Sun causes my eyes to close uncontrollably

[Mar001]

I've asked a couple of doctors about this and they both looked at me weird. This has been happening since I was a little kid, and I'm 30 now.
Whenever I go outside and the sun hits me, I instantly feel a sharp pain in my head and my eyes want to force themselves shut. God forbid if there is anything white around me, it's even worse.
When I'm driving and there are white cars or when the sun is reflecting off the glass, the same thing starts to happen. This is a really scary thing to go through, and it can be painful at it's worse.
Does anyone know what this might be?

[Maehb]

I also have this same issue and have had regular GP's and two optometrists look at me like I was being ridiculous as if this affliction couldnt possibly exist. One of my optometrists actually was extremely offended when I couldn't keep my eyes open when he was trying to examine my eyes with his bright lights. He was angry at me for "wasting" his time and he thought that I was messing around. I never went back to him again. This issue has also bothered me for as long as I can remember and I'm 33 now. Haven't found a single person that has ever given me any kind of clue as to what could be wrong. I have had blood work done a few times and nothing has been out of the ordinary. I also eat a strong balanced mainly vegetarian diet with fish as my meat source so I'm not lacking in vitamins or minerals. I would LOVE to hear is anyone can actually name this problem. If we have a name we can start on the road to recovery, finding ways to ease it or, in the least, dealing with it better than we have been. Thanks Mar001 for sharing. Good luck!

[Ricobord]

Sounds like a significant light sensitivity.  I would definitely go see an opthamologist.

[ggreg]

Well, assuming you've visited an eye doctor about this, which you should if you haven't, then I'd say this might be a problem with nutritional deficiency in certain vitamins.  Let's say you don't get enough Vitamin A, or your body doesn't process Vitamin A very well, this is one of the vitamins that protect your eyes.  Like, if you go into a dark room after being in the bright outdoors, and if you cannot see well, this suggests a vitamin/mineral deficiency situation, which your regular family doctor can draw blood, have labwork done, and the results will tell him if it's a nutritional thing.  

But really and truly, an EYE DOCTOR, which includes opthalmologists, he would NOT have looked at you strange at all!!!  He would have taken it very seriously.  But of course lots of people have problems seeing well in strong sunlight, for all kinds of reasons, with older people winding up with this kind of foggy cover over their eye lens, it's called cataracts, and it will create a bunch of problems particularly with driving at night!  The car headlights coming at them, it blinds them, and they just cannot see for all the spread-out and intensity of lights.  So, go to the eye doc for a proper eye exam or your regular doc for bloodwork, and get this thing sorted out, now that you know two really big possibilities it could be.