Chloropsia is a visual phenomenon where the world appears tinted green. It is a specific form of chromatopsia, a visual aberration where all objects appear saturated with a single color. This unusual symptom can result from a wide range of factors, extending from harmless temporary environmental effects to underlying serious medical conditions affecting the eye or the nervous system. Understanding the potential origins of this green tint helps determine whether the cause is benign or requires professional attention.
Transient and Environmental Factors
Many instances of green-tinted vision are temporary and self-limiting, often related to external stimuli or minor physiological responses. Exposure to intense, bright light can temporarily overstimulate the photoreceptors in the eye, which may lead to a brief period of color distortion. For example, intense glare from snow or a strong flash of light can cause a temporary colored after-image or a general wash of color, including green, as the retina recovers its normal sensitivity.
Certain common medications can also induce a mild, passing color change in vision as a side effect. Some drug side effects are known to cause a blue-green or yellow-green hue that quickly wears off once the drug is metabolized. These transient effects are distinct from the more serious toxicities associated with long-term drug use. Severe eye fatigue or sensory overload can sometimes result in a temporary color aberration as the visual processing centers momentarily struggle to cope.
Ocular Conditions Causing Chloropsia
When the green tint is persistent, the cause may be structural changes within the eye itself that affect how light is filtered and perceived. The most well-documented mechanism involves the eye’s natural lens, particularly in patients with cataracts. A cataract causes the lens to become cloudy and often yellowed, filtering out certain wavelengths of light.
Following cataract surgery, when the yellowed lens is removed and replaced with a clear artificial one, the sudden rush of unfiltered blue light can cause the brain to perceive a transient, opposite color, often a green or blue-green tint. This postoperative chromatopsia typically resolves as the brain adjusts to the restored full spectrum of light. Other conditions affecting the eye’s media, such as corneal opacities or vitreous hemorrhages, can also subtly alter light transmission to the retina.
Systemic and Neurological Contributors
Chloropsia can also be a symptom of a problem originating outside the eye, involving the nervous system, the optic pathway, or systemic toxicity. A significant cause is toxicity from medications like Digitalis, a cardiac glycoside used to treat heart failure and atrial fibrillation. Visual disturbances associated with Digitalis toxicity, including chloropsia and yellow-tinted vision (xanthopsia), are thought to stem from the drug’s inhibition of the sodium-potassium ATPase pump in retinal cells.
Inflammation of the optic nerve, known as optic neuritis, is another pathway to color vision changes, as it disrupts the transmission of visual information from the eye to the brain. Severe inflammation or damage to the nerve can lead to various color aberrations. Neurological events, such as a migraine aura, can also precede a headache with transient visual disturbances, sometimes including colored tints. Chloropsia has also been documented as a symptom of Charles Bonnet syndrome, a condition where visually impaired individuals experience complex visual hallucinations.
Warning Signs Requiring Prompt Medical Care
A green tint in vision can be a sign of a serious, time-sensitive medical issue, especially when accompanied by other symptoms. Immediate medical consultation is necessary if the green vision is sudden, persistent, or involves any degree of vision loss.
Seek urgent care if the color change is accompanied by acute, severe eye pain or a throbbing headache, which could signal conditions like acute glaucoma. Additional red flags include seeing new flashes of light or a sudden increase in floaters, which may indicate a retinal detachment. Any new onset of chloropsia alongside systemic symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, or confusion warrants an immediate medical evaluation. These combined symptoms could point to medication toxicity, a neurological event, or a severe infection.