When talking about your eyesight and health, “photophobia” means a sensitivity to light. Bright lights, such as sunlight, can be uncomfortable or even cause pain. A person with photophobia may tend to squint or shield their eyes in bright light, or might even deliberately avoid going outside in daylight.
Whether photophobia can be ‘treated’ largely depends on its cause. Photophobia isn’t a condition by itself, but rather a symptom of other medical issues. If the underlying issue can be cured, then the photophobia goes away as well.
Causes of Photophobia
1 – Migraines
Photophobia is such a common symptom of migraines that it’s typically used as one of the diagnostic symptoms. Migraine-sufferers are extremely sensitive to bright lights when a headache hits, and may have to stay in a dark room until it passes.
Currently, there is no permanent cure for migraines – but anything which reduces the symptoms should also reduce the photophobia.
2 – Dry Eyes
People with chronic dry eyes tend to be extra sensitive to light, as it hurts their already-painful eyes. In this case, treating the dry eyes should make the photophobia go away entirely. Just using eyedrops should help, at least somewhat.
3 – Conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis is a fairly common ocular disease, an inflammation in the ‘whites’ area of the eyes. Some types of conjunctivitis can be treated with medicines like antihistamines, while other forms are short-term diseases which run their course naturally.
Either way, once the conjunctivitis clears up, light shouldn’t be a problem any more.
4 – Medications
Numerous medications may cause photophobia as a side effect. Some of the most common include benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety), barbiturates (sedatives), and the anti-malarial drug chloroquine.
In this case, the best cure is to work with your doctor to find other medicines that do the same job, without affecting your eyesight. If that’s not an option, you may have to just put up with the photophobia while on the medication.
5 – Psychological issues
Sometimes photophobia is a byproduct of other psychological problems. For example, agoraphobia – the fear of open spaces – may cause the patient to become sensitive to light as a way of encouraging themselves to stay indoors.
Again, treating the underlying cause will also treat the photophobia.
Don’t Ignore Photophobia!
The real takeaway here is that if you find yourself reacting badly to bright lights, there is a wide range of possible causes – some very serious. They need to be investigated for the sake of your health and your eyesight.
