Strange blinking spot in vision

[mdoram]

Dear all,

Since about 7 months I see a small blinking spot
in my left eye under certain conditions (mostly
when I am outside and there is enough light).

It's not a floater (I have also those). I've made
a little animation here to give you an idea :

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/3433/landscape2.gif

Some notes :

- It only appears in my left eye, if I close it the
  spot disappears

- It always appears at the same place and it doesn't
  move (unlike floaters)

- It's related to the amount of light my eye receive.
  If I can see the spot and put sunglasses on, it
  disappears

- It's also related to my focus distance. It usually appears
  when I am looking at a close object, if I look far away it
  disappears

Since about a month I see the spot much more often, it requires
less and less light to appear. I can sometimes also see it very
briefly when I blink, regardless of my focus distance.

I visited two ophthalmologists and one neurologist, and had
a lot of exams, including :

- eye angiography
- OCT
- visual field test
- intraocular pressure measurement
- MRI
- etc.

and everything was normal, except for a vitreous detachment
which is apparently not problematic.

I am 32, I don't take any medication, and I don't have other
symptoms.

I was wondering if anybody had a similar condition, or has an
idea of what it could be?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Sandra M Brown, MD]

I can't view your animation so I don't know where the spot is located.  Based on your symptoms I speculate that either 1) you have discovered your blind spot and are intermittently seeing it, causing the blinking effect, or 2) you have a small patch of retina that is a little bit irritable for an unknown reason, and is firing off somewhat randomly but more frequently lately, or 3) you are having a very unusual form of ocular migraine.  At this point you have been told that your eyes are healthy.  I am guessing that the "spot" did not show up on the visual field test.  So it is very important NOT to pay attention to your blinking spot and not to play games with it like trying to make it appear or disappear by changing your focus or the lighting.

[Henrietta601]

A related discussion, Spot in right eye when blinking not a floater was started.

[sajsan]

Well i did go to the hospital. They checked again and saw changes in the retina after putting on a contact which may be a small csr or a puck; no break was seen. I am scheduled for 7th may check with the retina surgeon.
Before the spot was smaller but it has slowly progressed to a bit larger or so it seems.

There used to be a black spot there which i would seen occassionally with the gel pulling; same spot now i see this permanent distortion. When this change occurred, i did see a lot of new floaters in that area. Hence the suggestion some change has occurred.

Fingers crossed.

[Jason216]

@ saj -of coyurse  trained opthalmologists would see this ( CSR) , during a dilated exam.

[sajsan]

I have experienced the same thing as well; a spot. I went to the surgeon but his fellow was there; he told me it was a floater but i can definitely say it is not a floater. I have had CSR in the other eye and they looked similar to this. I have another check scheduled tomorrow and will let you know. I suspected a tear but it was ruled out;
Most opthamologists dont take time to look carefully. I have found that i am able to guide them to the exact spot where this is occuring and then they are able to say - ah...
Dont rely on them checking; my surgeon has always told me that i am the first patient he has had who can guide him to exactly where it is.

[melinda68]

I have something similar and am very curious why it is so important NOT to pay attention to it? Is it to do with not training the brain to seek it out?
Thank you!

[mdoram]

Dear Doctor Brown,

Thank you a lot for your response.

Regarding the animation, normaly if you copy / paste the following
address in your internet browser you should see it (it's a simple
GIF file) :

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/3433/landscape2.gif

Anyway, the blinking spot is located slightly below and slightly on the
right of the center of the eye, I don't think it matches the size and
location of my natural blind spot, but I could be wrong.

The spot never enlarge, move or last a long time (as soon as I look
elsewhere it disappears), so it's indeed not a common symptom for
ocular migraine.

The spot doesn't show up on the visual field test and the amsler grid,
but the conditions for these tests are not the same (lighting and
focus).

The spot doesn't appears randomly, I can reproduce it everytime with
the right lighting and focus.

The idea that a small patch of my retina is irritable is the one that
makes most sense to me. If it's indeed the case, what are the possible
outcomes?

I will follow your advice and not focus on the spot anymore. Is there
anything else I can do?

Best regards.