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Hello! I posted here quite frequently several years ago when I was in the middle of a dry eye flareup, and I learned so much on this forum. I've got another problem now, and I'm wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this, or has any advice or suggestions.
I'm 47 years old, high myope, never had LASIK; have worn soft contacts since age 15 and have, for the past 25 years or so, been living with dry eyes. I also have well-controlled Type 1 diabetes, hypothyroidism (controlled with meds) and high blood pressure (also controlled with meds).
Recently, around Thanksgiving or so, I began to notice more floaters, and some flashes in my vision in my right eye. Worried that I might have a retinal detachment, I visited an O.D. She dilated my eyes, took a good look and diagnosed me with a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD). This is a benign condition, but can cause floaters that may be permanent. She said I have no retinopathy, no retinal tear or detachment, no macular degeneration, no glaucoma (though my eye pressures were a little high, my corneas are supposedly a bit thicker than average). She told me to come back if I had any other issues. Well...as it happened, over the next few weeks I noticed that my vision in my right eye, the one with the PVD, seemed worse -- I was getting a glare around lights, a blurriness that seemed to come and go when I blinked (kind of like looking through a dirty contact lens), and my eye was feeling drier than usual. I went back to her. She did fluorescin staining and said my eye had a lot of dry spots. She prescribed Alrex and Restasis. I told her I'd never had much luck with Restasis in the past, but she said to try it again anyway.
The problem didn't seem to be improving, and the blurriness was bothering me quite a bit -- it's especially bothersome when I wear contacts or work on a computer or screen of any kind. It goes back and forth, back and forth as I look this way or that -- it clears up for a few seconds then seems to slide back. It's like a blurry spot at the center of my vision -- I can see through it, but it's blurry, like a fingerprint on an eyeglass lens -- so annoying. And the glare around lights is consistently there. I have cut down on my contact lens wear greatly because of this. But I am a high myope (-12.00) and really prefer to wear contacts if at all possible -- although at this point I'd settle for whatever will allow me to see clearly without this shifting blurriness. My job as a newspaper editor requires me to look at a computer all day.
So I went to see an ophthalmologist, thinking an MD might catch something an OD had missed. He dilated me, looked at my retina, took a picture of it, showed me the picture, which he said was perfectly normal. No retinal problems, he said. No hemorrhaging. He said my optic nerve looked fine. He was rather dismissive of my blurriness/dry eye concerns, saying "Oh, that's just a tear film issue. We'll put in plugs." He said I have blepharitis but "everyone has that," and he was dismissive when I asked if I had MGD. I asked if the blurriness might be caused by the floaters from PVD, maybe a big fuzzy one right in the center of my vision, and his response was vague -- he said "everyone gets that" (meaning the PVD) and told me he had some floaters himself. He's a nice enough man, but he seems to be one of those doctors who is kind of impatient and rushed -- he has the "just do as I say" kind of attitude. His main point of concern seemed to be the high eye pressures (I believe they were 23 and 24), but after doing pachymetry and the nerve fiber analysis, he seems to think I only have ocular hypertension and not glaucoma. He is, however, having me come in for a gonioscopy and visual field test at the end of this week, to make sure of that, and at that visit he wants to put in temporary (three-month collagen) plugs.
I'm just worried about my right eye at this point. I'm wondering if I should start doing eye scrubs -- maybe the blurriness is due to oils in my tear film? I attempted to do an eyelid wash (with a Q-tip and saline) tonight, along with a warm compress, and it hasn't helped much. I frankly am a bit leery of havng plugs put in if I have any type of lid margin disease -- I can't see myself doing scrubs and working with my lids if there are plugs in there. I'm also wondering if maybe I have another problem on top of the dry eyes -- I read somewhere that a blurry spot in the center of one's vision can also be caused by brain tumors or multiple sclerosis, and that kind of freaks me out -- what if this is the first sign of MS, or worse? I know, worst case scenario thinking is not productive, but in this day and age doctors sometimes miss things.
The part that worries me the most is that this blurriness isn't going away or getting any better, and I've been living with it for two months. I'm thinking of trying a new doctor. What would you do if you were me? I welcome any thoughts or suggestions. (And thank you for reading my story!)
