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Update on my condition, sudden distance vision improvement in one eye.
I have posted on this forum about a sudden changes of vision I have experienced first in my right eye back in 2015 and more recently in 2021 in my left eye. So just wanted to give a quick update and see if anyone has any feedback or has experienced anything similar.
Both incidents started with me getting a chalazion on the upper eyelid. They area around the eye was red and swollen for a few days. The chalazion resolved by itself after a couple of months. However at the same time I have experienced a change in vision. I have a prescription of -1.5 spherical in both eyes and some mild astigmatism. During the chalazion incident my distance vision improved to the point where at the ophthalmologist's office I could read the 20/20 line with no corrective lenses. However my vision seemed to fluctuate from day to day.
Back in 2015 when my right eye was the one affected after a period of about 4 months my vision gradually returned to my normal prescription.
However when the same thing happened to my left eye in 2021 (inflammation followed by a chalazion and a vision change) the symptoms persisted even though the chalazion has resolved.
My ophthalmologist conducted a series of tests and could not find anything wrong with my eye other than the fact that a corneal topography revealed some irregular astigmatism, however the corneal thickness was 580μm so he ruled out any Keratoconus possibility.
The practical offshoot of all this is that I can not wear any prescription for my left eye since it seems to change every day. With time what I have noticed though is the the vision changes seem to be most evident in the morning right after I wake up and over the course of the day it gets better. For example I can notice some ghosting in my vision in the morning and towards the evening it gets much sharper.
I have experimented and found a connection between my vision in the morning and how I sleep. If I fall asleep focusing on keeping my eyelids relaxed and placing my head on the pillow so that no part of it is pressing against my eyes I usually wake up in the morning with a much clearer vision compared to if my facial muscles are tense when I fall asleep and my face is buried in the pillow so that it exerts pressure on my eyelids....
My personal theory, not confirmed by my ophthalmologist, is that perhaps the chalazion incidents caused some scarring or other permanent change to occur to the shape of my eyelids and so when I sleep they reshape my corneas causing the change in vision. Since my prescription is fairly mild I therefore see a noticeable change in my vision.
The silver lining to all this is that after being mildly myopic my whole life, now at the age of 56 I have near 20/20 distance vision in my left eye and am able to get around without glasses...
Comments and opinions welcome!!
Both incidents started with me getting a chalazion on the upper eyelid. They area around the eye was red and swollen for a few days. The chalazion resolved by itself after a couple of months. However at the same time I have experienced a change in vision. I have a prescription of -1.5 spherical in both eyes and some mild astigmatism. During the chalazion incident my distance vision improved to the point where at the ophthalmologist's office I could read the 20/20 line with no corrective lenses. However my vision seemed to fluctuate from day to day.
Back in 2015 when my right eye was the one affected after a period of about 4 months my vision gradually returned to my normal prescription.
However when the same thing happened to my left eye in 2021 (inflammation followed by a chalazion and a vision change) the symptoms persisted even though the chalazion has resolved.
My ophthalmologist conducted a series of tests and could not find anything wrong with my eye other than the fact that a corneal topography revealed some irregular astigmatism, however the corneal thickness was 580μm so he ruled out any Keratoconus possibility.
The practical offshoot of all this is that I can not wear any prescription for my left eye since it seems to change every day. With time what I have noticed though is the the vision changes seem to be most evident in the morning right after I wake up and over the course of the day it gets better. For example I can notice some ghosting in my vision in the morning and towards the evening it gets much sharper.
I have experimented and found a connection between my vision in the morning and how I sleep. If I fall asleep focusing on keeping my eyelids relaxed and placing my head on the pillow so that no part of it is pressing against my eyes I usually wake up in the morning with a much clearer vision compared to if my facial muscles are tense when I fall asleep and my face is buried in the pillow so that it exerts pressure on my eyelids....
My personal theory, not confirmed by my ophthalmologist, is that perhaps the chalazion incidents caused some scarring or other permanent change to occur to the shape of my eyelids and so when I sleep they reshape my corneas causing the change in vision. Since my prescription is fairly mild I therefore see a noticeable change in my vision.
The silver lining to all this is that after being mildly myopic my whole life, now at the age of 56 I have near 20/20 distance vision in my left eye and am able to get around without glasses...
Comments and opinions welcome!!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Chalazia, especially large ones, can induce change in glasses RX by changing the shape of the cornea due to pressure. It is usually temporary. Vision that is worse in the moring and gets better as the day goes on is usually due to 1. corneal edema developing during the night due to closed lids and reduced oxygen. With the lids open and great access to O2 the edema subsides. The classic cause of this is Fuchs corneal dystrophy. The second cause is the lids separating during sleep causing rough cornea surface (exposure keratitis) once up and blinking it gets better. Since you are happy nothing needs to be done. If you were unhappy and had fluctuating vision I would recommend a second -opinion with a corneal specialist.
2 Comments
Thank you Dr Hagan. Yes I have seen a corneal and a retinal specialist and had a whole array of tests done on my eye and other than the irregular corneal topography result nobody can find anything wrong. Since it all started with a chalazion episode I can only assume it is related and now even though the chalazion is gone the eyelid pressure remains. But that is just my own theory.
Best of luck. Keep the edge of your eyelids free of oil to prevent more stye/chalazia (e.g. Ocusoft, Avenova lid cleaners)
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