Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
338416 tn?1420045702

Monocular double vision... for reals!

Man, this is driving me crazy.  So I've been wearing glasses for six months because I couldn't afford contacts, and every time I wore contacts, my right eye would see double.  I thought it was just the contacts.  

I went and got more contacts, and talked to the optometrist, and he said that if I'm seeing a clear doubling of the image, then it's not the contacts, it's my eye.  And it's definitely double - two clearly defined images of the same thing.

This morning I was having the same problem without the contacts - the right eye was seeing double.  Granted, it's hard to tell, because my eyesight's so terrible!  But it was definitely double - albeit fuzzy - in the right eye.

According to Wikipedia, monocular double vision is rare, but possible.  It takes a lesion in the visual cortex to cause this problem.  I'm just looking for solutions... are there any?
27 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
I have severe dry eyes from Sjogrens's syndrome and monocular diplopia in both eyes. The ghosting is bearable in the morning but in the evening it become extreme. A classic case for the poor tear film distorting the image....BUT...when I flood my eye with eye drops (after the film stabilises in a few seconds) there is NO CHANGE to the ghosting. By adding the eye drops I have significantly changed the fluid film so if the fluid film is the cause of the ghosting I should see a change in the ghosting. We know this is the case since when you first put the drops in the image swims for a few seconds as the fluid film stabilises.
So although the dry eyes is undoubtedly the driving force there is a secondary effect/stage which I believe is a temporary distortion of the cornea. It is almost as if the squinting and eye strain are pushing the eye out of shape. Like you if I rest with my eyes shut the ghosting diminishes.
I also have to say that the symptoms are so similar to those reported for Keratoconus that I suspect that a similar mechanism must be at work even if that is not the actual cause.
My NHS eye specialist still believes it is just down to the dry eyes and tear film but frankly I don't believe him.
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
I have the same question!  My eyesight has become so bad in the right eye, and I know I've had ON a couple of times.

So I put my new glasses on today, and everything's doubled at a certain distance.  Clear at arm's length, and a foot away from my eyes it's doubled.  With my contacts, it's doubled until it gets an arm's length away.  Still need to talk to the optometrist to eliminate the lenses as a possibility.
Helpful - 0
429700 tn?1308007823
I am having double vision creeping back in.  I've had double vision with my first attack of ON and it lasted for months--maybe even a year.  I was going to get this corrected with a prism, and then it went away.

I went back to the opthalmologist because I'm having trouble, about six months ago, and they couldn't find evidence of ON.  He thought it was Uthoff's.  My neuro also thinks it could have been Uthoff's because it's been so hot.  

Here's the question for you, that I've been wondering about in regards to my vision as well . . .  Is it possible that the double vision is due to past ON damage?  I have no clue.  All I know is that I've been getting more double vision and it's worse with my glasses and contact lenses.

I feel like I've been falling apart lately, and my vision is the icing on the cake!  If you finally figure it out, let me know what it is!  I've been calling my neuro's office about other concerns, and hadn't even touched on the eyesight problem just yet.

Are you still thinking about seeing Dr. Frohmann?
Helpful - 0
1045086 tn?1332126422
This sounds very, very much like my experience Nancy.  The ghosting has been getting a lot worse.  I'm never sure if it's the astigmatism a have, the mild evidence of ON (on VER) or something else entirely.  The right eye (the one with the abnormal VER) is worse than the left for me.

Just last week I noticed the thing you described about relief with squinting.  I see a perfect image with a big squint but it makes my face hurt and before long I'm going to look like someone used my upper face for origami practice.  My glasses don't help at all.  They actually seem to often make the image appear worst.  It takes a long time to clear, often over-night.

We have a nice new LARGE computer screen but it helps not a stitch because I just see the lines of print and the ghosted images repeating everything.  It's difficult when print is overlaid to figure out what it's saying.  Nothing looks as pleasant.  I haven't bothered to mention to people that they have eyebrows on their upper lips.

