Bright Spot in Center of Vision; Comes and Goes mostly in afternoon. Spot gone in a second or two. Episode lasts about an hour.

[ibls]

Hello Everyone,

I have looked up this topic on the internet for hours.  What I find is depressing; some information exists, but it does not seem that anyone has an answer.

My question stems from a bright spot that I will sometimes see in the center of my visual field.  It comes and goes in about one second.  I thought it was from the physical act of blinking, but it is not.  Rather it happens when I go from a covered eye and darkness (I can hold my hand over my eye and then pull it away) to normal light.  

So it appears when I uncover my eye, vanishes, and then It can happen all over again.  It stays like this for an hour or so.  It happens more in the later afternoon.  I have not noticed it when I am in a bright ambient light situation (outside for instance).  It seems not to happen in the morning.  And the frequency of these episodes seem to be getting greater.  I can remember this happening for three to five years or more.

I have had many dilated exams and mentioned this to doctors without a diagnosis.  

Reading the internet seems to indicate that there is no diagnosis.  There is a post on this forum that has something very similar to what I experience.  Again no diagnosis.

So I am wondering if anyone has this, has had an exam that might have produced a diagnosis or at least some additional information.

Many thanks to all that read this.  

[ibls]

Reposting...

Hi  Dr. O.  Many thanks for responding to my post.

This is in both eyes.  Not one.  And it's important to mention that when it "comes on," the little donut that i see that fades quickly can be triggered by covering my eye (or eyes) with my hand and then opening my hand, going from dark to light.  If I do that I get the little bright donut which then fades.  

It is most prevalent in the afternoon and I cannot find a particular thing I am doing to start the process going.  

It does stop in about an hour

**NEW**

And yesterday I tried something on a whim.  I had the episode start in a dim part of a room.  I walked over to a bright window and looked outside for a minute or two, then did it again.  Think of this as a "sun or light bath."  The whole thing stopped and I was fine the rest of the day and evening.  Might be coincidence or ... could the light be changing the chemicals that are in the back of the eye at the macula (or fovea) wherever the center of the visual field is.


So may I ask, since both eyes are affected, any change in what this could be?  Thank you so much again.

[ibls]

Hi  Dr. O.  Many thanks for resonding to my post.

This is in both eyes.  Not one.  And it's important to mention that when it "comes on," the little donut that i see that fades quickly can be triggered by covering my eye (or eyes) with my hand and then opening my hand, going from dark to light.  If I do that I get the little bright donut which then fades.  

It is most prevelant in the afternoon and I cannot find a particular thing I am doing to start the process going.  

It does stop in about an hour

So may I ask, since both eyes are affected, any change in what this could be?  Thank you so much again.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

I assume this is in one eye.  This may be due to vitreo-macular traction.  Please see a retinal specialist.

Dr. O.