Question
I'm a fairly healthy 19 year old female and I'm having eye problems, to put it simply. I noticed a couple months ago that my vision was getting blurrier and blurrier out of nowhere. Two weeks ago I started to see these black shadows starting from the corner of my right eye and kind of shooting out. They were pretty fast. I saw at least 5 in one day last week... I've gone three days without seeing one of these shadows but my vision is very blurry which is strange, since I've always had good vision. Today out of my peripheral I noticed a white kind of misty looking thing by my computer and when I turned to look at it, it was gone. Sounds like a ghost, I know, but I'm convinced it came from my own eye. I've also been getting bad headaches that make me want to cry when I look at any lights (dull, bright, you name it. If it's a light it hurts) but I'm not sure if that's related because I had them before these vision problems started. Any idea what's going on with my eyeballs?
Answer
Hi Eve,
Generally we would not worry about connecting your headache with the eyes in a worrisome way. Though what you've noticed may be related to migraine type phenomena, it's the change in vision and the weird things you've seen that need to be addressed quickly. Each eye needs to be examined completely and you can see any eye doctor anywhere to get started. Do not delay, because if something has happened to your eye the sooner treatment is started the better. Your descriptions are not unusual or without explanation but first the eye needs to be checked before your symptoms can be explained. You may not find an eye doctor on Thanksgiving, but tomorrow you can so make sure it is a priority.
Best of luck,
Mitch Axelrod, OD
