Sudden loss of near/long sight in one eye

[federete]

Hello,

I recently lost much of my sight in the left eye. This has possibly happened in one or two weeks. Both short and long distance, things are very blurry. My last eye sight test was 8 months ago, and I was said I have excellent long sight (near sight is starting to decline, I am 45). I’ve been having daily headaches for the past 10 days.

The GP referred me to the eye clinic. Happily, there is nothing serious with my eye (retina, nerves…all look good). It must be something with the eye lenses I was told. Indeed, with my left eye I wasn't able to see even the big letters, but with a pinhole in front, everything turned out so clear I couldn't believe it. Good news.

The doctor in the eye clinic referred me to the optometrist to get glasses. I have an appointment tomorrow. I am happy that this isn’t something serious but I can't avoid trying to understand what's happening, what should I do, what should I expect, how is it possible to loss sight in such a short time…

Many thanks for any feedback!

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

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[federete]

[not sure if the comment was successfully posted, sorry if this is a double posting]

Back from the optometrist. Apparently this can be corrected with glasses. Both eyes worsened since January 2020 (my last visit). My left eye SPH=-1.00, CYL=-0.25, AXIS=0.80, Near-ADD=+1.25. My right eye SPH=0.00, CYL=-0.75, AXIS=100.0, Near-ADD=+1.25.  The prescription also says BVD=10.00 (between R and L eyes report)

Not sure what all this means. I ordered two pairs of glasses, for short and long distance. I was said I am now short sighted in my left eye and have astigmatism in my right eye.  The optometrist didn't believe these changes were very sudden, he thinks like the MD-ophtalmologist, that I may have been compensating without noticing. I find it hard to believe, but who knows.

The optomoetrist also thinks my eye shouldn't be causing the headaches (it's been 2 weeks of daily headaches, twice a day).

Thanks so much for reading this. If you see any oddness here please let me know.

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

I  did not see or did not remember you are 45.  Read about PRESBYOPIA     It is a natural loss of near vision due to age and is due to lens of eye getting stiff and focus muscle getting old. It will continue, that is why when you go to department store and see reading glasses they usually are on a vertical shelf starting with 1.00 and going to 3.00   as people get older they need stronger numbers. Not everyone can wear over the counter reading glasses if they have different RX in each eye, astigmatism .   You do not understand your glasses RX  Your LE has some myopia and a miniscule amount of astigmatism, your RE has only astigmatism.   Your main problem is your  are 45 and your eye reading muscles are getting tired.  Getting two pairs of glasses doesn't work well for most people. Eventually   most people end up  in no-line progressive glasses so they don't have to carry around 2 or 3 pairs of glasses.   If you do not have glasses on and you look out the window at something far away (> 6 meters) then the RE should be clearest, but if you look at something a 12 inches away without glasses and check each eye it should be clearer in your LE.  A year from now your near vision will be worse . Welcome to middle age

[federete]

Thank you, doctor!! and thanks for the welcome to the selected middle-age club. Let's see how the glasses work. With my LE I cannot see at short distance either, only at a very precise distance (about 15 cm). A cm closer or further everything becomes very blurry. Not sure whether that fits with myopia (I thought people with myopia had good short sight vision). 10 months ago, I was said I had excellent long distance sight. Anyway, I'll stop wondering :-)

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

You are not near sighted enough to read without glasses as you go through middle and then older age. To do that you would need about -2.50 diopters of myopia.    If you weren't a little myopic you would have needed reading glasses about age 40-42

[federete]

Going for my third visit to the optometrist. The glasses they have prescribed so far don't correct my problems on the left eye. The long distance glasses improve it significantly (although far from perfectly). But they have tried different things for short distance and none work at all. Funnily, the long distance glasses help with short distance. The optometrist found that I have a beginning of cataracts (surprised the ophthalmologist didn't see it). It must be very minor because he said "let's have another look next year". This left-eye myopia has developed very suddenly, I think over a few weeks. In January I had my sight checked and my long distance sight was perfect ("exceptional" the optometrist said). I guess I should see the ophthalmologist again

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

Myopia developing very sudenly make me thing of 1. diabetes  2 fast growing cataract.

[JohnHaganMD]

Wait until you have the glasses test by the non-MD optometrist. If new glasses make you see well no problem. If no glasses not make you see well then you are going to need to see a higher trained Eye MD ophthalmologist for additional testing. Post after your glasses testing.

[federete]

Thank you!! I'll post after glasses testing.
I've been investigating a bit more: with my left eye I can only focus at certain, very narrow, distance (quite close to the screen). A milimiter before or after and it becomes super blurry. I think before this happened I wasn't able to see that close. Can't wait to get answers (and solutions)

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

Okay. The cause is not apparent unless you have  large amount of uncorrected myopia

[federete]

Back from the optometrist. Apparently this can be corrected with glasses. Both eyes worsened since January 2020 (my last visit). My left eye SPH=-1.00, CYL=-0.25, AXIS=0.80, Near-ADD=+1.25. My right eye SPH=0.00, CYL=-0.75, AXIS=100.0, Near-ADD=+1.25.  The prescription also says BVD=10.00 (between R and L eyes report)

Not sure what all this means. I ordered two pairs of glasses, for short and long distance. I was said I am now short sighted in my left eye and have astigmatism in my right eye.  The optometrist didn't believe these changes were very sudden, he thinks like the MD-ophtalmologist, that I may have been compensating without noticing. I find it hard to believe, but who knows.

The optomoetrist also thinks my eye shouldn't be causing the headaches (it's been 2 weeks of daily headaches, twice a day).

Thanks so much for reading this. If you see any oddness here please let me know.