Vision pulsing and dimming during exercise

I am a 35 year old male in perfect health, good blood pressure, cholesterol good, and get full blood work every year as part of my examinations as well as yearly eye exams. IOP is normal.

Recently I've noticed that when I exercise very hard (bike riding, running), I can see a pulsing dimming in my right eye's peripheral vision.  It's not major, but I noticed it one day when looking toward the sky right after a hard run.   My vision "pulsates", dimming in sync with my heartbeat, and as my heart rate slows to normal, it disappears. During this dimming, I also see what appears to be outlines of blood vessels.

Eye exams come back normal, my eye doctor says it's nothing to worry about and has to do with oxygenation of the eye when exercising.  Another thing I may mention is that I am generally a high-anxiety person, so I don't even know if that's contributing to it.

Thank you so much!
Rick

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear greg_t,

I would recommend that you seek the care of an eyeMD specializing in retina and/or neuro-ophthalmology to make sure that you do not have a systemic disease which might appear only with exercise, such as heart issue.  Do you have any other symptoms, such as lightheadedness.

Dr. Feldman

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

[greg_t]

Hi, thank you for getting back to me.  I had a dilated eye exam yesterday, and the doctor said my retnas looked "spectacular", in his words. IOP was 13 and 14 respectively.

He told me that the eyes are at the end of the vascular chain, and what I'm seeing is normal for someone that pushes themselves very hard.

I experience no lightheadeness, shortness of breath, or any other issues.  

Thanks!