I had a blood test for MG in early summer (negative).  I thought an astigmatism could be cleared easily with glasses but I haven't seen a sharp image with or without glasses in a long time.  This despite the fact that my eye chart reading isn't bad (I can usually figure out a row of 5-6 spaced letters, duh) and the girls in the office seem pleased with their refraction efforts.  The doc doesn't ever seem to hear me when I say I don't see well.  Reading is a strain because of this so (outside work) I'm mostly restricted to large print materials or audio books these days.  I'd love to clear this up as what I see would be so sharp if it wasn't for the ghosting but it just continues to get worse.

I hope someone here can shed some light on a solution instead of simply sharing the symptoms.

Mary
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
Hey, it sounds a bit similar - my eyes seem to get tired, and my right eye does feel weak.  I've had optic neuritis a couple of times in my right eye.

I've been flipping back and forth on this, and my double vision is inconsistent between glasses and contacts.  I don't get double vision at all with no correction, but then again I can't see further than a few inches away from my eyes without glasses or contacts.  With the glasses, I get double vision close up, and I get double vision with the contacts, but not always.

So it's a puzzle!  I'm going to go into the optometrist and make ABSOLUTELY sure that this is my eyes, and not my glasses or contacts.  
Helpful - 0
152264 tn?1280354657
I have ghosting in each eye separately that looks like double vision, but isn't true double vision. So this may be different from the problems that the rest of you describe; but here's what happens:

When I read while looking down (like at a book in my lap or newspaper on the table), after a couple of minutes I start getting vertical ghosting. It's not two separate and distinct images--it's gray "shadow letters" above the real letters. Covering one eye or the other makes no difference (though sometimes the ghosting is slightly worse in my left eye).

The faster I read, the faster and worse the ghosting appears. When I stop reading, it takes up to half an hour for my vision to return to normal.

When I am very tired (that is, underslept), the ghosting will occur even without reading.

If I tip my head up to a certain angle, or narrow my eyes far enough, the ghosting disappears abruptly. But reading with squinted eyes or your head tipped way up is no fun!

Two optometrists, one ophthalmologist, and one neuro-ophthalmologist were stumped by this. Finally they gave me some extra-strong reading glasses of some kind, and this prevents the ghosting so that I can read comfortably.

This has been getting worse since it started maybe six or seven years ago and happening under more and more circumstances.

I did find some article that described something similar to what I have:
http://journals.lww.com/jneuro-ophthalmology/Fulltext/2001/09000/Symptomatic_Corneal_Topographic_Change_Induced_by.7.aspx

But it's not quite the same situation.

I have never had any symptoms of optic neuritis and have never had a VEP.

Dennis: my doctors also initially tried to blame this on dry eye, but it's not the case. Eye drops did not help. Dry eye doesn't make sense to me anyway. The problem is definitely connected to MOVING MY EYES when looking down (and more often now, also when looking straight ahead, but mainly still when looking down).

The ophthalmologist asked about myasthenia gravis but I told him I had a blood test once (in 2000!) to rule it out. He said, "well, myasthenia gravis can be hard to diagnose..."

One other oddity: when this occurs (when I've been reading for a bit without glasses), my left eye sometimes gets an odd but distinct feeling that I can't describe. A "weak' feeling, but it's not really weak. That feeling used to occur spontaneously early on in my neuro symptoms (which began in fall 1999). But it rarely happens anymore.

Jen, this isn't too much related to what you describe, but when I saw "monocular double vision" and read about Dennis's experience, I had to jump in! :) Good luck figuring it out.

Nancy
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
I think you're right - I'll follow up with the neuro next week.  Maybe I can see a neuro-opthamologist, and really track down whether this is my brain or just my eyes.
Helpful - 0
645390 tn?1338555377
Prisms only help with Binocular Double vision.  I really would recommend you see an ophthalmologist.  You will get more answers than from an Optometrist.

Michelle
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
I've been wondering about that myself - if it were doubled all the time, I'd go for it.  

It's definitely a 'double' image in the right eye.  I do a lot of closeup computer work, and the image is actually clearly doubled, and very clear in both copies.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I'm not sure this applies to the OP, I post in case it is helpful to medworld's readers.

