Monocular Double vision with Contacts

[edgewalker189]

For the past week and a half I've been experiencing double vision in my left eye with my contacts in (it becomes more noticeable when I close my right eye). This is much worse at night when I'm driving in the dark such as when my headlights hit a street sign, though I do see it in dim light as well. It is also much more noticeable when I look at something slightly to the right of straight ahead. I don't see the double vision with my glasses on and am too near sighted to tell if it occurs without contacts or glasses. I called the eye doctor who believes that my pupil is dilating larger than the viewing area of my contact, which makes sense with the symptoms. However, I'm somewhat concerned because this started very suddenly, and I can't figure out why this would happen when I've worn these contacts without problems for years. In addition, in the last two months I had a new onset of what the doctors tell me are "opthalmic migraines" with flashing floaters, blindspots, etc which last 45mins-1 hour (with no headache). I've had a full vision checkup which was fine after the first "migraine" with no abnormalities and an MRI which showed a small pineal cyst (3mm) and nothing else after the second episode. The double vision started about 5 days after the second migraine and two days after the normal MRI. Is this all coincidence or is there something I'm missing? I'm an otherwise healthy (no meds, no medical history) twenty something female.

[edgewalker189]

I visited he eye doctor who gave me contacts with a larger viewing area. The double vision is gone in the left eye but has now appeared in he other eye. I've even tried one old contact and one new, but the double vision remains. Any idea what is going on?

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

It sounds like a contact lens problem since it goes away with glasses on.  Talk to your doctor about how to make it better.