Vision from 20/20 to 20/300 overnight

[stacy1977]

On Friday night I went from having perfect vision to being legally blind. I've never worn glasses and always seen perfectly. I did have an accident on Tuesday where my right eye got inches away from the full blast of an LCD projector beam. It started getting spotty and by Friday afternoon both eyes were cloudy. At 3am on Saturday I woke up to have my vision completely blurry after about 4 inches. I've been to two opthalmologists who have found nothing wrong. Tomorrow I'm having an MRI and another exam. Everyone says they've never heard anything like this. I just want my vision back. Yes, I can correct most of it with classes but I saw perfectly just days ago. What is this? Can it be reversed?

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

Thanks for the follow up Stacy, glad you're on the mend.

JCH MD

[stacy1977]

Dear Dr. Hagan,

After 4 days of intense vision loss, most of my vision has come back. Now the left eye is good and the other is hopefully on it's way back. The doctor believes it was a muscle spasm that is slowly relaxing. I do believe it was caused from super-close exposure to intense light. I found very few answers when this happened to me. I hope by sharing my experience, the next person who encounters this scary situation will see an example of someone who been through it.  

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

If it can be corrected with glasses (to normal vision) and you have had two normal eye exams by ophthalmologists and its known that LCD projector should not cause permanent damage in such a small exposure it's likely the MRI will be normal and that the accident called attention to a pre-existing refractive (glasses) problem.

JCH MD