White lights that bubble up in my peripheral vision

[OkieGirl123]

About 2 months ago, I started seeing donut shaped white lights that appear to float from the bottom outside of my peripheral vision to the top, like a bubble would float up. It doesn’t seem to fit the description for ocular migraines. Before those started, I had had a few aura’s, which I’ve had off and on for many years. It happens mostly in my left eye but has definitely happened in my right eye as well. I’m 61 years old and recently had cataract removal surgery within the last 30 days. They started about a week before my first appointment with the ophthalmologist. I did mention it to him, but he kind of brushed me off, saying it was an ocular migraine. I intend to have a more serious conversation with him about it because I really don’t think that’s what it is. I would think so that if there was anything serious going on, that he would’ve caught it with all the exams I’ve had since my first consultation to have the cataract removal surgery and then post surgeries. Anyone else experience this type of thing?

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

I will be happy to help you to the extent I can.  It this donut shaped white light' some like an eye floater that is there all the time and you can make it move  and 'float' by moving your eye? Or are these episodic that are not there most of the time but come in spells.  If the latter how long do you see this 'white light'  When you see it do you have another other symptoms like trouble moving arms, legs, speech difficulty? Have you been diagnosed with migraines in the past?  It would be extremely rare for ocular migraines to suddenly develop in a 61 year old person. If it is episodic the most important thing would be rule out internal eye problems and secondly rule out cardio-vascular or neurologic problems. Please provide a better description of your problem.