Eye Seeing Darker??

Hello all,

I haven't posted on here in a few months...it's good to be back, I guess. This really isn't a problem as much as it is a simple confusing question. For the past...year or so, I've noticed that if I only look out of my left eye, things seem about 40% darker than in my right eye. With both eyes open, everything is fine...so it's no real danger to my vision (at least, I don't think so). It's not that I can't see with my left eye..I went for an eye examination four months ago and was actually told I had 20/20 vision in my left eye, and about 20/30 in my right! It's just that things appear darker in that eye. I was told by my neruo-opthamologist a few months ago that I had a "small" optic nerve, but that it was most likely a birth defect. Could this be the cause of my darker vision? And is it something I need to be concerned with? Thanks.

-Jim

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I think you should contact your neuro-ophthalmologist ask ask if the reduction in brightness can be explained on the basis of the small optic nerve (ask if you were diagnosed with optic nerve hypoplasia).

Also why is your best corrected vision 20/30.  Ask the neuro-eye MD if the eye is amblyopic? Or if optic nerve hypoplasia accounts for the reduced vision.

Both problems need to be accounted for. Maybe the small optic nerve does but only the neuro-Eye MD can tell you for sure.

JCH III MD