Floaters, flashes and specs

[Kristapz]

All,
So in the recent months I’ve visited a few eye doctors in regards to some eye disturbances I’ve been experiencing, which include flashes, specs of light, minor eye pain and minor eye floaters(I’ve always have had them). Tests were ran and I came back NEGATIVE for any eye damage, diseases, what have you... My IOP is slightly high around 22 21 but I was told that’s normal.. I’m also convinced that you have astigmatism. Why? I get double vision with letters/numbers on the the TV, street signs, street lights and stop lights have streaks and rays and doubled. I also have eye pain, when I tilt my head my vision sharpens and the double vision goes away, but when I’m writing and my head is facing down, when I look up my vision is really blurry and it takes me a few seconds to get my clearity back (I wear glasses). The eye doctors have all kind of beat around the bush and have told me that my eyes are fine and they’re healthy. I’m not a rocket scientist not a Einstein but there’s clearly something wrong with my eyes.. any suggestions/input would be appreciated. Thank you

[Kristapz]

One more thing thing, I did in fact have thorough tests on an by an ‘ MD FACS’ David Bellows and he pointed pointed out nothing bad.... just my slightly high IOP:.....

[JohnHaganMD]

I just looked at his training and Dr. Bellows is exceptionally well trained and its unlikely he would miss anything serious.  If in fact you feel strongly about seeking additional consults you might ask Dr. David Bellows whose opinion he would value most.

[Kristapz]

Thank you, you have been a huge help

[JohnHaganMD]

Best of luck

[Kristapz]

Any suggestions on where to go in southern New Hampshire? I’ve visited The Medical Eye Center a few times

[JohnHaganMD]

I'm not familiar with that area. I would look for a MD that specializes in cornea/refractive/cataract surgery

[JohnHaganMD]

You can go to www.geteyesmart.org and they have a eye MD locator

[Kristapz]

It could be the glasses because my vision isn’t as sharp and clear as I should be... the lenses are also scratched all over too. I hear good things about ‘Lens Crafters’. Are they a good place to get the thorough eye exams?

[JohnHaganMD]

No in my opinion they aren't. You need to see a Eye MD ophthalmologist.  And you need to have all those special tests I suggested.  At optical chains you will only see a non-MD optometrist and the quality of the exams vary wildly.

[Kristapz]

If the vision issues go away when the pin hole technique is used what does that tell you? Even when I squint my vision clears up slightly. And what tests should I ask to be administered so I can get full results? I also had images and pictures taken of my retina as well

[JohnHaganMD]

It means: you may need glasses, or the glasses you have are not correct or that you have cornea pathology or you have lens pathology.    Ultra-simple it is take to mean if vision better with pinhole optical problem if not improve represents eye pathology.

[Kristapz]

The 2 eye doctors i was seen by were MD Opthamologist at the Medical Eye Center in Manchester NH. They check my macula, cornea, everything and didn’t see anything

[JohnHaganMD]

You need to make sure that a corneal topography was done. If not your complaints need it.  Also macular OCT. If you had both those done and they were normal and you want to pursue more testing and evaluation see a neuro-ophthalmologist.  It's not likely its anything serious but your call whether to get more tests and consults.

[JohnHaganMD]

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[JohnHaganMD]

Your problem suggest a couple of things that might not show up in a regular eye exam. First of all I hope many or most of the "eye doctors" you saw were Eye MD ophthalmologists not optometrists. If you have not seen an Eye MD you have not had a full medical exam.  If you have seen an Eye MD I would first suggest you see an Eye MD that specializes in cornea diseases and refractive surgery. You need a corneal topography to determine if you have irregular cornea astigmatism or other cornea problem that might not show up on regular eye exam. If that is normal I suggest you see an Eye MD that specilizes in eye muscle problems (strabismus). They are often called pediatric ophthalmologists but almost all do adult eye muscle problems. The doubling and improvement with head positioning often indicates an eye muscle imbalance.  Since you wear glasses a problem could be the prescription is wrong or the glasses are not fitted properly to your eye and face.

[Kristapz]

*** When I use the ‘pin hole’ technique the vision issues go away completely.......