My wife has double vision, her eye muscles are not synchronized, the problem has grown worse with time, the further away an object is the more noticeable the problem. This problem has gotten worse with age.

She saw a very good eye surgeon recently, he prescribed new lenses with Prism in both horizontal and vertical axes. The alternative is surgery, he doesn't want to do it unless the new glasses don't work. We'll know in about a week.
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
Hmmm... these are Acuvue Clear, I think.  The writeup says they're full of water, so they allow oxygen to pass through the lens.
Helpful - 0
645390 tn?1338555377
Do u wear Gas Permeable lenses or soft?
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
I thought at first that it was just a poorly fitting contact.  For about six months I wore glasses, thinking that the contacts were the problem.  I just got new contacts two weeks ago, and noticed that after four hours, I start seeing double.  It's as if my eye is getting tired.

Even more notable, when I take the contacts out and put my glasses in, I'm still seeing double out of my right eye.  That made me think there was something else going on.  Then I woke up a couple of days ago, and was seeing double before I put my contacts in.

That's why I think this is actually monocular double vision, rather than a problem with my contacts.
Helpful - 0
645390 tn?1338555377
I haven't been on the boards for a bit, stopped in for a short visit and saw your post.

My best "guesstimate" is your R contact lens is not fitting well, and affecting your cornea, causing the monocular diplopia.  Monocular diplopia has different reasons than binocular diplopia. Binocular is more of a muscle/cranial nerve involvement, where Monocular is the eye itself.

Monocular diplopia is "usually" caused by a corneal irregularity (dry eye, uncorrected astigmatism, not properly fitted Contact lens, etc.)  Those are the "outside" reasons. The "inside" reasons can be from a cataract, retinal issue etc.

I would definitely recommend you see an Ophthalmologist, rather than an Optometrist.

I just read what I wrote, and saw I was using the word Diplopia. Sorry, that just means double vision. I am too tired to correct it now...

Take care,
Michelle
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
I do have brain stem lesions - one in the pons, and another in the medulla!  
Helpful - 0
667078 tn?1316000935
I have never had Optic Neuritis or damage to the optic nerve according to all the Neurologists but I do have monocular double vision in both eyes and have had it for over forty years. They said something about my brain stem lesion? I do not know if it happens when you get double vision later in life but they say my brain has learned to compensate. I basically switch from eye to eye to see. My vision is never really focused.

Alex
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
Not yet - I should probably pursue this with the neuro, but I know his track record!  Fortunately it's only a problem when my eyes are tired - it takes about four hours for my eyesight to go bad when I'm wearing contacts.  
Helpful - 0
382218 tn?1341181487
hmmm, that s*cks.  I don't know anything about monocular double vision.  I  know a LOT about binocular double vision, and prisms may help with it if the degree of this type of double vision remains constant.  If it comes and goes and is sometimes really severe and other times mild, prisms won't help as they are fixed at a specific measurement.  sorry, I knowq this doesn't answer your question at all.  Have you seen a neuro-ophthalmologist?
Helpful - 0
1260255 tn?1288654564
You made me laugh, because sometime things are easier said than done!

"All you have to do is close one eye..." My vision is so bad in my right eye so that it is the only eye I can close at one time. My body favors that eye and I cannot close only the left eye. I'm nowhere near legally blind, yet my brain has always worked this way so that can only wink with the right (weaker) eye and can't close the left eye on its own.

Wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that I can only snap my fingers on the right hand and not the left??? Even with that, it took me years to be able to snap my fingers!

Thanks for your clarification.

Audrey
Helpful - 0
645800 tn?1466860955
Audrey,

   I have both monocular and binocular double vision. Luckily I don't get both at the same time for the most part. I also wear glass but all you have to do is close one eye and then the other to tell if it is monocular double vision.  if you still see a double image while one eye is closed then it is monocular. Right this moment I have monocular double vision on my right eye, but not my left. Most of the time I have the double vision in both eyes at the same time. Again luckily the double images are in the same direction so I'm not seeing quad.

