Yes, you want an opthalmologist, not an optometrist. An opthalmologist can do both diseases/trauma to the eyes and work out your glasses prescription. She may or may not have a source for glasses, but once you have your prescription, you can order your own glasses online for much cheaper than buying them from a brick-and-mortar store.
Because you said this:
…then you need to see a neurologist rather than an ophthalmologist, because it’s probably originating in the brain.
I suggested an optometrist first, since he’s uninsured and low on cash. If he needs new glasses anyway, an optometrist can at least take a look and offer advice about how to procede.
I experienced a round blotch in the upper right field of my left eye in 2001, I could see it easily when I closed my eyes or if it was dark. Light made it hard to see, but it was still there. I was scared shitless after I googled about it, thinking I had everything from a detached retina to a brain tumor. I saw an optometrist immediately, but she couldn’t see anything, though told me that visual anomalies can persist like I describe when the fluid in your eye gradually liquifies as you age.
Still anxious, I saw an ophthalmologist who couldn’t see anything either. Told me the same thing, and that it could take weeks, months, years, to fade, or it may never completely go away, but it wasn’t any threat to my vision.
About three years later, it was gone.
I have myasthenia gravis, my major symptom being double vision.
Before I was diagnosed, I went to an optometrist to find out what was going on.
The optometrist wasn’t able to do anything and referred me to an opthmalogist.
Opthmalogist was able to do many testings in his office and referred me to a neurologist, who I now see both. But opthmalogist was key in getting the diagnosis started.
My 80 year old mother has seen a red blotch in her vision when she wakes up, for the past 6 mornings. It is a different shape each time. It is there in a dark or lit room. It is in both eyes, when she moves her head it shifts in mirror image to the other eye. It goes away after she gets up and moves around for a while. She went to an opthamologist who checked her eyes and said they were fine and that her condition may have to do with blood flow to the vision center of her brain. She has an MRI scheduled in two weeks. In the mean time I am wondering if you have more info on your similar condition. Did yours continue day after day? Did you find out what was causing it? Any additional information would be helpful.
I have something similar occasionally when I wake up… I will, usually, see something black along the ceiling. Typically, it looks like spiders and they’ll move. I’ll follow them, completely alert, until they start to fade and disappear. Every once in a while, these objects will be other colors and it may happen once or twice a week. I’m not sure how long it’s been going on, but I’d guesstimate probably the last couple of months. And for the record, I also have migraines. Probably a few a month.
mrtha.heller - I was never able to see a doctor about this. I started sleeping on a different pillow, and it stopped happening. It’s possible it was caused somehow by my neck problems.
I hope your mother’s problem is minor. I’m glad she’s getting an MRI.
Sure seems like a waking dream or hallucination to me. Happens to me occasionally in the first moments of wakefulness.