after image

[mel07]

what could be the cause of this, benign or otherwise?
what looks like the after-image of a camera flash or looking at the sun, when you haven't done either?
this occurred (again) yesterday, in one eye only, and is still here today.
when this has happened in the past, and i have seen a doctor, they haven't found anything wrong.
could it be something benign? does it happen to other people?

[Forum-OD-MP]

most afterimages are benign.  especially if there is color inversion.

VERY RARELY (exceedingly rare) patients experience 'palinopsia', which is non-color inverted afterimages.  thats a neurological problem, not an 'eye' problem.  could be caused by many things, including migraine, vascular disease and others.  would need a neuro consult and blood workup.

is this the infamous 'mel' that was banned a few months ago?  apologies if not.  if so, please dont post 15+ questions per week this time.

[aimee37]

thank you for your answer, and nope, i'm not that mel ...

i guess i'm talking more about a grey spot that lasts for days, and is most obvious when blinking. it looks like the after-image of a camera flash, but in the absence of a camera, or looking at anything bright, what on earth could it be?

[aimee37]

could be a retinal problem, if this is a "flash".  you would need a careful dilated eye exam to rule that out.

[aimee37]

i've had this happen before and have seen a retinal specialist while i could still see the image.

as well as dilating me, they did some kind of imaging of the layers of my eye. they didn't find any tears, but were quite vague about the results, just saying, "your eyes look better than most people we see here".
since i was in a referral eye hospital for people with some serious stuff happening, i didn't find that particularly reassuring.

anyway, i thought the flashes related to retinal detachment were random and uncontrollable? this is more like a camera flash - it started out like a birght light, then faded to grey - and now i can only really see it well when i blink (controllable?)

[aimee37]

hmm.  dont know.  

the only way you can rule out retinal problems is with dilated eye exams and retinal imaging.  if your "flash" symptom is more recent that your last dilated eye exam, then there's really no way anyone can tell you whether its dangerous or not w/o looking again.

[aimee37]

i really don't want to go back to the opthalmologist to be told the same thing again - "everything looks fine".

and i know the eventual outcome of this - a small scotoma that i can see on an amsler grid, but can't be detected on a field test.

so, i guess i will ride it out (again).

i just find it furstrating that no-one knows what his is. in all my googling, i have found four other people who have the same symptoms, and we are all in the same limbo.

(just venting)

[aimee37]

this really, really sounds like the old mel lol...presumed retinal problem, been to multiple eye docs with no answer, has flash & symptoms not explained by multiple eye exams and workups, knows lots of medical eye terms like "scotoma" and "amsler grid" and "field test"... there was a poster here a few months ago with this same sort of complaint.  she just happened to post pretty much the same question 2x/day for 2 weeks.  i am not accusing you of that, obviously.  you only have 1 new thread.

but, i feel for you.  sometimes some patients have undiagnosable medical problems and symptoms that dot match any known conditions.  it happens.  medicine is not all hard science, and there are plenty of things we dont understand...

[aimee37]

LOL

I HAVE posted here before, but it was 12 months ago, certainly not twice daily, and i wasn't banned ...

maybe i should look her up??

so, positive scotomas (if that's what we're talking about) that fade to negative ones ... have you ever heard of such a thing? maybe i'm crazy and it's just some kind of somatoform disorder??

[aimee37]

i have heard of it, i have not heard of or read a good answer for it...