Shimmering vision but uninsured, is this urgent?

Hi all, I'd like to share my experiences and get some perspectives. If an ophthalmologist is present at the forum, his/her advice would be greatly appreciated also!

I woke up this morning after 3 hours of sleep due to jet lag and felt poorly rested. For about a good minute, I noticed shimmering of white light along the eye lid in the upper peripheral vision, in both eyes. The light was not too strong but quite noticeable. The shimmering went away quickly. Several hours later, I went for a nap (didn't quite fall asleep) but when I opened my eyes an hour later I again saw shimmering but this time the entire vision field distorted for a few seconds.

I've experienced shimmering in the corner of my eyes before but this was the first time the "size" of shimmering expanded.

Opthalmologic history: I have mild myopic in both eyes (-0.5), astigmatism. About 2.5 months ago, I started worrying about my vision out of nowhere. A few weeks later, a profound dark spot appeared for 1-2 seconds in my left corner of peripheral vision. That happened again last week. Once in a while a bright dot would appear in the central vision but this symptom has subsided since. After experiencing these symptoms I went for an eye exam and it checked out. Recently I also see glares and starbursts around very bright lights, but not sure if they appeared suddenly or if I just began noticing them because I read about them.

Due to the previous history, I'm a little concerned and want to go for an eye exam. However, I'm currently between insurance and, if possible, would rather wait until I'm covered again in a few weeks. Has anyone experienced this before? Could it be due to tiredness, or is it something serious that I need to make an emergency appointment for?

[mhconnect]

I'd also like to add that my left eye is a little dryer than the right eye, and I use artificial tear regularly.

Also, during the second "shimmer episode" I described above, the edges of things looked a little green, but I'm not quite sure of it as it only last a few seconds.

[yarrow]

I'm not a doctor, but just out of curiosity, did your shimmers look like anything at this site?

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1327&bih=775&q=migraine+aura&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

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

If you will take the time to look at postings about "eye migraine" and "ophthalmic migraine" you will see your symptoms are extremely common.

It might be due to disease of the eye, brain, heart or blood vessels but mostly, especially in otherwise healthy young people, its eye migraine most of which have no headache.

Standard recommendation for new cases of this: 1. see an ophthalmologist and 2. see your personal MD for a general physicial.

If that's all you have and are otherwise healthy waiting is not generally harmful for several months (unless new symptoms appear)


JCH MD

[mhconnect]

Thank you Dr. Hagan! During the previous eye exam we did look into the possibility of ocular migraine, is that the same as ophthalmic migraine? The doctor said my symptoms did not fit the textbook description exactly as each time it happened, it was so brief (only a few seconds).

2nd follow question: is it possible for "eye migraines" to develop suddenly, as I'd never had these symptoms until 2 months ago?

3rd follow-up question: I work in front of a window, and it was only recently that I noticed my blinds no longer closes completely and lets in sunshine to my upper peripheral vision. Would that cause eye strain and possibly exacerbate the symptoms? Will it cause any damage to my retina at all?

Thanks again!

[mhconnect]

Left out a sentence to the first paragraph: is it possible for the duration of migraines to vary from a few seconds to several hours?

Thanks again!

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

1. yes they are the same terms;  no eye migraines last minutes to hours, not seconds. If they last only a few seconds its not eye migraine.
2. Yes migraines can develop at most any age.
3. No
4. If this gets worse have your ophthalmologist refer you to a neuroophthalmologist.

JCH MD

[mhconnect]

Hi Yarrow, sorry I wasn't able to find a picture that looked like what I had, so I'll try to be as descriptive as possible,

the first time, it almost looked like little round balls of white lights flickering and rolling along the upper eye lid in both eyes. When I looked around, the shimmer disappeared but reappeared when I stared. Everything else looked just the way it should. This was different from what I call the "vibrating vision" which looks like the things you see is unstable and pulsate with the heartbeat.

The second time is much harder to described. I woke up and stared at the door in white paint for a few seconds, and the edges of the door looked green and a bit wavy. The entire vision field seemed to be shimmering and slightly distored. It was very surreal and I can hardly recreate the picture in my head... Will keep you posted if I find something that looks like it.

[mhconnect]

Dr. Hagan, your advice is greatly appreciated!

Lastly, I wanted to clarify my questions solar retinopathy. I meant that I noticed the sun was directly in the view of my upper peripheral vision, and I looked away as soon as I realized what it was (after about 3 seconds?). Just wanted to be obnoxiously nitpick and clarify with you that it would not cause damage, right?

I wonder if it is a common misconception that only staring directly at the sun would cause solar retinopathy. For instance, I wonder if solar retinopathy could occur to peripheral vision as well as central vision, and long-term, low-intensity exposure (not wearing sun glasses in summer) could do damage just as acute exposure (sun-gazing in the middle of the day)?

Thanks so much.

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

no its not solar retinopathy

JCH MD

[allmymarbles]

I only started getting eye migraines about a year ago. They last for a couple of minutes but seem longer. What I see looks like a patchwork quilt with lines of color filling in each piece, and each piece different. It takes up my whole field of vision (at least I think it does). The colors look to be beyond our normal color spectrum. The effect is beautiful but overwhelming and terribly disturbing. I see the same images with my eyes closed. I do not get a headache.