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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
Left eye pain
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.
Left eye pain
by mwpink, Apr 28, 2007 12:00AM
I have been having intermittent eye pain since Oct. '06. the pain lasts for a few minutes, and occurs occasionally-- sometimes every day, sometimes weeks will go by with no pain. The pain is like a dull ache at the back of my left eye, or maybe even behind the eye. There is no blurred vision, redness, tears, etc- only the dull ache. When this started I went to the dr, who checked my eyes, did an OCT, dilation, etc., and found everything to be normal-- optic nerve fine, no glaucoma, etc. He referred me to a retinal specialist since he didn't know what else to do w/ me. The retinal specialist did not find anything wrong either. I googled "eye pain" and came up with MS as a possible cause, so I had a brain MRI to rule this out-- it came back normal.
A little history- I had Lasik 8 years ago, no complications, halos, etc. Was severely myopic before the surgery (correction of -10 in left eye, -13 in right). Now my vision is 20/20 in left eye, and 20/40 in the right eye.
I am still concerned since I think this pain must be occurring for a reason. Do you have any ideas what this could be? Could it be somehow related to the fact that the left eye is 20/20, but the right eye is still very slightly nearsighted?
Thank you very much for your help.
A little history- I had Lasik 8 years ago, no complications, halos, etc. Was severely myopic before the surgery (correction of -10 in left eye, -13 in right). Now my vision is 20/20 in left eye, and 20/40 in the right eye.
I am still concerned since I think this pain must be occurring for a reason. Do you have any ideas what this could be? Could it be somehow related to the fact that the left eye is 20/20, but the right eye is still very slightly nearsighted?
Thank you very much for your help.
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Apr 28, 2007 12:00AM
yes, it could be 'asthenopia' from having a difference in acuity/Rx/vision between the 2 eyes, that is certainly possible. it could also be migraines, or cluster headaches among other things. all of that is going to be rather difficult to prove. it sounds like your doctors have successfully ruled out serious eye & neurological pathology.
if you want to find out if the problem is 'asthenopia' from differing acuity/vision/Rx, have your optometrist or ophthalmologist fit you in glasses or contact lenses to equalize your vision to 20/20 in both eyes (if thats possible in your case) and see if the pain is reduced in frequency or duration or severity. that would be an easy, simple and inexpensive (certainly much less than an MRI) way to rule out or confirm that the problem could be caused by differing vision/acuity/rx between the 2 eyes.
if you want to find out if the problem is 'asthenopia' from differing acuity/vision/Rx, have your optometrist or ophthalmologist fit you in glasses or contact lenses to equalize your vision to 20/20 in both eyes (if thats possible in your case) and see if the pain is reduced in frequency or duration or severity. that would be an easy, simple and inexpensive (certainly much less than an MRI) way to rule out or confirm that the problem could be caused by differing vision/acuity/rx between the 2 eyes.
