Symptoms of an Eye Stroke

An eye stroke, otherwise known as anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) or a stroke of the optic nerve, is an ocular disease that begins suddenly and often without any warning. Typically, it will start out in one eye, either the left or the right, and regularly develops in the unaffected eye after a period of time. Since it is a stroke of the optic nerve, it doesn't carry the same symptoms of a standard stroke, which is basically an "attack" in the brain. You will not experience slurred speech, weakness to one side of the body or paralysis when suffering an eye stroke.

Loss of Visual Contrast

• A person who suffers from a stroke of the optic nerve will notice a change in his visual perception. The eye will either become impaired or no longer able to distinguish "changes in shades," from subtle to obvious. These shades help you perceive objects, giving a visual three dimension to your three dimensional world. When this discernment is damaged or gone, you lose your ability to judge depth and even read.

Peripheral Vision Loss

• When someone is suffering an eye stroke, she will generally lose a portion of her peripheral vision. This typically occurs in the lower fraction of her visual field and then expands from there. However, some people may lose their side vision or upper; it just depends on the person. Others may actually face tunnel vision, but this would be found in more severe strokes of the optic nerve.

Light Sensitivity

• Another common symptom of an eye stroke can be described as an enhanced sensitivity to light. What happens with this particular symptom is that the eye will essentially become susceptible to the glare given off by objects, either from the sun or a light bulb. This sensitivity really has a lot to do with a person's loss of visual contrast, so it's really more of a symptom of a symptom, but problematic all the same.

Vision Loss

• Depending on the amount of damage to the optic nerve, people will experience varying degrees of vision loss, even to the point of no light perception. Many times, a person who has undergone a certain degree of vision loss from an eye stroke will find his vision worsening after the very onset of the symptom. Yet, this may just happen in one eye, with the other maintaining the same degree of sight.

Treatment

• More often than not, your doctor will place you on a medication that will alleviate some of the pressure on the optic nerve. This can lessen the damage and potentially keep your vision from worsening. From there, you'll most likely go through a rehabilitation program to manage the vision loss and work to improve your sight.