Temporary blindness in left eye?

[Shoopy]

Twice in about the past 4 months I had darkness in my left eye.  The first time I  woke up to use the restroom, scary, seemed totally dark in one eye, and the other I hadn't fallen asleep yet, room was dark except for light coming through a shade on one window.  My left eye seemed totally dark.  The second time, I tried using my peripheral vision, and could see a little light out of the sides of my eye.  Only last a minute or so.  Any ideas on what might be causing this.  Two weeks ago I had a very thorough eye examine, everything looked good.

[alj517]

While on a trip to the mountains my niece lost vision in her left eye the higher she went up the darker it got since then she has lost vision another time any idea what could be the problem or where we should go for help?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

You may be describing amaurosis fugax.  A transient loss of vision in one eye.  The mostly likely cause in  a person older than 50 or 60 is a circulatory problem in the internal carotid artery.

You need to see an ophthalmologist.