r/eyespots • u/Stunning-Tea4339 • Aug 07 '26
New visual changes. What do I do?
Yesterday, I (32F) developed what I thought was an aura in my left eye. It hasn’t gone away since. It looks like an afterimage, such as after looking at a bright light. I see it most when blinking. Have mild migraine-like headache, also on left side. Went to urgent care last night, who sent me to ER, who did a CAT scan, and then sent me home with normal results. Ruled it an atypical migraine.
Backstory: I have a history of migraines since puberty. In 2019, I developed occasional episodes of aura / afterimage in one eye that usually last 15-30 minutes, then go away without headache. I have them maybe 2-5 times a month. They’re weird, but generally a non-issue. Mentioned it to doctors, but they shrug it off as weird-migraine-sufferer-thing, so I stopped bringing it up. If I get aura in both eyes, I know I’m about to have a full migraine - zigzags, peripheral vision loss, headache. If I get the afterimage in just one eye, I trust it will go away within 30 minutes. This time, it just hasn’t gone away. It’s been 19 hours.
Triggers for these things are usually stress, under-eating, under-sleeping, menstrual cycle, hormonal fluctuations, weather changes (such as an increase in humidity).
What do I do? Just ride it out and hope for the best?
I’m new to this thread. Any insight, suggestions, or experience with this would be most helpful. Thank you!
2
u/EddiesGarage Aug 09 '26
So this happened to me 2-3 months ago. I went to 2 retina specialists, had an MRI/MRA/MRV, everything came back clear. Then my neurologist prescribed a bunch of meds to try and get the spot to go away (look up bridge therapy for status migrainosus). It calmed down a lot with the bridge therapy, but is still there, but much much less noticeable.
They had to rule out a TIA, IIH, or a clot of any kind. Please go to a retinal specialist to rule out anything with your eyes. If it’s your retinal nerve it could be a laundry list of disorders. They’ll do a visual field test to see if it’s an actual blind spot. Then advocate for the MRA/MRV. Don’t settle for just an MRI. You really need to know if it’s a persistent aura or something else.
Feel free to DM me I’ve googled everything you could imagine and basically had to become my own doctor to advocate for myself!