The onset of double vision can be an alarming development if you’ve previously not had experience with it. If you suddenly see double, it’s important to meet with your eye doctor to rule out any underlying causes and address them first. That could be anything from trauma to the eye to eye-related diseases such as cataracts, or a disease that is unrelated to the eyes but still affects them such as diabetes or autoimmune diseases.

The good news is, once you’ve identified what’s causing the double vision, it’s treatable. If you haven’t read through our blog post on this condition, also called diplopia, here’s a quick recap: double vision is either in one eye (monocular diplopia) or both (binocular diplopia).

In cases of monocular diplopia, the Mayo Clinic says that the most common cause is dry eyes, which can be fixed by using artificial teardrops. Also, check your glasses! If you have out-of-date prescriptions, bent frames, or scratches on your lenses, that could cause vision issues. Remember, you should get your vision checked at least once every two years, if not yearly.

For binocular diplopia, the primary cause is a misalignment of the eyes. Treatment will usually start by placing prisms on your eyeglass lenses, which realigns the two images into one. Wearing an eye patch over one eye is another type of treatment. This helps to strengthen the muscles of the weaker eye and can often help with the realignment of the eyes. Finally, if either of these two treatment options proves to be ineffective for you, surgery may be recommended.