Visual Distortion Guide: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment (2024)

Visual distortions can affect your ability to see normally. Often called visual disturbances, they can cause changes in eyesight such as blurry or wavy vision. These distortions can have varying causes. For example, wavy lines may be due to a problem with the retina, while an autoimmune condition or simple astigmatism may cause blurry vision.

Visual distortion doesn't always mean there is a serious problem, but you should always see your healthcare provider for any change in your vision. Changes that come on suddenly or are accompanied by severe pain, vision loss, or double vision should be considered emergencies.

This article will explain what causes visual distortions and how they are diagnosed.

Types of Visual Distortions

Visual distortions are things that affect your eyes and vision. There are different types of visual distortions, including:

• Auras (visual changes usually associated with migraines)
• Blindness
• Blind spots
• Blurred vision
• Dark spots
• Diplopia (double vision)
• Distorted shapes
• Flashes of light
  
• Floaters
  
• Halos (rainbow rings that form around bright lights or objects)
• Partial or complete vision loss
• Wavy lines or shapes
  

Causes and Associated Conditions

Different medical conditions can cause visual distortions. Make sure to talk to your eye doctor about any new or changing visual disturbances.

Common causes and associated conditions include:

• Aneurysm: Enlargement of an artery; causes vision loss
• Age-related macular degeneration(AMD): Eye disease that causes you to lose your vision slowly over time (dry AMD) or more rapidly (wet AMD); causes blurry, distorted vision and makes straight lines appear wavy
• Astigmatism: Problems with the curvature of the eye; causes blurry vision at both near and far distances
• Autoimmune conditions: Disorders that cause the immune system to attack healthy tissues and organs in the body; causes blurry vision and vision loss
• Brain tumor: Growth of abnormal cells in the brain; causes double or blurry vision and vision loss
• Cataracts: The lens (the clear part of the eye that is behind the colored iris) becomes cloudy, causing blurry vision, halos, vision loss, and problems seeing in dim light
• Diabetes: Blood sugar is too high; causes blurry vision, double vision, and vision loss
• Dry eyes: Eyes feel dry, gritty, or scratchy; causes blurry vision
• Epiretinal membrane/cellophane maculopathy: Membrane forms over the retina (the tissue in the back of your eye), often inside the macula (the center of the retina), causing blurred vision that may become very distorted
• Farsightedness: Difficulty seeing objects at all ranges
• Glaucoma: Increased eye pressure that damages the optic nerve (the sensory nerve that carries information between the eye and the brain), causing blurriness, halos, and loss of peripheral vision
• Head injury: Blow to the head; causes blurry or double vision, trouble focusing the eyes, and problems with peripheral vision (side vision)
• Hypertension: High blood pressure; causes blurry vision and vision loss
• Infection: Disease from microorganisms; causes blurry vision
  
• Inflammation: Body's reaction to infection or injury; causes vision loss, eye pain, and blurry or dim vision
• Macular pucker/vitreomacular traction (VTM): Causes warping of the macula and severely distorted vision that can progress to a missing spot in your vision or loss of central vision
  
• Migraine: Severe headache with other symptoms; causes auras such as flashing or blinking lights and blind spots
• Nearsightedness: Difficulty seeing objects far away; causes blurry vision for objects far from you
• Optic neuritis: Inflammation of the optic nerve; causes pain with eye movements and visual disturbances
• Ischemic optic neuropathy: Damage done to the optic nerve due to impaired blood supply; causes vision loss in one eye and may cause pain
• Retinal detachment: Retina pulls away from the back of the eye; causes floaters, flashes of light, and sometimes a curtain coming up over your vision
• Retinopathy: A generalized term for disorders that affect the retina; causing wavy lines, double vision, dark spots, vision loss, floaters, and blindness
  
• Stroke: Loss of blood flow to the brain; causes double and blurry vision, vision loss, and blind spots
  
• Trauma: Physical injury; causes double or blurry vision, dark spots, and blind spots
  

Risk Factors

Although it is not possible to prevent all types of visual distortions, there are certain risk factors that increase your chance of having eye problems, such as:

• Not having regular eye exams
• Not wearing the correct prescription for eyeglasses or contact lenses
• Not wearing safety googles when necessary
• Not wearing sunglasses outside
• Not getting medical care after a head or eye injury
• Having uncontrolled high blood pressure
• Having uncontrolled diabetes
• Smoking
• Drinking alcohol in excess

Tests and Treatments

Your doctor may do the following tests:

• Amsler grid test: You look at a grid to detect blind spots or vision distortion.
• Blood and urine tests
• Computed tomography (CT) scan: This is a detailed computerized X-ray scan.
  
• Dry eye testing: These tests include the Schirmer test to check for moisture and the tear film breakup time (TBUT) test to check for how long the layers of tears in your eyes last after you blink.
• Eye exam
• Fluorescein angiography: Fluorescent dye is used to view the blood vessels in the back of the eye.
• Fundus autofluorescence imaging: This detects fluorescence (glowing after absorption of light) in your eye structures that can develop in some conditions.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): Powerful magnets are used to create detailed imaging.
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT): This imaging test uses near-infrared light waves to view the interior of the eye.
• Physical exam
  
• Visual fields test: This test checks your field of vision in four quadrants.

Your treatment options depend on the cause of the blurry vision. They may include:

• Eye drops
  
• Eye supplements
• New glasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses
• Prescription eye medications
• Surgery

Summary

Visual distortions are symptoms, such as halos or wavy lines, that affect your ability to see. Many medical conditions can cause them. Visual distortions may not always be a sign of a serious problem but still should be taken seriously. You should talk to your doctor and get an eye exam.