Still seeing trails

Posted by Louise on August 26, 1999 at 13:17:43
"I wear contact lenses to correct near-sightedness, and about a month ago I started to notice an odd symptom in my vision. In low light, if I'm focusing on a still object and something moves slowly through my field of vision, I can see a short trail following the object. I do not notice this in daylight, and it happens in both eyes. I switched to my glasses about a week ago to see if it would go away, but it persists with or without correction. I had my regular eye exam about 5 months ago and everything was fine then. I am 27 years old, I am a nursing mother, and I have a mild case of mitral valve prolapse. I don't know if any of this helps to explain my symptoms. What is causing this? It is only mildly irritating, but it worries me a little.
Posted by HFHS M.D.-JL on June 20, 1999 at 23:29:05
First of all it does not sound like anything I would get concerned about. This may represent a floater that you are visualizing. A floater is an opacity in the gel in the eye that people describe as a speck or dust that moves in the visual field. There are other visual phenomenon described that I was thinking about however these are noticed in bright light. Again, I would not be overly concerned, but I would check with your ophthalmologist."
I submitted the above posting and received the above response.  I've since seen my eye doctor, and he could not tell me what was causing the problem.  Upon closer scrutiny, I find that I can see the phenomenon in bright light, only not as well as in low light.  Also, I think I know what a floater looks like, and it doesn't look like this.  What are "the other visual phenomenon described" that you were thinking about?  Because I don't know what this is, I worry about it often.  Please tell me what you think it could be and if I should be concerned.
Posted by hfhs md - ni on August 28, 1999 at 01:05:09
You describe some unusual symptoms.  Another possibilty is that if the contact lens is not exactly fit right or if the cornea is not getting enough oxygen, it might have some microscopic swelling which may appear as halos or possibly as symptoms you describe.  However, this usually goes away fairly quickly when you stop wearing contacts.  You should keep followup with your ophthalmologist.