There is some abnormality with the optic nerve in my left eye,  but my VA doctor blames this on elevated eye pressure. But again I think she is wrong as the pressure is elevated in both eye and equal amount but the right eye nerve is OK.

Dennis


Yes the field vision test and VEP are different tests.
Helpful - 0
338416 tn?1420045702
I've definitely had optic neuritis in my right eye - for a while, colors were really weird in my right eye - much brighter than my left.  My right eye is also my 'bad' eye - eyesight is much worse in that eye.  I also had a real problem with flickering light, I think because one eye was transmitting slower than the other.

I have one of those neuros who says "If it's not on the MRI, it doesn't exist."  Craziness.  I'd like to do something about it - this is really a problem today!  But I'm not sure what can be done.  Switch back to glasses, I guess.  
Helpful - 0
1260255 tn?1288654564
I had a field vision test done. From what I read, this is not the same as the VEP. Hope you or someone on this forum can confirm.

In the field vision test, no electrodes were hooked up to my beautiful brain. I was seated in a chair with my forehead against a brace and a support under my chin. Interestingly enough, I was having tremors that day, and the technician had to place his hand on the back of my head to keep it still.

The screen was white and divided into quadrants. I was given a clicker and each time I saw a spot of light (varying sizes and intensities), I was supposed to depress the button on the clicker.

So base on what I've read, am I correct in saying this test was not the VEP test?

Its important for me to know, as a 6 month follow up brain MRI is showing changes slightly increased to the previous one (now up to 14+ lesions; can't be sure how many fit into Alpine Lace vs. real Swiss cheese with the vagueness of reports...LOL). I am planning on meeting with my PCP before the next neuro appt. and want to get my ducks in order in terms of next steps.

Have had the recommended imaging tests done as well as lab tests (blood, CSF) to rule out mimics. Only other test was this field vision test. The one complicating factor is that the neuro says I do have degenerative disc disease which could contribute to some of the motor sensory problems.

Ain't life grand?

Audrey
Helpful - 0
1453990 tn?1329231426
The optic nerves are pretty hard to image.  This is one of those cases of where Dr.s try to match lesions to symptoms that doesn't work too well.  VEP might be the best test.
If the optic never has demyelination, VEP should pick it up.  The classic presentation is a decrease in amplitude and a decrease in the conduction velocity.  My eye/optic nerve  with the double vision shows both decreased amp and decreased CV.

Bob
Helpful - 0
1260255 tn?1288654564
I have double vision, but for the life of me, I can't tell you if it is monocular or binocular. That's probably because it seems to affect only long term vision and loves to strike while I'm driving. Because I wear glasses, I can't really cover one eye and then the other, ending up with smears on the lenses when I can't already see well.

Prisms in my glasses have not helped.

If I was put under torture to give an answer, I would probably say monocular, in the left eye, which is my "good" eye.

The brain MRI shows no lesion on the optic nerve and a recent visit to the ophthalmologist showed now abnormality.

Dennis, I'm a bit confused by your saying that you have monocular double vision in both eyes. Does this mean that sometimes you have double vision in one eye, and sometimes double vision in the other, but never double vision in both eyes at the same time? If so, maybe that is what I experience.

Any abnormalities noted with your optic nerve or is this another place where lesions can exist but not be visible?

Audrey
Helpful - 0
2
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Multiple Sclerosis Community

Top Neurology Answerers
987762 tn?1671273328
Australia
5265383 tn?1669040108
ON
1756321 tn?1547095325
Queensland, Australia
1780921 tn?1499301793
Queen Creek, AZ
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Find out how beta-blocker eye drops show promising results for acute migraine relief.
In this special Missouri Medicine report, doctors examine advances in diagnosis and treatment of this devastating and costly neurodegenerative disease.
Here are 12 simple – and fun! – ways to boost your brainpower.
Discover some of the causes of dizziness and how to treat it.
Discover the common causes of headaches and how to treat headache pain.
Two of the largest studies on Alzheimer’s have yielded new clues about the disease