Headaches

What are headache symptoms and dizziness?

Almost everyone suffers from a headache or dizziness at some point. This can have various causes. An eye condition rarely causes a headache directly, but the cause can be eye-related. Often, your eyes aren't being corrected properly: you might not be wearing glasses when you need them, or your glasses or contact lenses aren't providing the right correction.

How do I recognize headache symptoms and dizziness?

A headache can be recognized by the following symptoms:

• Pain on one or both sides of the head

• Stabbing, aching, or throbbing pain in the head
  

Dizziness can be recognized by the following symptoms:

• Feeling light-headed

• A sensation that your surroundings are moving or spinning

• Nausea

What causes headache symptoms and dizziness?

Headaches and dizziness can have eye-related causes. If your symptoms are caused by your eyes not being corrected properly, you may often experience the following:

• The headache develops during the day

• You get a headache after reading or working at a screen for a long time

• The headache is located above the eyes

Do you recognize these symptoms?

 If so, the cause might indeed be an eye-related issue, such as:

• An uncorrected or incorrectly corrected prescription

• (underlying) farsightedness in young people (hyperopia, or plus strength)

• Over-corrected nearsightedness (myopia, or too much minus strength)

• The need for a reading glasses (presbyopia)

• Astigmatism (cylindrical error)

Migraine and eye symptoms

Headaches and eye symptoms can also be a symptom of a migraine. Migraines come in different forms. There is common migraine, classic migraine, and also ocular migraine. Ocular migraine doesn't always involve a headache but can cause various eye symptoms, such as:

• Seeing a growing spot

• Jagged shapes (zigzags)

• Stars or heat waves

• Temporary loss of vision

• Temporary narrowing of the visual field or tunnel vision

• Flashing lights or auras

To determine if your headache has an eye-related explanation, it is important to have your eyes checked thoroughly. We perform a standard eye test, but also an additional measurement. During this extra examination, we use eye drops. These temporarily prevent your eyes from straining or focusing. This is necessary so we can see exactly what is happening. If you would like to know more about this examination, please get in touch with us.

Incorrect prescription and dizziness

Just like headaches, dizziness has many different causes. If it is related to your eyes, these are the most common causes:

• No prescription or the wrong prescription for your contact lenses or glasses

• Lenses that haven't been fitted correctly in your frames or aren't perfectly aligned

• Your eyes aren't working together optimally

Find out the cause

With headaches and dizziness, it is always important to find out the source of your symptoms. The specialists at Oogwereld can help you with this and investigate whether it is related to your eyes.

We are here for you

Do you continue to suffer from headaches and dizziness? Get in touch with one of the boutiques near you.