Chronic "afterimage" (visual snow?)

Hello. I'm a healthy 40-y-o woman who has had an afterimage for approximately 3 weeks. It is a streak in the right lower field of my vision. When I close my eyes it is white; when I open my eyes it is gray/black, then disappears.

I've had these "afterimages" on and off for many years. I have no other symptoms, though I think that these tend to occur during allergy season (I have allergies to pollen). When I was in my teen years, I had classic migraine with aura--I no longer have those episodes.

Instead of going to an ophthalmologist to find out my eyes are fine (seems like many on this forum have gone down that road, and I go every 2 years, anyway), would you hypothesize that this is a neurologic issue? Is it dangerous, or something I shouldn't worry about?

Thank you for your advice.

[Forum-OD-MP]

um, no.  this could be a retinal problem.  you need to rule out retinal detachment.  you need a dilated eye exam.  the sooner the better.  

it may very well be nothing or not an eye problem.  but based on that description, no one will know anything until someone looks.

schedule an eye exam.

[aimee37]

oh, this is not "visual snow", either.

[aimee37]

Hi blue_eyes1

Your symptoms are similar to many of those who visit this site: http://p210.ezboard.com/bthosewithvisualsnow

please take a look.

:-)

[aimee37]

Sounds like persistent aura, please contact me at ***@**** to participate in survey about persisting perception disorders