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Blurred vision after Shingles
I am a 25yrs old female and was under tremendous personal and professional stress for past two years.
2/15/10: I was diagnosed of Shingles. The virus was around my right eye, on my eyelids, forehead and scalps.
2/17/10: Knowing the seriousness of this virus and being concerned about my vision, I immediately went to see an Ophthamologist. According to him fortunately, there was no infection in my eye yet. My vision was 20/20, eye pressure was normal and the cornea looked good as well.
2/24/10: I visited the doctor again, and everything was fine too. He gave me “blink” OTC tear drops incase if I experience dryness, which I never used.
3/23/10: After a month I started experiencing a blurred vision on my right eye. I went to see the doc, and he told me that everything was fine, vision, cornea, eye pressure, everything. He said that the blurred vision was a temporary blurriness, may be due to dry eyes, and prescribed me to “Fluorometholone” – 4 times a day for 3 weeks.
After taking this steroid, my vision was back to normal within 2 weeks, however as soon as I stopped using it, my blurred vision was back.
4/23/10: This time, the doctor told me that he has NOW found some scars on my cornea and that is definitely not due to zoster virus, and Shingles had nothing to do with it since they had already checked my cornea earlier when the virus was active. I was also being asked to start wearing glasses if my blurriness became bothersome. And was giving those OTC “blink” tear drops again, saying that this is temporary blurriness due to dry eyes. Also, I told them that I felt that there were two lumps on my eyelids, to which he told me again that it had nothing to do with shingles and could have been there before shingles which I might not have noticed before. Also, it could be removed with a surgery. – But I doubt that, because I know these lumps were not there before shingles. Moreover, I had two very big blisters on the EXACT SAME spot when I had shingles.
5/24/10: Today, my vision has gotten worst and I am also experiencing some minor pain inside my eyeball. I read some online blogs and I am really worried about my vision and eye sight. I want to know if there is any solution to my scarred cornea and I also want to make sure if I am not developing any other eye problems due to these symptoms.
Please help me out and suggest what should I do....
2/15/10: I was diagnosed of Shingles. The virus was around my right eye, on my eyelids, forehead and scalps.
2/17/10: Knowing the seriousness of this virus and being concerned about my vision, I immediately went to see an Ophthamologist. According to him fortunately, there was no infection in my eye yet. My vision was 20/20, eye pressure was normal and the cornea looked good as well.
2/24/10: I visited the doctor again, and everything was fine too. He gave me “blink” OTC tear drops incase if I experience dryness, which I never used.
3/23/10: After a month I started experiencing a blurred vision on my right eye. I went to see the doc, and he told me that everything was fine, vision, cornea, eye pressure, everything. He said that the blurred vision was a temporary blurriness, may be due to dry eyes, and prescribed me to “Fluorometholone” – 4 times a day for 3 weeks.
After taking this steroid, my vision was back to normal within 2 weeks, however as soon as I stopped using it, my blurred vision was back.
4/23/10: This time, the doctor told me that he has NOW found some scars on my cornea and that is definitely not due to zoster virus, and Shingles had nothing to do with it since they had already checked my cornea earlier when the virus was active. I was also being asked to start wearing glasses if my blurriness became bothersome. And was giving those OTC “blink” tear drops again, saying that this is temporary blurriness due to dry eyes. Also, I told them that I felt that there were two lumps on my eyelids, to which he told me again that it had nothing to do with shingles and could have been there before shingles which I might not have noticed before. Also, it could be removed with a surgery. – But I doubt that, because I know these lumps were not there before shingles. Moreover, I had two very big blisters on the EXACT SAME spot when I had shingles.
5/24/10: Today, my vision has gotten worst and I am also experiencing some minor pain inside my eyeball. I read some online blogs and I am really worried about my vision and eye sight. I want to know if there is any solution to my scarred cornea and I also want to make sure if I am not developing any other eye problems due to these symptoms.
Please help me out and suggest what should I do....
Me too. I just started to have eye issues. Blurry in my 3rd week of Shingles. I was getting better and now this eye site issue. Eye dr said all is fine and I have no shingles on face...yet. What happened with everyone else?
5 Comments
James be sure you are under the care of an Eye MD ophthalmologist. Can't tell you much more than that.
4 yrs ago when I was 71, I developed Shingles on the left side of forehead, scalp and eventually left eye. The rash was not the big ugly blisters, just redness and bumpy under the skin. After much pain and double vision (awful!), I’ve been treated by 2 different opthomologists with about the same meds. Now have residual pain with occasional flare ups and blurry vision in my left eye, even aching teeth on the left side of my mouth. My new glasses help a lot but the left eye is still off and affects not only my sight but also my balance. Have resigned myself to reading less but main large print books and audio tapes. Going back to doc soon, I guess, but I’m not optimistic.
I never had the shot and now I’m afraud to. Could cause flare ups, I’ve heard.
I never had the shot and now I’m afraud to. Could cause flare ups, I’ve heard.
It is not likely the shingles is causing the blurred vision in your left eye. More likely are cataracts, macular degeneration or glaucoma with cataracts being far the more likely. The pain in your forehead certain could be due to herpes zoster neuralgia especially if the initial episode was not treated with pills (acylovir, Famvir, Valtrex). If the pain is troublesome you might see a neurologist for consideration of medications for pain relief.
have had shingles started treatment 2 weeks ago left eye blurry long distance vision double eyes watery taking antivirals for 2 weeks will this go away?
You need to be checked by an Eye MD ophthalmologist to be sure the H Zoster Virus has not got into your eye. Please call an Eye MD tomorrow and ask for an emergency same day exam or have you family doctor call and ophthalmologist and ask for emergency eye exam. If you are already seeing an ophthalmologist call the office and go in to see what is going on.
I have a story similar to yours. Since yours was posted several years ago I am wondering how things turned out and if you have any suggestions.
Thank you so much for your prompt reply Dr. O...to answer you question, yes I had antivirals - valacyclovir (Valtrex). And I will definitely seek a second opinion ASAP. In the meanwhile, do I still have to continue using the tear drops?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I would suggest you get a second opinion with a cornea and external disease specialist. Did you use any systemic antivirals? Such as Valtren? You probably have some ophthalmic involvement with the shingles (Herpes Zoster).
Dr. O.
Dr. O.
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