If you have any of the following symptoms you should go to your GP or optician, you:

• Find that your vision has become blurry
• Find it unusually difficult to adjust to dark rooms.
• Experience eyestrain.
• Have frequent headaches.
• See spots floating in your vision.
• Find it difficult to focus on near or distant objects.
• Find your vision is slow to adjust when looking at a different distance.
• See words appear jumbled up on the page or you lose your place a lot.
• Find it difficult to see at night.
• Squint or blink a lot because you experience unusual sensitivity to light or glare.
• See a change in the colour of your iris.
• Have red-rimmed, encrusted or swollen lids.
• Have frequent pain in or around your eyes.
• Have double vision.
• See a dark spot at the centre of your vision.
• Find that lines and edges appear distorted or wavy.
• Have excess tearing or ‘watery eyes’.
• Have dry eyes with itching or burning.
• See spots or ghost-like images.

Serious problems to watch for

If you experience any of the following they may be signs of serious problems and you may need emergency medical attention.

• Sudden loss of vision in one eye.
• Sudden hazy or blurred vision.
• Flashes of light or black spots.
• Halos or rainbows around light.
• Curtain-like blotting out of vision.
• Loss of peripheral (side) vision.

Get your eyes checked regularly

If you have any signs of potential eye problems, you should go to your GP or optician for a complete eye exam. Even if you have no symptoms, you should have your eyes checked regularly, particularly if you have a chronic health condition like diabetes or high blood pressure. Early detection and treatment can be the key to preventing sight loss.

Does an eye test hurt?

A routine examination does not hurt at all. The examining lights can be bright, but these are only for a few moments.

If you need a medicated eye drop (for example, an anaesthetic for measuring eye pressure, or dilating drops), these sting a little bit for about 30 seconds.