Consequences of an Eye Stroke

An eye stroke can be very dangerous for your vision. This condition is also frequently known as stroke of the optic nerve or ischemic optic neuropathy. The condition is sudden like a brain stroke.

Strokes normally happen when the blood supply to a specific organ is reduced or cut completely. In this case the blood supply is unable to reach the optic nerve. This happens as the artery responsible to deliver the blood to your eye is blocked or damaged. The problem is without blood to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your eyes, the optical nerve and its surrounding tissue will get adversely affected.

The eye stroke can be caused by a wide variety of factors.
 

Some conditions that might trigger a stroke of the optic nerve are:

• high blood pressure
• diabetes, heart disease
• high levels of cholesterol 
• and atherosclerosis of small blood vessels
• an unusually high intra ocular pressure can also be a cause of the problem

The systemic arterial disease can cause a severe inflammation of the arteries which can lead to an arteritic stroke. The narrowing of the arteries that result from this disease can interrupt the blood flow so drastically that an infarction can occur. The optic nerve can be susceptible to this type of inflammation. This type of eye stroke is especially dangerous as the damage caused is often irreversible.


Symptoms

There are a couple of symptoms associated to this condition some of them are: light sensitivity, vision loss, problems with depth perception and problems with the peripheral vision.

The sensitivity to light is the inability of the eye to handle regular glare. Any brightness is likely to bother the eye. Losing vision is another symptom. The amount of vision lost is directly proportional to the damage suffered by the optic nerve. If the damage is too great even the ability to perceive light can be lost. This can also be progressive, as time passes the vision loss can increase.

Your depth perception can also be affected partially or totally by the condition. The ability to distinguish three dimensional objects can be severely impaired by problems in the optic nerve.


What is considered normal eye pressure

The visual field can decrease as a result of a stroke in the eye as well. A person can end up with tunnel vision if the stroke is severe enough. The treatment for this type of condition will usually require some medication to relieve the pressure on the optic nerve. This can decrease the damage suffered and will prevent a further decrease of the vision. As soon as you perceive any kind of symptom that could resemble this condition go to your doctor immediately.






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