What is light phobia?

Are you afraid of the light and prefer to stay at home rather than expose yourself to the world outside?

You are probably Dracula’s lost relative or Edward Cullen’s. Or, vampires aside, maybe you just have light phobia or photophobia.

People usually fear the dark, so to hear of someone who is afraid of the light is a little hard to believe.

Wikipedia defines photophobia as a symptom of excessive sensitivity to light and the aversion to sunlight or well-lit places.

In medical terms it is not fear, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure. 

This difficulty of seeing through light usually caused by: 

• Excessive wearing of badly-fitted contact lenses
• Central nervous system disorder like Meningitis
• Eye diseases like glaucoma and episcleritis
• Hereditary condition like albinism
• Migraines
• Burns to the eyes
• Corneal abrasions
• Corneal cancer
• Clouding in the eyes or cataracts
• Inflammation of the iris of the eye called iritis
• Eye allergy like conjunctivitis
• Retinal detachment.
• Veisalgia or hangover
• Rabies also known as hydrophobia
• Intake of drugs such as amphetamines, scopolamine , tropicamide, and vidarabine
• Some are also psychological

Heliophobia, the fear of the sunlight is a type of photophobia. A person who has this problem usually wears dark sunglasses whenever they go outdoors. They don't even stay outside for too long.

Heliophobes usually prefer to stay in places far from direct sunlight, like dark rooms. People with lighter eye color are also vulnerable to this condition.

People suffering from light phobias usually suffer from headache, nausea, neck stiffness, blurred vision and pain in the eye, dizziness, swelling, and sore or wound in the eye.

Adaptive measures like photogray lenses or wearing sunglasses or sun visors are recommended. Surgeons offer tests like corneal scraping, slit-lamp examination and lumbar puncture.

However, these light phobias are curable. Address the issue and determine the underlying reasons. Photophobia is just a symptom of other underlying diseases. Visit your doctor and be examined.

Those who have underlying psychological fear of light are best advised to seek the help of psychotherapists.

If you feel pain every time you see light, don’t think you’re a vampire or a Gremlin. You’re not creepy. Just get yourself cured. See the beauty of the world is in its best light.