I'm 47 years old, high myope, never had LASIK; have worn soft contacts since age 15 and have, for the past 25 years or so, been living with dry eyes. I also have well-controlled Type 1 diabetes, hypothyroidism (controlled with meds) and high blood pressure (also controlled with meds).
Recently, around Thanksgiving or so, I began to notice more floaters, and some flashes in my vision in my right eye. Worried that I might have a retinal detachment, I visited an O.D. She dilated my eyes, took a good look and diagnosed me with a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD). This is a benign condition, but can cause floaters that may be permanent. She said I have no retinopathy, no retinal tear or detachment, no macular degeneration, no glaucoma (though my eye pressures were a little high, my corneas are supposedly a bit thicker than average). She told me to come back if I had any other issues. Well...as it happened, over the next few weeks I noticed that my vision in my right eye, the one with the PVD, seemed worse -- I was getting a glare around lights, a blurriness that seemed to come and go when I blinked (kind of like looking through a dirty contact lens), and my eye was feeling drier than usual. I went back to her. She did fluorescin staining and said my eye had a lot of dry spots. She prescribed Alrex and Restasis. I told her I'd never had much luck with Restasis in the past, but she said to try it again anyway.
The problem didn't seem to be improving, and the blurriness was bothering me quite a bit -- it's especially bothersome when I wear contacts or work on a computer or screen of any kind. It goes back and forth, back and forth as I look this way or that -- it clears up for a few seconds then seems to slide back. It's like a blurry spot at the center of my vision -- I can see through it, but it's blurry, like a fingerprint on an eyeglass lens -- so annoying. And the glare around lights is consistently there. I have cut down on my contact lens wear greatly because of this. But I am a high myope (-12.00) and really prefer to wear contacts if at all possible -- although at this point I'd settle for whatever will allow me to see clearly without this shifting blurriness. My job as a newspaper editor requires me to look at a computer all day.
So I went to see an ophthalmologist, thinking an MD might catch something an OD had missed. He dilated me, looked at my retina, took a picture of it, showed me the picture, which he said was perfectly normal. No retinal problems, he said. No hemorrhaging. He said my optic nerve looked fine. He was rather dismissive of my blurriness/dry eye concerns, saying "Oh, that's just a tear film issue. We'll put in plugs." He said I have blepharitis but "everyone has that," and he was dismissive when I asked if I had MGD. I asked if the blurriness might be caused by the floaters from PVD, maybe a big fuzzy one right in the center of my vision, and his response was vague -- he said "everyone gets that" (meaning the PVD) and told me he had some floaters himself. He's a nice enough man, but he seems to be one of those doctors who is kind of impatient and rushed -- he has the "just do as I say" kind of attitude. His main point of concern seemed to be the high eye pressures (I believe they were 23 and 24), but after doing pachymetry and the nerve fiber analysis, he seems to think I only have ocular hypertension and not glaucoma. He is, however, having me come in for a gonioscopy and visual field test at the end of this week, to make sure of that, and at that visit he wants to put in temporary (three-month collagen) plugs.
I'm just worried about my right eye at this point. I'm wondering if I should start doing eye scrubs -- maybe the blurriness is due to oils in my tear film? I attempted to do an eyelid wash (with a Q-tip and saline) tonight, along with a warm compress, and it hasn't helped much. I frankly am a bit leery of havng plugs put in if I have any type of lid margin disease -- I can't see myself doing scrubs and working with my lids if there are plugs in there. I'm also wondering if maybe I have another problem on top of the dry eyes -- I read somewhere that a blurry spot in the center of one's vision can also be caused by brain tumors or multiple sclerosis, and that kind of freaks me out -- what if this is the first sign of MS, or worse? I know, worst case scenario thinking is not productive, but in this day and age doctors sometimes miss things.
The part that worries me the most is that this blurriness isn't going away or getting any better, and I've been living with it for two months. I'm thinking of trying a new doctor. What would you do if you were me? I welcome any thoughts or suggestions. (And thank you for reading my story!)
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