Loss of vision in one eye may be sudden or slowly progressive. In the later case it is often detected late. with sudden loss most of the patients lands up with ophthalmologist ,presuming that they have a cataract or their spectacle needs to be changed. let me tell you that neither of these cause a sudden visual loss. In fact only a few opthalmic conditions like retinal detachment or angle closure glaucoma known as KANCHBIND or hemorrhage in eye leads to sudden visual loss & of course, these conditions needs prompt attention & treatment.

Neurological causes of sudden vision loss are more dangerous & disabling and at times when the vision recovers promptly with in minutes & the patient doesn’t take this episode seriously. This transient loss also known as amurosis is due to sudden cut off in the blood supply to optic nerve and or retina and if not intervened urgently may lead to permanent loss of vision. Another pattern is impaired field of vision which is due to brain stroke and is often not realized early by the patient but is an emergency & needs prompt & early intervention.

Involvement of optic nerve(which carries visual sensation to brain) may start suddenly & progress over to days. It often leads to eye pain on movement & early impaired perception for red color. Also patients may experience bright dots or flashes of light in front of the eye. The optic nerve is affected in many conditions & if not diagnosed or treated early may lead to permanent vision loss in one eye & may sequentially involve other eye.

Diabetes , high blood pressure, raised lipids , chronic joint diseases , autoimmune disorders , excessive smoking & alcohol , certain medicines , exposure to some toxins & nutritional deficiencies all can affect the optic nerve , retina & their blood supply leading to profound & permanent vision loss.

so friends never take vision impairment lightly particularly if sudden , progressive , accompanied by pain in or around eye , & if you have any of the above mentioned risk factors.

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Stroke or brain attack is due to transient cut off in blood supply to the brain due to a clot in the blood vessels supplying brain, the clot is formed locally or dislodged from heart and large blood vessels in neck. Age, high blood pressure diabetes, smoking, central obesity, sedentary life style and high cholesterol are major risk factors for stroke.
Stroke presents with sudden weakness in a limb or on one side, speech changes, vertigo & imbalance, vision impairment and behavioural changes. Sometimes these symptoms may last for few minutes and the patient is normal. This is transient ischemic attack and is a harbinger of major stroke in next 48hrs. And hence should not be neglected.
First few hours after the onset of stroke are most important & we call it GOLDEN HOURS. As this is the time when prompt intervention can reverse brain injury and improve outcome in these patients. We inject a drug called tPA with in 4.5 hrs. Of onset to dissolve the clot and restore the blood supply to the brain, patients who receive this injection within one hour of onset of stroke have the best outcome in terms of quality of life.
Even if you are late for injection therapy, don’t get upset. These days we are using endovascular interventions i.e. Remove the clot by mechanical devices upto 6hrs from onset of stroke.
Remember that stroke may be devastating and make a person handicap for the rest of life. The lack of awareness and the nihilistic approach are the major reasons for failure to receive clot busting therapy in time and hence poor outcome.
29th october is world stroke day —a day to increase awareness about stroke recognition prompt intervention and its prevention, an advice to all on this day is never neglect a stroke & even with slightest suspicion approach your nearest stroke center and avail the facility of clot busting therapy…