Blurry Vision

[Duck on Wheels]

I've had both flashers and floaters. With each episode, I've hightailed it into my eye doctor's office. I am severely myopic and am at a higher risk for retinal detachment.

Yep. Me too. The first detachment scared me! I was lifting wet laundry out of the machine when I felt a pop and suddenly there's this smoke-like dark plume in the middle of my field of vision on one eye. Luckily it wasn't the retina that detatched, "just" the vitreous whatsit (glasslegeme in Norwegian). Next one, I recognized the flashers that preceded it and waited it out lying on my back, so a much less dramatic separation, and again left the retina in place. In the aftermath, just more floaters than before, though some of them were blood that has since cleared. The flashers, btw, are kind of like lightning or camera bulb flashes upward from the lower outer "corner" of your field of vision on one eye or the other. You do want to see an ophthalmologist if this is happening. If the retina does detatch or seems about to (ophthalmologist told me detatchment would, from my perspective, look like a curtain rolling up or down) they may be able to reattach it. If it seems imminent, then lying down can help lessen the event.

[indysteel]

I've had flashes for years. They have been diagnosed as occular migraines, but I don't get a headache with them. When I do get migraines with my period, I don't get auras. The floaters started a couple of years ago. First in one eye and then the other. My vitreous was in the process of detaching, although I'm fairly young for that to happen. Doc kept a close eye on my eyes for a few months. I had my eyes dialated every week for a while and was told to lay off any high impact stuff. What fun that was.

[itself]

Diagnosis: Dry eyes! I started using drops today that the doctor gave me, and what a difference!

[OakLeaf]

Yay! So glad that's all it was. I was really worried.

[indysteel]

I'm glad it was something as benign as dry eyes. My eyes have been crazy dry, too. Air conditioning is a blessing and a curse!

[itself]

The funny thing is that they don't "feel" dry. So it never occurred to me that it was something so silly.

[indysteel]

The funny thing is that they don't "feel" dry. So it never occurred to me that it was something so silly.

My dry eyes don't particularly bother me unless I'm wearing my contacts (which is most of the day). If you don't wear contacts, perhaps that's why you didn't notice that they were dry.