The cranial nerves controlling the extraorbital muscles are affected by an underlying condition or disorder. The muscles around the eye (the extraorbital muscles) are weak or underdeveloped. Misalignment of the eyes, the root cause of binocular diplopia, occurs when: Unlike monocular diplopia, binocular or bilateral double vision affects both eyes and only occurs when both eyes are open. This allows the lens to move around and get out of place, resulting in double vision. Lens dislocation - Eye trauma can cause ligaments that hold the lens of the eye in place to break. If the bump spreads to the cornea, double vision can result. Pterygium - When the mucous membrane that lines the whites of the eye thickens, it can create a bump or growth on the eyeball. Keratoconus can affect one or both eyes and is typically caused by heredity or eye rubbing.ĭry eye - If your eyes don’t provide enough tears to keep your eyes moist, moving and blinking the eyes can make them itch or sting, as well as cause blurred or double vision. Keratoconus - Abnormal thinning of the cornea causes the front of the eye to bulge forward, which leads to double vision.
If the hazy film covers the lens of only one eye, monocular diplopia can result. This can result in blurred or double vision at any distance.Ĭataract - Clouding of the eye’s lens caused by age, smoking, diabetes and/or steroid medication use. There are a number of things that can cause monocular diplopia, including:Īstigmatism - Refractive error (like nearsightedness or farsightedness) that affects how your eyes bend light. Monocular diplopia is when a person experiences double vision - often as a ghost image - even if one eye is closed. This can help indicate if the cause of double vision is related to a problem with the brain or within the eye itself and whether the underlying condition may be life-threatening. When a patient experiences double vision, the first thing a doctor will determine is whether it’s monocular or binocular diplopia. Depending on the diagnosis, a patient’s double vision may be classified using more than one type. There are several different types of diplopia (double vision), each classifying a slightly different form of the condition.