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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
13 year old has visual disturbance
Our Ask A Doctor Ophthalmology Forum is where you can post your question and receive a personal answer from physicians affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
13 year old has visual disturbance
by jripley, Jul 21, 2006 12:00AM
My 13 year old son has a strange visual disturbance. He says his field of vision brightens for a few seconds then returns to normal, kind of like increasing the brightness on a computer monitor. He also says he has mild headaches. He never complains about them, says they dont really bother him. He thought the visual brightening was normal, like ringing ears so never mentioned it to me before so he's had them for at least a year i believe. THey happen about twice a week. Took him to his pediatrician who found nothing wrong with him, (except his vision is slightly worse than before) so refered us to a pediatric eye specialist. Have an appt in 2 weeks.
He has a little trouble seeing far away so has glasses but rarely uses them. He also plays computer games a lot and the nintendo gameboy. Maybe it's eyestrain? He is also going through a growth spurt. Maybe hormones?
He has a little trouble seeing far away so has glasses but rarely uses them. He also plays computer games a lot and the nintendo gameboy. Maybe it's eyestrain? He is also going through a growth spurt. Maybe hormones?
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Jul 21, 2006 12:00AM
sometimes those pediatricians drive me crazy. IMO he does not need a "pediatric ophthalmologist" for that. pretty much any general practice ophthalmologist or optometrist would be fine.
what he is describing does not sound serious to me. could be a form of ocular migraine or something like that. certainly worth investigating, but i seriously doubt the pediatric ophthalmologist is going to find anything too interesting during the exam that a general practice eye doc would not/could not detect.
eyestrain/computer games would not cause "brightness". neither would hormones. its likely vascular IMO (ocular migraine or migraine aura, even w/o pain). we'll see, i guess. i would not consider this dangerous.
what he is describing does not sound serious to me. could be a form of ocular migraine or something like that. certainly worth investigating, but i seriously doubt the pediatric ophthalmologist is going to find anything too interesting during the exam that a general practice eye doc would not/could not detect.
eyestrain/computer games would not cause "brightness". neither would hormones. its likely vascular IMO (ocular migraine or migraine aura, even w/o pain). we'll see, i guess. i would not consider this dangerous.
now this sounds like "POSTURAL HYPOTENSION". it was vascular. no big deal. at your appointment tell the eye doc all this info.