Photophobia

Photophobia is a term often used by eye-care professionals and refers to sensitivity of the eyes to light- sunlight or indoor light. it is pronounced as “foto-fobia”. Photo stands for ‘light’ and phobia stands for ‘fear’. This translates to ‘fear of light’.  

You are ‘photophobic’ if you are intolerant to light and always experience discomfort under minimal light conditions. In other words, people who are photophobic can not tolerate a tolerable degree of light. They may experience discomfort such as headaches, frowning and squint their eyes and often in a hurry to leave the sun. This condition is more common in tropical than temperate countries.

Conditions That Cause Or Worsen Photophobia

Some of the conditions that cause, trigger or worsen photophobia are cataract surgery, refractive laser procedure, migraine headache, underlying medical conditions, cornea injury or transplant, side effect of some medications, and hormonal changes in women, albinism etc. 

How To Protect Your Eyes

Photophobic patients need to protect their eyes in the sun. They need to wear transition lenses. However, some of them may find regular transition lenses not dark enough for outdoor activities or on a bright sunny day. In this case, I will advise the use of polarized lenses. There are  many non-prescription polarized glasses out there in the market. However you can get a polarised recommended glasses from any Eye-care/Optical establishment if you wear recommended glasses.

Polarised sunglasses protect your eyes against harmful UV rays, eliminates uncomfortable eye-straining glare, keeps the eye muscle relax, maintains clarity of vision and improves visual contrast.

I will also recommend the use of sun visor in the vehicle whenever necessary. Not only is it protective, it helps cut-off blinding-glare of the sunrays that could affect your vision and compromise your driving safety. For those who are extremely photophobic ( albinos) and can avoid bright light conditions, avoidance may be the best approach.  

Written By:

Austin Madu, OD   

( Optometrist )