How does COVID-19 affect your depth perception and overall vision?
Understanding symptoms of COVID-19
It’s been three years since COVID-19 spread its way around the globe, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. We’re learning more about its effects on the body all the time, but it’s widely known that the primary symptoms involve coughing, a sore throat, a headache and general flu-like symptoms. However, a topic which isn’t as widely reported – and therefore is not as commonly known – is COVID-19’s effects on your eyes. In previous articles, we have touched on the potential of catching the infection via your eyes, as well as some of long-Covid’s impacts on your vision, but new research suggests that the disease can also affect your depth perception.
What are the symptoms of COVID-19 affecting your vision?
When ill with COVID-19, some people have reported blurry vision and this has also been known to last beyond the infectious period and after the point of recovery. It seems that, in severe cases, the disease can block and restrict blood supply to the retina, resulting in retinopathy (which is something that some diabetic patients already deal with). While research on this topic is on-going, early studies suggests that the visual impairment caused by COVID-19 tends to occur 2-4 weeks after you have supposedly recovered from the disease. COVID-19 deprives your whole body of oxygen, including your brain, leading to issues with a range of body parts and organs, particularly your eyes.
It is especially concerning that these vision issues tend to crop up after the point of recovery, when you are deemed no longer infectious. Over 650 million people worldwide have now “recovered” from COVID-19, but how many of them are experiencing issues with their vision or other aspects of their health? It is possible that people don’t actually attribute their COVID-19-induced health issues to the disease, simply because they haven’t made the connection themselves. Although it might feel like COVID-19 has been in our lives for a long time, it’s actually still relatively new in terms of research and understanding its long-term effects and, unfortunately, further associated conditions and issues are likely to be uncovered as more research is carried out.
There are a number of symptoms which suggest that your vision has been affected by COVID-19, including, but not limited to, the following vision issues:
- Blurry vision
- Light sensitivity
- Headaches
- Eye pain
- Difficulty focusing your eyes
- Poor depth perception
- Fatigue
How does COVID-19 affect your depth perception?
COVID-19 can infect your eye through the nerve tissues at the back of your eye. These nerve tissues play a vital role in that they send the visual signals to your brain, which is the process that actually allows you to see. This inflammation of the optic nerve can lead to the retina thickening, resulting in impaired vision. The retina can also thicken due to abnormal fluid build-up, leading to “reduction in depth perception due to blurred vision.”
Depth perception is vital for nearly every aspect of day to day life, as it is simply your ability to see how far away things are. You need this for everything from reaching out for your mug of tea, to crossing the road safely. The main causes of issues with your depth perception are:
- Strabismus
- Amblyopia
- Eye trauma
- Blurry vision
- Optic nerve problems
Blurred vision and optic nerve issues – caused by inflammation – are the culprits of COVID-19-related depth perception difficulties. You should always be aware of any vision changes you experience, but especially so after having had COVID-19. If you’ve tested positive for the disease, it’s always a good idea to make an eye test with your optician a few weeks after you’ve recovered. This helps to pick up any damage caused and to detect signs of retinopathy. Seeking prompt treatment for problems with your eyes goes a long way to protecting your vision, and preserving what is perhaps the most important of all our senses.
Other blog posts on similar topics which may interest you:
Does COVID-19 and lockdown make you more short-sighted?
Does long Covid affect your eyesight?
What are the impacts of COVID-19 on UK cataract surgery waiting lists?
