Dr. Sylvester’s Reminders of Symptoms You Should Not Ignore

We talk a lot about children’s vision here at Bright Eyes because we absolutely love seeing kids!  But we also love caring for our adult patients as well. Sadly, I have come to the realization that I am no longer young.  I need reading glasses! 

Unfortunately, I have friends facing much more serious health challenges.  Often times, we as adults ignore our symptoms and delay the care we need. Why?  Because it’s inconvenient for work, childcare, or just….life!  I wanted to touch upon some symptoms that we absolutely should not ignore when it comes to our ocular health. 


1) Flashes and floaters.  If you see consistent flickers of light in one eye, numerous floaters (either black or clear spots in your vision), or a curtain or “veil” in your vision, this could be the sign of a retinal tear or detachment.  Risk factors for a tear or detachment are recent trauma, high nearsightedness (-5.00 or higher) or older age. Google can’t help you here; There is no way to tell exactly what is going on without a dilated eye examination.  A retinal detachment is a sight threatening ocular emergency that is treatable, if caught early. Call us immediately!

2) Red, painful, light sensitive eye.  When eyes are unhappy, they turn red.  But when they turn red, painful AND light sensitive, they’re practically begging you to seek care.  The cause could be something simple like contact lens over-wear, or it could be something more serious like an auto-immune disease.  Regardless of the cause, untreated inflammation can cause scarring and swelling and have lasting visual impacts. 

3) Painless loss of vision in one eye.  You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve seen a patient who didn’t realize that the vision was reduced in one eye….because we use both!  Diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and many, many other conditions need to be ruled out to find the culprit.  Sometimes patients can regain vision, other times not.  Usually the earlier the detection, the better the outcome.

4)  Swollen eyelids.  On the less serious end, swollen eyelids could be caused from a stye or an allergic reaction.  But sometimes it can be caused by a serious bacterial infection that goes deep into the tissue, and this becomes an emergency.  If you have swollen eyelids and your eye is painful to move and you feel lethargic or have a fever, this is likely orbital cellulitis and needs to be treated with oral or IV antibiotics stat!

Should you experience any of the symptoms above, our Bright Eyes docs are here for you. 

Call or text us at (813) 792-0637 or click above to Request An Appointment.