Fear of light: why it occurs and how to get rid of it

Increased eye sensitivity to light is a fairly common problem. But it’s one thing when pain or pain occurs after leaving a dark room in the sun, and quite another thing when these things are completely unrelated to each other.

A disease called photophobia, or photophobia, can be chronic, or it can arise due to some phenomenon and go away if this phenomenon is eliminated. But first we need to find out exactly why the light began to cause discomfort.

Why ocular photophobia occurs, how to reduce it to nothing, and in what cases you need to run to an ophthalmologist - we’ll tell you in more detail.

General information

With photophobia, a person feels comfortable only in a dark room.
Most people enjoy sunlight and lead an active lifestyle during the daytime, while there are also individuals who are afraid of any lighting and remain “in the shadows.” Such fear can manifest itself both at the somatic and psychological levels. A person can suffer physically, not just emotionally. Normalization of well-being is established when being in a dark room or place.

There are two variants of fear of light.

Photophobia is the fear of any type of lighting. A person begins to blink reflexively, especially in bright light. He wishes to return to the darkness, closes his eyes.
Heliophobia is a mental disorder in which there is a fear of sunlight, as well as artificial bright lighting. Heliophobia should not be confused with Gunther's disease. The first is of a psychological nature, while the second is a mutation and causes direct harm to the body when exposed to light.

A person who is afraid of sunlight experiences a strong fear that the Sun may cause him physical harm. Such a strong belief can influence the development of real burns while under the Sun.

A person can only be afraid of bright sunlight. On cloudy days, he calmly goes outside and sits indoors with the lights on.

How to live well with photophobia

Having photophobia can significantly impact your quality of life if not properly treated. To cope with photophobia, in addition to proper treatment, when possible, you need to make some lifestyle changes to protect your eyes from overexposure to light. We recommend using the following tips:

protect your eyes from the sun outside with sunglasses;
wear sunglasses recommended only by an ophthalmologist;
always have eye drops to prevent your eyes from drying out;
wear a hat;
keep the house clean so that dust particles do not scatter light;
Reduce exposure to TV, computer and cell phone screens, and install screen filtering apps to reduce light intensity;
When working with a computer, in addition to using light filters, take regular breaks to reduce symptoms;
Replace or cover brightly colored furniture and objects in the home that reflect the most light;
Replace fluorescent lamps in your home with LED ones.

Although it is more comfortable to spend most of the day in the dark, it is important to expose yourself to limited and controlled light to increase your eye tolerance. Staying in a dark room, in addition to harming social life and risking the development of anxiety disorders and depression, can worsen photophobia.

Possible reasons

A person may be afraid of the possible harm caused by the sun's rays

Fear of light is called photophobia. But do not think that photophobia is necessarily a mental disorder. If it occurs suddenly, it may indicate the presence of a serious disease in the body.

Factors influencing the development of fear of light include:

presence of meningitis;
constant migraines;
Gunther's disease;
botulism;
a brain tumor;
general intoxication of the body;
diseases of the organs of vision;
manifestation of schizophrenia;
may be a concomitant disease if agoraphobia occurs;
a person may be afraid to go out into sunlight due to thoughts about the existing risk of developing skin cancer or burns, sunstroke;
the result of negative experiences that are associated with daylight or simply with light. For example, this may be a consequence of meningitis, in which severe photophobia was noted, accompanied by intense headaches. Due to difficult experiences, a person is subconsciously afraid of light.

It is necessary to understand that almost all the diseases described above pose a serious danger to the body and require mandatory medical intervention.

Treatment of photophobia

Photophobia is a symptom that occurs in diseases of various body systems. It requires immediate attention to an ophthalmologist. The specialist will conduct a diagnosis and find the cause of photophobia. Identifying the nature of the symptom will allow you to quickly and effectively eliminate its cause.

In some cases, increased sensitivity to light may be an individual feature of the body that is not associated with visual disorders. In this case, the only way to protect against unpleasant sensations is to constantly wear sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats.

At the Vision Restoration Center you can undergo examination using modern diagnostic equipment. Based on the test results, you will be advised by an experienced doctor. Our center's ophthalmologists have more than 10 years of experience. They advise children and adults, regardless of the complexity of the disease and its symptoms. We work every day from 8:00 to 20:00. Make an appointment right now.

Characteristic manifestations

Depending on what type of phobia occurs, as well as how intense its course, the symptoms of the condition vary. Based on the characteristic signs, it is possible to identify exactly what condition provoked the fear of light.

People with photophobia may have the following symptoms:

increased sensitivity of the skin and eyes to light, in particular to sunlight;
the appearance of a rash, redness on the skin, itching sensation;
increased sweating;
Once in the light, a person’s eyes begin to burn, he squeezes them with all his might, and a burning sensation is felt;
if there is a medical problem, disease, in particular measles, meningitis, infectious diseases, then high fever, nausea, and vomiting may be present;
when thoughts about the Sun and light arise, panic attacks are provoked;
heart rate increases when a person is under bright lighting;
in a person with photophobia, the skin will certainly be pale;
An individual who experiences this type of fear prefers to stay indoors during the day and curtains the windows so that light does not penetrate through them. As a rule, it is nocturnal. He sleeps during the day, and is awake at night, working if possible.

Exposure to the sun for a person with photophobia may be accompanied by attacks:

dizziness;
growing anxiety;
yeast all over the body;
tachycardia;
panic attack;
in especially severe cases, fainting, arrhythmia and hypertensive crisis occur.

