Strange spot appears in vision with close-up focus

For several years now, I've occasionally had trouble with my vision at close range (generally while doing something that requires tight focus at around arm's length, such as drawing, sculpting, etc). The first time I noticed it was with contacts in, shortly after trying contacts for the first time. My optometrist at the time though perhaps my eyes were drying out, and gave me eye drops. I barely ever wear contacts, but it's been happening since then without contacts in as well.

What it looks like, is a round "spot" in the center of my vision that's blurry. It's not very large (if I were to look at a book while it was occurring, it would only be a few letters in size), but it makes it difficult to do anything close up when it's there. When I blink quickly at a bright or white surface, I can make out the spot as a perfectly round area of translucent spots surrounded by shadow. It looks somewhat similar to a scintillating scotoma, only without the scintillation. The translucent spots don't move or change in size, and the overall size of the disturbance doesn't change. When I stop working, parts of the overall spot disappear, until within 5 minutes the entire thing is gone. Only to return when I go back to close-up work.  This occurs in both eyes simultaneously.

I've brought this up with a second optometrist, only to be told it's probably not something to worry about.

My concern right now is, I just had laser vision correction on the 1st. I'm noticing now that EVERY time I try to focus in close on something, that spot is appearing. Even when I try to read, which hasn't been a problem before. I doubt it's related to dry eyes, as I'm consciously blinking frequently and faithfully putting in my post-op eye drops (artificial tears at least once an hour, and an antibiotic and a corticosteroid 4 times a day) . So I'm really wondering what this is, and if I should be concerned or if there's anything I can do about it.

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear Cas79,

I would recommend that you speak with your eyeMD about this. Does it occur in one eye or both eyes?  Does the spot move around and do you lose vision?  The doctor will need to take a complete history and perform a complete examination.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[Cas79]

Quote: "The translucent spots don't move or change in size, and the overall size of the disturbance doesn't change. When I stop working, parts of the overall spot disappear, until within 5 minutes the entire thing is gone. Only to return when I go back to close-up work.  This occurs in both eyes simultaneously."  The entire disturbance is always centered in my field of vision.

I've never lost vision from this, as the entire spot is somewhat "see-through". It does make things I'm looking at directly look blurry, and therefore makes it difficult to make out detail.

I'm scheduled to see my optometrist again on the 9th for my one week post-op appointment. As she hasn't had any idea what this could be before, I'm hoping to get some ideas here to present to her.

[Cas79]

So, I picked up some +1.00 reading glasses to see if that would make a difference. Yesterday, I seemed to be able to do close up things, like reading, with the glasses on (closer than normal, as +1 seems too powerful) without having those spots appear.

Today, with the glasses on, a minute spent trimming my nails and the spots came back. I noticed it appeared faster in my right eye, and took longer to disappear again in my right eye. I should mention that the spots begin as smaller, irregular areas, and grow to a round shape as I continue focusing close up. The spots size is about 6 letters in diameter, when sitting a normal distance from my laptop. Continued close-up focus has never made them grow larger than this.

This is really concerning me, as most of the things I enjoy require me to be able to see close details!

[TonyN53]

Dear Cas79

Quote: {What it looks like, is a round "spot" in the center of my vision that's blurry. etc..}

I experience exactly the same thing when focussing up close and my mother says she may have had the same thing as well.

It first happened once about 10 years ago, and then more regularly over the last 2 years since I began making small components for a model steam locomotive that I am building.

Making these components requires me to focus (and squint) about 30 cm from my eyes for up to 10 minutes at a time.  It starts first in my left eye and then after about a minute in my right eye as well.

I have had various test done but my Optical Surgeon could find nothing wrong and in fact said my vision is better than normal for someone my age (56).  I got some prescription glasses for close-up work and have found that provided I wear them from the start, the spots do not generally appear.

My own opinion is that it is a physical rather than nerve problem probably caused by spending many hours a day focussed on the computer screen.

I hope it helps to know that someone else is experiencing the same thing, maybe some prescription glasses could help you also.

Regards,

Tony

[megulinka]

Hi, Toni!

If you take a look at a post of mine (blurred vision...) you'll see similar symptoms.
I've already talked to ppl who saty focused for more than 6-7hours per day and it turns out i am probably freaking out a bit more than i should.
So, please chek my post and see if you can take something from over there.
Good luck!

[JanEye]

Thank you so much for posting.  I am trying to solve this mystery too.  I am seeing an opthamalogist and it has been difficult to make him understand what I am talking about.  I will show him your description and keep posting to this forum.