Temporary Sight Loss

About a year and a half ago, I lost partial eye sight at work. I felt nauseous and dizzy. The same thing happened a year later, but a sharp pain in the back of my head (towards my left side) accompanied it. Lately, I've been having the same sight loss sometimes with and sometimes without the headache. It usually occurs once every 2-3 weeks. When I loose my sight, it's in both eyes, but only partial and in the center. If I try to look at someone, I won't be able to see their face, but I can see everything else around them. I've had a CAT Scan because of it, but they weren't able to find anything. My doctor assumes that I've just been having migraines, but I've never had a history of them before. What else might be wrong?

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

A visual migraine is one of the possibilities.  I think it is very important to have an ophthalmologist see you and run some tests and get a chance to understand your entire history and findings.  There are other possiblities such as certain vascular diseases and transient ischemic attacks so you need to rule out some of the more serious causes before assuming it is due to migraines.  A neurologist will also need to be involved in your workup.  Your age and other medical factors are also things to keep in mind.

MJK MD