Why does photophobia occur?

Increased sensitivity to light is not an independent disease. It accompanies various pathologies and ophthalmological conditions that require immediate medical attention. Such pathologies include:

inflammation of the eyes (keratitis, uveitis, conjunctivitis);
damage to the organs of vision (injuries, burns, erosions on the cornea).

Photophobia can also be caused by improperly fitted contact lenses. It can also occur:

with a light color of the iris (insufficient content of pigment in the choroid that protects the retina from the negative effects of bright light);
hereditary diseases (albinism or color blindness);
diseases of the nervous system (migraine and meningitis);
infectious diseases (rubella and measles);
severe intoxication of the body (poisoning with drugs - for example, belladonna, tetracycline, doxycycline, quinine or chemicals).

Diagnostics

A psychiatrist or psychotherapist makes a diagnosis of a psychological problem. If there is another reason, then the therapist who redirects to a specialist.

Diagnostic methods include:

communication between a specialist and a patient in order to identify information about the specific situations in which a state of anxiety occurs; it also becomes clear in what conditions the person lives, what his daily routine is;
testing for anxiety levels by Spielberger Khanin;
a test that determines the degree of anxiety on a rank scale.

Possible consequences

The individual constantly isolates himself from the world around him. At the same time, his circle of contacts is significantly reduced, and social connections are lost. A person who is afraid of light has problems enrolling in school, higher education, and also starting to go to work, especially well-paid ones. After all, you need to be in all these establishments during the day.
Due to the lack of necessary substances obtained from exposure to sunlight on the body, in particular with a lack of vitamin D, a person with this phobia will have problems with teeth (multiple caries and deformations), deterioration of the condition of hair and nail plates, and increased fragility of bones (fractures become frequent), muscle cramps occur.
Also, fear of light can lead to the following consequences:

chronic fatigue;
incessant headaches;
development of depression;
slowing down the growth process;
serious weight loss.

Treatment

Psychotherapy has proven itself in the fight against all types of phobias

Complex therapy is required, which includes both psychological influence and medication (if necessary), including those drugs that help improve the condition caused by the side effects of this phobia.

Medications may be prescribed to compensate for the lack of calciferol.
They may prescribe tranquilizers, antidepressants, and beta blockers.
During psychotherapy sessions, they can resort to hypnotic influence, in which a person is instilled with a strong belief that he should not be afraid of light.
The cognitive-behavioral method can be used when a specialist changes the incorrect attitudes formed in the patient’s head.
Neurolinguistic programming. An individual changes his mind by copying the behavior model of a healthy person.
Autotraining is an independent suggestion to yourself that light is not fraught with danger.
Desensitization. The phobia is overcome by gradually approaching the object that causes strong fear.
If photophobia is caused by some disease that does not have psychological origins, then treatment, depending on the cause, is prescribed by a neurologist, oncologist, ophthalmologist or infectious disease specialist. Therapy is aimed at getting rid of the condition that provokes photophobia.
In order to overcome this fear, it is extremely important that a person has support in the form of close people, so that he believes in his strength, his capabilities. It is important that those around you convey the fact that sunlight is very important for the health of any individual, and its absence can lead to serious, undesirable consequences. It is necessary to understand that the state of a person experiencing a phobia can be uncontrollable, and it is extremely difficult to overcome it on your own.

Now you know what photophobia is. As you can see, there may be several reasons that provoke the development of such fear. It is important to understand what this condition is fraught with and what consequences it can lead to.

Reasons for failure

Our visual analyzer is complex, and problems can arise not only at the level of the eyeball, but also during the passage of impulses in the form of several intermediate processes, and when reaching the cortical analyzing part of the brain.

First of all, photophobia is inherent in acute and chronic inflammatory diseases of the ocular surface, such as conjunctivitis, dry eye syndrome, recurrent erosion and corneal dystrophy, as well as similar conditions. It occurs due to irritation of the nerve endings of the cornea and conjunctiva, which are highly sensitive.

Question answer

Why does the eye twitch?

Also, severe photophobia occurs when there is inflammation of the choroid and sclera, in this case there are complaints of pain in the eyes at rest and when moving the eyes, and headaches from inflammation are often a concern.

With increased intraocular pressure, photophobia also often appears, which is combined with heaviness in the eyes and pain in the temples and head. Such symptoms are inherent in the condition of uncompensated glaucoma and require urgent treatment.

Another eye disease in which light scattering causes photophobia and a desire to squint the eye is cataracts, especially its complicated forms. In these cases, the patient sees poorly on a bright sunny day and is more comfortable in cloudy weather.

There is still no clear explanation for why photophobia occurs when there is inflammation of the optic nerve, brain, or its membranes, but it is believed that the problem is associated with the internal light-sensitive ganglion cells of the retina, which contain melanopsin. These cells detect light and create a sensation of brightness, and they can make the eye more sensitive, including causing pain.

Often, photophobia is a neurological problem that involves the communication system between the eye and the brain, not just the eye. The part of the eye that sends the light sensitivity signal to the brain is different from the part that transmits vision, which is why some people, even if they are blind, may suffer from photophobia.

People with photophobia have less tolerance to any type of light. Additionally, high visual contrast, such as when lights flash or flicker, makes it difficult to perceive, and striped patterns cause more migraines and problems for people with photosensitive epilepsy. On the other hand, fluorescent lights seem to be a leading cause of headaches, migraines, eye strain and seizures.

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