Light Blindness Problem

Greetings,
I am 19 and I am Nearsighted in my right eye and Farsighted in my left. I usually wear (both Prescription) Sunglasses and Clear reading glasses but have decided to use only the sunglasses from now on due to what happened earlier today.

It was rather sunny outside, and my family has a large white patio out back. I had my glasses off and was helping with yard work when I stepped near the white patio and the light reflecting off the patio and coming from above became unbearable. I could barely see, and I almost fell into our pool. Eventually I stumbled off the patio onto the grass and found that the right half of my right eyes' field of vision had disappeared, and all that I saw in that area was a strange opaque greyness that gave me a headache when I had my eye open. This grey patch effectively blinded one half of my right eye and persisted with terrible headaches for about 2 hours, until I went to sleep and woke up with normal vision.

A friend told me this is called Ocular Hyperphotophoba but I have haven't consulted my optometrist about it yet. Any advice?

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

Yes start wearing a hat with a brim and get some good sunglasses

JCH MD

[Samekh]

But can I expect this to be a constant problem, or is it a one-time occurence?

Could it be a marker that something worse is going on?