White/black spots

[daniel88]

Hi. For the past 5 years, I have been seeing numerous spots in my eyes, starting off white, and sometimes the white turns to a darker color, and then disapears. Also I am experiencing a bit of difficulty seeing at night, and everything becomes green in my periphal vision, for a short period of time if I am in darkness for a certain amount of time. I am very concerned, seeing as I am only 21 years old, I am wondering what it could be that has been affecting my eyes for a good amount of time now. I went to my eye doctor two years ago, and he dialated my pupils, did a thorough eye exam, and said everything was fine. What could these problems be?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Let me be more specific. When you see an ophthalmologist see a neuroophthalmologist. They are the Sherlock Holmes of the profession.
Go to Google IMAGES type in migraine scotoma and see the different sizes and shapes that can occur

JCH MD

[daniel88]

I will definitely ask. However, one last thing to point out, the colored spots that start white, and then change to dark, occur usually in the same spot, and in the same shape at times. And in the dark, its hard to see well when I look directly at an object, but this only happens when the room is dark. I can see the object fine in my periphal vision, but not when I look right at it. But as soon as I am in a normally lit room, I see everything perfect. Could the ophtalmic migraine cause the changing color spots, the difficulty seeing in darkness, and the green that surrounds my periphal vision in darkness? All of this happens everyday. It's not as if it occurs once a month. Its every day. Please let me know. Thanks alot.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

At your age the most common cause would be episodes of eye/ophthalmic migraine. These often do not have headache. Much more likely if you have a family history of migraine or if you are on birth control pills. They can be a sign of TIA or disease of heart, eye, brain, blood vessels but at your age that is uncommon.

Suggest you see a different Eye MD ophthalmologist find one at www.aao.org

Ask about whether you might be having eye migraines Also use the search feature and archives to read more.

JCHMD