Unless your vision has changed, you may not give your eyes much thought when it comes to health. But it’s good for you to be familiar with what good eye health feels like, so if your eyes don’t feel quite right, you know what to look out for, what you can do and when to seek help. 

If you’ve noticed a change in your eyesight, you can find a whole range of eye conditions and vision problems below, alongside helpful information about their symptoms and treatment.  

Your eyes can also indicate signs of more problematic issues to do with your general health like diabetes and high blood pressure. Symptoms of these conditions are not always obvious, so regular eye tests are an essential part of maintaining your eye health and vision.

If you have one of the below issues with your eyes or vision, please call your nearest store directly to book an urgent eye health check. Do not book an eye test appointment online.

  • Blurry vision / cloudy vision

  • Sudden onset blurred

  • Reduced vision

  • Eye twitching

  • Floaters / black dots in vision

  • Something's in my eye / gritty eyes

  • Itchy eyes

  • Blood shot eye / red eye

  • Headaches

  • Swollen / puffy eye lid

  • Scratched eye

  • Sore / red eye

  • Flashing lights with or without floaters

Senior Optometrist Dr Nigel Best has spent 23 of his 25 years in optometry with us at Specsavers. You’ll see him quite a bit as you navigate through the eye health pages, providing some of his expertise on all matters around eye health.

Eye conditions

Astigmatism

Blepharitis

Blurry Vision

Cataracts

Chalazion

Cloudy vision

Colour blindness

Conjunctivitis

Corneal ulcers

Diabetic retinopathy

Dilated Pupils (Mydriasis)

Double Vision (Diplopia)

Dry eye syndrome

Dyslexia and vision

Endophthalmitis

Eye pain

Eye strain

Eye twitching

Feeling of something in the eye

Floaters (black dots in vision) & Flashes

Glaucoma

Hay fever

Iritis (Anterior Uveitis)

Itchy eyes

Keratoconus

Lazy eye

Long-sightedness

Macular Oedema

Macular degeneration

Macular hole

Myopia (short sighted)

Night Blindness (Nyctalopia)

Nystagmus

Ocular herpes (eye herpes)

Ocular hypertension

Ocular migraines (retinal migraines)

Photophobia (light sensitivity)

Pinguecula

Posterior vitreous detachment

Presbyopia

Pterygium

Ptosis

Puffy eye

Red eye

Retinal detachment

Retinitis pigmentosa

Scratched Eye (Corneal Abrasion)

Snow blindness (photokeratitis)

Squint (strabismus)

Stye (hordeolum)

Subconjunctival haemorrhage

Sunstroke and sunburned eyes

Swollen eyelid

Tunnel vision

Uveitis

Watering eyes

An OCT scan can help detect the early signs of multiple eye conditions such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration before you have any symptoms.

Our work with Glaucoma UK

Glaucoma is generally a symptomless condition and, left undetected and untreated, can lead to loss of vision. We work closely with the charity Glaucoma UK to help raise awareness of glaucoma and to help avoid preventable sight loss caused by the disease.

Our collaborations have included specialist glaucoma training for Specsavers colleagues so our teams can help people with glaucoma manage their condition – specifically helping people use eye drops.

Most popular questions

How often should I have an eye test?

For most people, it's advisable to have an eye test every two years, but it's best to attend earlier if any eye problems occur or if advised by your optometrist.

If my vision's fine, do I need a regular eye test?

Yes. A comprehensive sight test includes checking the health of the inner and outer parts of the eye.

Even if you're happy with your vision it's worth having a regular check-up. Eyes can be affected by a number of conditions which may be picked up early through a sight test, giving it less chance of affecting your vision.

You should have an eye examination every two years or more regularly if advised by your optometrist.

How long should an eye test take?

It depends on the patient, but a young, healthy person with no apparent problems should take around 20 minutes.

Someone older, perhaps with high blood pressure, diabetes, glaucoma or other ailments can take much longer.

Your optician will determine what clinical tests are needed to provide the correct information for new spectacles or contact lenses; if necessary, they might refer the patient for a medical opinion.

What tests does the optician use in the sight test?

Sight tests, also known as eye examinations, are more than just tests of your vision.

A comprehensive sight test includes a thorough examination of the front and back of the eye for any health problems, too.

You might have certain tests - such as 'auto-refraction' (to provide the optician with a rough estimate of any spectacle prescription) and 'tonometry' (a measurement of the pressure inside the eye) before entering the consulting room.

The optician will ask you questions about any problems you're having with your eyes or might have had in the past, and about any family history of eye problems (some eye problems can be hereditary).

The vision test (known as the 'refraction') includes the use of a letter chart, with different lenses being placed in front of the eye while the optician uses further techniques to fine-tune the prescription.

The prescription is the power of lens for the right and left eye which will correct the patient's vision. During the eye health check the optician checks the condition of the eye's various structures using an opthalmoscope and a number of other instruments such as a slit-lamp and a visual field analyser.