Blind spots

[Flashy57]

About 3 years ago had an event where a bright spot had formed in my right eye and disipated over several weeks to a point where it left behind a small permenant blind spot. I went to a opthamologist who did an general eye exam but did not find anything wrong. In February of this year I had another event of the same nature and it left another, however barely noticeable (pinhead size) spot again. Again I went to the eye doctor and nothing was out of the ordinary on exam. Now as of yesterday the same thing happened in the left eye again and now left another very small dead spot of vision. At this point non of these spots are affecting my vision drastically as they are off to the periphery and hardley noticeable, but I am concerned that this keeps on happening. I am worried that in time I will end up with several of these, perhaps even some very serious ones. Any ideas of what this might be would be greatly appreciated. As a side note and I am not sure if this is related, I have had a history of seeing bright spots after bending down or repositioning my head or going form a bright area to a dim area. These in themselves generally fade away in minutes and leave no residual effects. Could this be related to my other concern in some way?

Thank you

[Forum-OD-MP]

so interesting.

okay 1st of all you know or have been told that literally every human has 1 blind spot per eye of significant size, right?

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chvision.html

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cuius/idle/percept/blindspot.htm

its b/c of the placement of the optic nerve.  please excuse me if you have already heard this.

secondly, no one can notice a "pinhead size" blind spot in their "PERIPHERAL" vision.  i mean i hate to dispute you, but thats pretty much not possible.  your central vision/retina (macula) is the only place in your eye where the receptors are located close enough together to notice anything smaller than about 5 mm.  try this, i just did it here in my office and it works:  sit at a desk & draw a "dot" on a piece of paper directly in front of you.  now look 2 feet past the dot/paper at something else on the desk that is farther from you.  while you're looking at the other target...dont move your eyes, but try to "notice" the dot in your peripheral vision.  you cant. nobody can.  its impossible.  you can "see" the entire page, but you can "see" the dot unless you're looking directly at it.

so i dont know...i dont see how anyone could have a "pinhead size" blind spot in their peripheral vision.  especially when you've had multiple eye exams and nothing was found.  true "peripheral" blind spots are usually quite large before patients notice them, and some people NEVER notice HUGE blind spots in their peripheral vision...they only show up on special testing.  the resolution of your peripheral receptors is just not that good.  true "blind spots" are from retinal problems...scars, disease, tissue loss...things that are obvious on eye exams.  almost no totally healthy-looking retina/optic nerve has significant blind spots that dont show up on any examination or testing.

everyone has an occasional bright spot in their vision.  once again, if you have been examined and nothing was found, then its not serious.

[Jane1968]

i know the amsler grid is subjective, but these things are in the exact same position every time i check. what is the name of the test/machine they use to look at your retinas, layer by layer?

[Flashy57]

How big is your biggest one? If I am on a computer at a normal distance from the screen, I can blank out the head of the mouse pointer.

[Jane1968]

yes, about the same ... some are MUCH smaller though ...

[Flashy57]

I would be interested inkeeping touch with you to see how things progress for you and also exchange any new information we may come across. Feel free to e-mail me. ***@****.

All the best

[Ag-i-doc]

jane:

"retinal thickness analyzer" or RTA

[Jane1968]

i am having a seperate eye issue at the moment, but WOW I have experienced what you describe more than 10 years ago!! this is the FIRST time i have read someone describe my experience ... my first spot appeared in about 1999 - it was like the after-image of a flash but it hung around for about two weeks or so and then faded into a small blind spot. this happened again about a year later in a different spot in the other eye, and so on maybe a further 10 or so times over the intervening years.
i have had many tests and nothing has been found and i too am freaked out that i am going to get one at my point of focus! at the moment, the more centrally located ones appear as little missing bits on an amsler grid and i am aware of them when reading. others are more peripheral and therefore barely noticeable. they do not turn up on a field exam.
like i said, i am having a different kind of visual issue at the moment, but i know that the fear of those spots has made me hyper-vigilant of my vision ...

[Flashy57]

I know...and I am so glad to hear someone else has/is experienced the same problem. I thought I was loosing my mind because it is such a strange phenomenon.

[Jane1968]

i got to the stage where i was scared to open my eyes in the morning for fear of another one and i was CONSTANTLY scanning my vision for them. it's soooo hard not to, because they just appear out of the blue. scary.

[Flashy57]

Just wondering though...have these events subsided for you? Also you said you had many such events since 1999;How often did they occur ?

[Jane1968]

i wouldn't say the spots i notice are truly peripheral, just not at the point of focus. for example, on an amsler grid, one is about three or four squares (dpending on where i hold it) from the central dot, at about a seven o'clock position and it is tiny (one side of a single square). but they are numerous now - three significan in left eye and two in the right). the "after images" that occur more peripherally are only noticeable for two seeks or so, until they fade. the ones that are more central are the ones where i notice the permanent blind spot.
when it first happened, i had many tests, including fluroscein angiogram and some kind of retinal scan, as well as EVP (??).
nothing

[Jane1968]

it's happened probably 15-15 times, sometimes with a year or so in between "episodes" and other times just weeks or months. they also vary in severity, meaning how long they take to fade, though they remain relatively constant in size.
they last one was in dec/jan this year and it lasted about 10 days before diminishing.
this has been happening since 1999.

[Flashy57]

Thank you for you reply. Perhaps I am not explaining the situation good enough. To me peripheral vision is anything that is not smack dab in the middle of my most central focal point. The spots I am refering to do appear on an amsler grid so I guess that would mean anything there would be more central as opposed to peripheral. If I were to look at the centre dot on an amsler grid the spot most noticeable on the grid is about 1 inch up and just to the right of centre in my right eye. The ones in my left eye are not distiguishable on amsler grid. I only notice them if I close my eyes for about 5-10 seconds and open them individually while looking at a bright light or the sky in which case they appear as blackened areas for a brief second.

Thank you

[Flashy57]

To Jane/ yes...mime are much the same as yours. Liek in my recent post, the ones in the left eye are hardly noticeable but the one in my right eye thats most noticeable is closest to centre.

[Ag-i-doc]

well there you go.

i dont know.  this happens occasionally...patients have complaints for which no corresponding diagnosis/problem can be made.  i dont know what to tell you.  i doubt anyone does.  if a doc cant actually see anything wrong with your retina/optic nerve, and the complaint you have doesnt show up on any special testing that is not subjective (amsler grid is subjective) then no doctor is going to be able to tell you what is wrong if anything, or what to do about it.

[Jane1968]

wow, finally someone knows EXACTLY what i am talking about. yes, some of mine are definitely more noticeable that others. the amsler grid shows up three particularly nasty ones in my left eye, and two in my right. (i just checked again.)
when i am reading, i am aware of them around my point of focus. i am a BIG reader and am terrified one will turn up smack-bang at my focal point.
do you also notice yours with any straight lines eg lined paper, stripey t-shirts, venetian blinds, etc??

[Flashy57]

Thank you for trying to answer my our questions.

[Flashy57]

Yes Jane ..if I look at something lined, I will notice the small blank area.

[Jane1968]

hmm, i HATE looking at anything lined. filling out forms is a nightmare ...
so you have three of them? can i ask your gender and how old you are? (I'm 38)

[Flashy57]

Male just turning 46

[JohnsonUK]

A related discussion, Bland spots was started.