I’m just wondering what’s going on with my eyes. I do plan to see a doctor as soon as possible, which will be this coming week. I realize that responses I receive here are not to be taken as medical advice, etc. I do plan to see a professional soon.
So this morning, Saturday, I noticed the vision in my left eye seemed blurry. I chalked it up to a less than pristine contact lens and kind of forgot about it. But it persisted, and upon closer inspection/observation, I noticed that it’s just a spot in the field of vision of my left eye. I tried reversing my contact lenses with no change, so no luck with a foggy lens or something.
My best description (all pertaining to my left eye only, right eye is entirely normal): Whatever I try to focus on has a kind of blank spot floating there, sort of like a thick greyish fog. If I close my right eye, I can barely see what I am trying to focus on. It’s not unlike the temporary spots you see after a photo-flash, except persisting.
Regarding the size of the field- my monitor is now c. 65 cm from my eyes, and the field of fog on the monitor is about 12 cm long and 8 cm high. Roughly. It’s hard to say, but it does seem rectangular/oval in shape.
I have been near-sighted all of my adult life and am a contact lens wearer, never had any complications with the lenses.
Can anyone tell me what might be going on here? I’m a little worried. It’s also plenty annoying. Any input (or probing questions!) would be very welcome.
Er, I would seriously consider calling the doctor after hours. Or going to the ER. I don’t really know what it might be but “detached retina” comes to mind.
As in, permanent loss of vision if not treated immediately.
How old are you? And, have you called an ophthalmology office and described your symptoms, to set up an appointment? (In other words, has a professional triaged this?)
(I work in ophthalmology, IANAD/N.)
Edit: I’d suggest detached retina if there were flashes of light preceding it, but it’s possible that might have happened during sleep.
Forget the flashes of light thing. I recently had a retinal detachment but put “retinal detachment” relatively low on the differential diagnosis list because I had no flashes of light or anything like them. I might have gone to the ER on Sunday (and have been scheduled for surgery Monday) instead of going to the clinic on Monday (and being scheduled for surgery on Tuesday) except that I had always heard that retinal detachment was associated with flashes of light.
Bamboo Boy, let us know what the ophthalmologist says.
Assuming it’s sudden onset (as opposed to just not noticing a very slow onset), I would personally be extremely wary of this and be seen sooner (much sooner) rather than later. Central vision loss is, also, definitely not the kind you prefer to get (versus peripheral) and might be worrying in itself.
Yeah - good point. You didn’t have a lot of floaters, or a curtain effect, did you? The OP didn’t mention those so I didn’t, either. Other than those and a general sudden loss of vision, that’s my limit of RD diagnosis. It’s not really my area.
I am 40 years old. My SO is on the phone with the ‘vægtlægen’ now, a layer of the Danish health care system. Sounds like we are going to go the emergency room. This is much more than I bargained for!
Will keep you posted as things developed. I sure hope it’s nothing.
Just got back from the ER, it’s 4:30 AM. As I feared, I was poo-poohed away. The nurse put some dye in my eye, had a look and declared everything was fine. I asked if she would see any evidence of a detached retina. She said she wouldn’t. I was advised to see a doctor next week and sent home.
She also checked my peripheral vision, which I was having no trouble with and which was fine. When I demonstrated what part of my field of visBBion was obstructed, she seemed surprised and said that she had never heard of anything like that and that that was GOOD news, which I disagreed with.
Dont know the system there but Id want a doctor to check sooner rather than later, preferably one with some experience in the eye area. If she cant detect a detached retina with her testing, telling you to wait a week seems awfully silly.
A second opinion would be fairly important if the person you’ve seen cant give you a reasonable explanation for it and is sending you away rather then checking further.
Agreed, you need to see an ophthalmologist. The dye just ruled out damage to the outside of the eye - which fortunately means you don’t have an infection of the cornea or conjunctiva.
Oh, knock it off, I have a skrillion stories from non-socialized health care that are just as hair-raising. Honestly.
OP, I don’t mean to unduly alarm you – well, actually, I guess I do – but many years ago, Mr. Whatsit had a similar problem with one of his eyes. He went an ophthalmologist to get it checked out, and wound up being rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery to remove the melanoma that was threatening his optic nerve. He lost his sight in that eye but is lucky it didn’t kill him.
I’d get that checked by an eye professional, stat, if I were you.
Look, I’m not being all jingoistic about American medicine either. The upside is that he would certainly be seen by a physician, and quite possibly be seen by a specialist or two and/or have some imaging tests done. The downside is that he’ll get a bill for $5000.
I’m not sure how you can claim that a patient who shows up with sudden visual changes in an American ER would be sent home without seeing a physician. It’s simply not how things work; it would expose the hospital to massive liability and it would probably be a violation of EMTALA.
Don’t derail the thread with political bullshit about the US healthcare system. You get some morons everywhere, no matter who pays their salary.
Bamboo Boy, the nurse was incompetent and you should not be at all reassured by her examination. Find an ophthalmologist immediately. Don’t wait until sometime “next week”.
“Oh, I’ve never heard of that, so it can’t be too serious.” Jesus, what a joke.
From personal experience of the symptoms you’ve mentioned, I would consider something like uveitis or perhaps a macular oedema (both cause blurring of vision that can have a rapid onset). As others have recommended, getting thyself to an ophthalmologist sooner rather than later will be to your benefit.