Hypersensitivity/Overly Aware Vision

[magicmadcap]

Hey, did any of you guys become hypersensitve or overly aware of your vision once you started having eye problems? When my eye problems started I didn't know what was going on so I started looking at floaters and then I started seeing all types of entoptic phenomenon.

Now I can't get rid of it. I see floaters and afterimages all the time. The floaters I can deal with but the afterimages are just horrible. When I'm looking at a screen, I see the afterimage of writing and figures all over the screen. Whatever is on the screen, I can look next to it or around it and see an afterimage.

Is this normal? It's like my brain can't filter these things out anymore now that I know about it. It's got me really worried and has me thinking I have all types of mental disorders all the time. I've read a lot of posts on different forums of people going through the same thing but I worry that I'll never be able to see the way I used to.

Will I ever be able to filter this stuff out again? What do you guys think? Can anyone relate? Have any of you guys become hypersensitive or overly aware of floaters and afterimages?

-J

[Rebecca Petris]

Is this normal?

Yup. - Normal in the sense not surprising and happens to others (though not necessarily the majority).

Will I ever be able to filter this stuff out again?

Yup.

Can anyone relate? Have any of you guys become hypersensitive or overly aware of floaters and afterimages?

Yup.

I think that vision anxiety accounts for a lot of it. Having something go wrong with your eyes, no matter what it is, has a profound psychological effect and there have been medical studies done on this.

A good example of the heightened awareness effect is the post refractive (LASIK, PRK etc) folks. I think almost all of them, including those with picture-perfect outcomes become "acutely aware" of their vision for a time after surgery.

In fact, with LASIK this can be a very contentious point between patient and doctor because the doctor all too often attributes ALL reported unusual visual phenomena to this effect when it's not.

Personally I had a massive increase in floaters after LASIK in 2001. There were times, especially around 2002-2003, when I was constantly aware of them and they drove me nuts. Now I don't often think about them though they still get in the way now and then. In the summers I still find myself slapping at a mosquito that was really a floater. So I guess what I'm saying is, if my awareness subsided even with a bunch of real new visual "effects", I feel sure that the hyper-awareness will subside.

[stella]

After i experienced multiple floaters in both eyes following bi-lateral vitreous detatchments( which my ophtho described as a "normal" event due to aging in some people)------ I thought i would never get used to these floaters

Now after 4 years I never see them
They are there if i look for them but my brain has got so used to them that they dont register any more
You will get to the same stage eventually - Quicker if you can be relaxed and not worry about them

[coxblox]

Some of it may be to over awreness but I don't fully agree as I'm not sure why I just started seeing ghosted vision one day and floaters almost the next. Something mechanical has definitely occured that has caused a myriad of adverse eye effects I'm currently experiencing.

I think there is some sort of broad inflammation of my eye that is causing alot of these effects. I'm tempted to see if restasis will fix it but i don;t like the idea of putting cyclosporine in my eye forever. I would rather take a natural approach and see if my body can somehow deal with it as have noticed over the past month or so my ghosting subsiding a little and vision fluctuating between days more frequently than before but not sure if it means anything yet.

[Rebecca Petris]

Coxblox, welcome.

If you've had a sudden change in vision then 'overawareness' is probably not relevant. Ghosting can be due to a variety of optical causes from astigmatism to edema to surgical aftermath. A sudden increase in floaters should trigger a visit to the retinal specialist to get checked out. Personally I wouldn't associate either of these two things with dry eye although it's certainly possible to have ghosting and blur from dryness.

[coxblox]

Thanks Becca. Yup, I would agree I'm not 100% convinced what I'm experiencing which is currently; chronic aching eye, transient conjuctival broken vessels, floaters, ghosted vision, after-images and starbursts can be wholly attributed to dry eyes. Nor do I think they can be attributed to astigmatism unless approx 2 diopter shifts can occur literally overnight. I've been checked by two opthalmologists and it's not a retinal edema. Could be a corneal edema but would have to see a specialist in that field I suppose.

At this point though, I'm just kinda accepting it and see how it progresses.

[mike838]

Hey, did any of you guys become hypersensitve or overly aware of your vision once you started having eye problems? When my eye problems started I didn't know what was going on so I started looking at floaters and then I started seeing all types of entoptic phenomenon.

Now I can't get rid of it. I see floaters and afterimages all the time. The floaters I can deal with but the afterimages are just horrible. When I'm looking at a screen, I see the afterimage of writing and figures all over the screen. Whatever is on the screen, I can look next to it or around it and see an afterimage.

Is this normal? It's like my brain can't filter these things out anymore now that I know about it. It's got me really worried and has me thinking I have all types of mental disorders all the time. I've read a lot of posts on different forums of people going through the same thing but I worry that I'll never be able to see the way I used to.

Will I ever be able to filter this stuff out again? What do you guys think? Can anyone relate? Have any of you guys become hypersensitive or overly aware of floaters and afterimages?

-J

I have always wondered if anyone else had this problem. I never asked because my drs always looked at me like I har 10 heads when mentioning it. I have got over it one time but this time of my dry eye bout its back but as of now not so bad. I feel for you because its not easy to deal with.

[magicmadcap]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. Has anyone had any experiences with afterimages?

[Stanza]

I get a lot of floaters, no afterimages, definitely more floaters since the DES, I have astigmatism and high rx.

[feldfan]

I'm experiencing the same symptoms. I'm baffled at how dry eye (a surface problem) is related to increased floaters (an interior problem). Any thoughts on that?

Also, I've uploaded some mockups of my vision issues to show my doctor. Just tying these two threads together:
http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=10415