke:
- Pressure on the eye
- Complete loss of vision
- Blurry vision gets worse on one or both the eyes
- Floaters may appear as small gray spots that may float in the middle of the eye
If you observe such symptoms or have any kind of retina problems then you must contact the doctor immediately as it may lead to eye stroke and may cause permanent loss of vision.
The risk factor of eye stroke
Eye stroke can happen to anyone. But there are certain factors when a person is more likely to experience eye stroke. Generally, it is seen that men suffer more from eye stroke than that of a woman. The risk of developing eye stroke usually increases when a person gets older. Apart from that, the person who is suffering from diabetes, glaucoma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, rare blood disorder have a high risk of experiencing eye stroke. Smoking also increases the risk of eye stroke. So, in case you have any of these diseases and experience the symptoms eye stroke you must go to the doctor immediately and diagnose your condition so that you can avoid the serious consequence of eye stroke.
How can you prevent eye stroke?
If you have any disease that increases the risk of eye stroke or if you have ever experience any symptoms of eye stroke it becomes very essential to take some preventive measures so that you can avoid eye stroke. With the following preventive measures you can certainly lower the risk of eye stroke even if you cannot prevent it completely:
- Monitoring your diabetes level
- Treating glaucoma
- Keeping always the tablet of high blood pressure
- Checking the level of cholesterol regularly
- Quitting smoking and avoiding alcohol
Conclusion
Eye stroke is certainly a devastating eye disease. If you have eye stroke you may experience a sudden loss of vision or distorted vision or any blind spot in the vision. It is indeed a frightening situation when you have such a condition but at the same time, it is very important to have prompt medical attention which can prevent or limit the chance of complete loss of vision.
