We found that a majority of our RP patients complained of light sensitivity or photophobia even in the absence of significant cataract. They most often complained of glare as irritation, pain, blurred vision, or a cause of tearing. The sun’s warm rays cause anguish, fluorescent lights at work make it hard to focus, the glare from the computer screen is more than just annoying.
It’s probably the consequence of photoreceptor saturation or photochemical responsiveness, which is caused by the damage of the light-sensitive layer in the retina. It’s pretty common knowledge that light is transmitted from your eyes to your brain along certain nerve pathways.
What you may not know is that there’s another pathway that transmits pain signals. For most of us, this pathway performs the critical job of protecting the photoreceptors in our eyes from damage. This is why when we look at the sun, it hurts and makes us want to stop. However, when you have photophobia, this pathway is overly sensitive and may cause pain or discomfort.
How to get rid of light sensitivity for RP patients?
Tip 1: Try replacing any fluorescent lights with incandescent bulbs or warm white LEDs. Install dimmers to control indoor lighting.
Tip 2: Adjust the settings on your TV, computer, phone and other devices to more comfortable hues and brightness levels.
Tip 3: Wear UV-protective, polarized sunglasses when going outdoors. Do NOT wear sunglasses indoors, though it might bring momentary relief, doing this over the long term can dark -adapt your eyes and actually make your photophobia worse.
Tip 4: Protect the healthy rods and cones, and stimulate the dormant optic nerve cells through a natural healing – StemAcitv, which is made of the best herb-based components for activation of the dormant optic nerve stem cells, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation and boost immunity. In the long run, it stabilizes or improves the visual function and reduces light- sensitivity by repairing the retina function and treating the root cause of photophobia.
To learn more about the natural healing StemActiv, please review: