Symptoms Of Anisometropia

Imagine this. Blurred view fogged your perception while you are walking down the stairs. Your legs became noodles as you stomach started to revolt when the dizziness starts to kick in.

As dangerous as it may sound, this is but one of the symptoms of anisometropia, a visual disease of unequal refractive power in the two eyes also known as visual imbalance. Similar to myopia, commonly known as short sightedness, people with anisometropia also have trouble seeing things clearly. In the case of anisometropia, however, the differences in refraction between the two eyes can be more than 1 diopter, resulting in difficulties with depth perception and binocular vision. In severe cases like the one mentioned above, people might suffer from headaches, fatigue, nausea and other visual symptoms as well, which makes the disease dangerous.

Yet, unlike myopia, which is easier to control, anisometropia is less known, and consequently, less researched. For myopia, scientists have developed not only multiple treatments but also found its underlying roots, genetics and excessive eye use, which help the public take preventive measures. While in the case of anisometropia, people cannot even wear common glasses. Those with anisometropia can only use the eye with better eyesight which makes the one with weaker eyesight be left alone without being used. As time goes by, the eye with poor eyesight will become weaker and weaker, and the eye with better eyesight will get visual fatigue quickly. In addition, the differences between the two eyes can lead to poor depth perception and poor binocular vision (3D vision), making its patients hard to maintain balance in real life. Such is why anisometropia is a severe eye disease that people have ignored for many years.

In many cases, anisometropia are mistreated as myopia or ignored when the patient was young, leading to a more drastic differences between the two eyes. This is proven to be especially true among children and adolescences, which can be very disruptive to their studies and daily lives. The case mentioned above was a personal experience suffered from a patient with anisometropia. Thus, it is especially important for the public to be aware of the disease as it can be controlled with the correct treatment.

Currently, patients can choose to wear orthokeratology when they are young. Older patients can also undergo surgery to solve anisometropia. For parents whose children’s eyes started to blur, consider booking a reservation to your ophthalmologist first, because they might be more than myopic.

Deng, L. and Gwiazda, J.E. (2012) “Anisometropia in children from infancy to 15 years,” Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science, 53(7), p. 3782. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.11-8727.

Evans, B.J.W. (2022) “Anisometropia and Aniseikonia,” Pickwell's Binocular Vision Anomalies, pp. 158–164. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-323-73317-5.00016-6.

Lock, C. (2019) Clearing up blurry vision: Scientists gaze toward causes of myopia, Science News. Available at: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/clearing-blurry-vision-scientists-gaze-toward-causes-myopia (Accessed: February 13, 2023).