I have one good eye, (20/20 corrected) and one bad eye (20/OG knows, but crappy*)
This about an hour ago I noticed a two bright reflective bands in my vision field, both horizontal, one near the top of my vision field, and other near the bottom.
They appeared to be narrow and radiating from the outer corner. They seemed to pulse brighter and dimmer. If I stared at one thing they would go away, but if I turned my head or moved my eyes to look at something else they came back.
After closing my eyes and reopening them several times I determined that the illusion was coming from my bad eye, even though I was also seeing it in my other eye.
The best way I can describe what the bands looked like was if you stare a very bright light the after image. But I had not been looking at any bright lights, and these were horizontal bands not a spot like you get from a bright light. But they pulsed like one. Think of a band of shiny metal that was faceted so reflect light at different angles and it was rotating in my vision.
Very strange.
After about 10 minutes this went totally away, and has not come back.
If it comes back, I will be off to the doctor, but in the meantime, anybody got a clue?
*The first letter on the chart is an E, it is always an E
Sounds a lot like my migraine auras, except mine is a flashy, rotaty triangle on the upper-left quadrant of my vision. Did you get a headache or notice any light-sensitivity after the image disappeared? My first migraine was very similar to what you’re describing, and it didn’t hurt at all. It wasn’t until my third that I felt any pain.
Agreed that it sounds like a retinal migraine aura, aka scintillating scotoma. As a former (knock wood) migraine sufferer and someone who works in ophthalmology (IANAD/N), I’m familiar with them. Mine start as a spot like a camera flash afterimage, then spread out slowly into a ring that takes about 15-20 minutes to expand out of my field of vision.
Just making sure - you didn’t experience any showers of floaters or bright lights at the time it started? Is your vision now back to normal in both eyes, independently?
It slowly faded away and has now been gone since before my first post.
Vision is normal in both eyes, no headaches either before or after.
I got to tell you it freaked me out.
It is possible it was a floater (no, not that kind of floater!). Wikipedia has an article on them (search on ‘eye floater’). I get them from time to time as well, and while a little uncomfortable, they have no lasting effects. Cannot read or do computer work for a few min, however. Never occured while driving. my opthamologist says they can become more frequent with age and can be associated with headaches (not in my case). Aging sucks sometimes.
Not a floater. I’ve had those and they look just like the simulated picture on Wiki.
This was 2 narrow pulsing bands
IANAD but it sounds like something was stimulating your optic nerve, or over-stimulating it. Maybe a medication or vitamin - anything new recently? Or, any mild trauma to the eye? I dunno.
No new drugs but it did make me think I was on the GOOD drugs.
I have something similar and it was diagnosed as an ocular migraine. I have no headache pain at all, just the disturbance in the visual field.
Retinal detachment? I dunno, but I can’t help but think that it’s worth putting it a call right now to your eye doctor to describe what happened. Hopefully it’ll turn out to be nothing much, but hey, it’s your vision. I wouldn’t take a chance with it.
That was my initial thought…reading the rest of the OP makes me think it isn’t…but I’m not an eye doctor. I’m guessing it’s the migraine thing…but I don’t know that I’d bet on it.
Several friends of mine had some scary issues with their eyes, and were told to watch for a bright flash. And if one happened, they were to get to a doctor quickly.
Your mileage may vary.
-D/a
Usually, retinal detachment produces lingering effects like a gray spot in the vision, etc. That being said, it still wouldn’t hurt to see an eye doctor and I tend to err on the side of “better safe than sorry” with this stuff.
Well, almost always. The first time I had a scintillating scotoma and no migraine following, I waited a few days (until I was back at work) to dilate the previously-affected eye and ask my boss if he saw anything wrong.
The day that I had a shadow fall over half the vision in one eye, I was at work and ran down the hall to talk to a doctor; it passed about 10 minutes later. Turns out it was almost certainly what I thought, the standard definition of retinal migraine.
You don’t need a headache. Sounds just like the classic migraine scotoma I get. When I get them they last about half an hour then go, sometimes with a blind spot, but very rarely with a headache. The first few times it happened I was ready to check myself into the ER.
I’ve had them a few times, too. My peripheral vision goes fuzzy, like old TV style static, and my forward vision is like a veil over my eyes, a little dim. I can’t see very well while it’s going on, so I need to sit down while it’s happening, usually 10-20 minutes. A couple times I got a headache afterwards, other times I didn’t. None of my doctors seems particularly concerned, but I report if I’ve had any during my yearly exams, anyway. I’ve had maybe 6 or 7 since 2001.
Interesting to see how many others have had them. I recognized mine because my mom started getting them when she was over 30, too. She gets pinhole vision and also has to sit it out. Once it happened while she was driving and had to pull over right away.
This. Google it. I have these, too, from time to time. Apparently it’s not serious.
Just to be safe, did you have any other problems at all? My father had a mild stroke a few years ago, and we thought it was an ocular migraine. The thing is, he was telling us about the vision problems, but not the other problems. He was suffering confusion and memory loss, but didn’t mention that. So if you had any other issues at all, you should see a doctor.
No other symptoms either during or after.
No reoccurrences either.
Another vote for this. I get similar, but I’ll start losing peripheral vision a little bit, then slowly my visual field shrinks to almost nothing. Never get a headache (thank the gods) and vision comes back on its own.
Freaked me out the first few times.
Yet another vote for a scintillating scotoma, which is just so much fun to say!
I had one last May. Freaked me right out. Never had one before and have not had another. I had no other symptoms.
One of the things that is apparently characteristic of a scintillating scotoma is the fact that is appears to enlarge until it eventually exits your field of vision. Did your bands do that?
No mine faded in place. Near the end I had to move my eye to get them to appear.