Hi,

I have just come across this forum. I'm wondering if people can give their opinions and answer questions from the following dialog concerning my vision problems.

I'm a 41 year old male and due to an eye being crossed as a child, I basically only have sight in one eye but until a few years ago, could see 20/20 out of that eye, corrected. Since then my vision on my "good" eye has deteriorated to the point of 20/40 - 20/50. Basically the symptom is that items are blurry and have a lack of contrast. It affects far distance more then near. I can read a pill bottle but cannot recognize a face too far down the hall. I am more color blind then before, particularly with small objects. I have seen many specialists and have had many tests done including a field vision test and a flueroscopy (sp?), I think that is what it is called but dye is injected in your body and pictures are then taken of your retina. Also an initial MRI. All was negative. One glimmer of hope I have is that one opthamologist swears he sees a cortical cataract and that must be the cause of the vision problem. Another says he may see slight spoking but it is very minor and he questions whether it is even reaching the center of the eye. It acts like a cataract to me. It seems like there is a "sheen" on things and that if I could just wipe it off with windex all would be well. I think I see slightly better in overcast conditions then I do in the sun althought I don't think I have a huge glare problem that I read cataracts can cause. I have done an experiment and that is if I focus just below an object that is blurry so that the object is in my upper peripheral vision, it becomes much clearer although being outside the macular, I can't read it very well. I use the vcr clock from viewing from the bed a lot for this experiment.

But lately a new symptom has appeared that has made me quite nervous. Straight lines and text are now slightly wavy. I printed out an amsler grid and looked at it and the lines are slightly wavy, not much but a little. But the thing is, it changes constantly. One part of a line can look slightly wavy or a computer text word on the monitor may appear to be running down hill slightly and I can close my eyes and reopen and the waviness for that area could be gone or moved to another area. When viewing normal objects, driving, etc., I do not notice this waviness. I know this could point to a macular problem but I had a dilated exam, just three months ago and the doctor said the macular looked fine and likewise that was the opinion out of all the tests and exams I have had in the past. Likewise if a macular problem, I think the waviness would be more constant and predictable?

OK, a few questions. Is macular damage generally readily apparent when having dilated vision exams or in particular the fleuroscopy I had? Could a lens distortion caused by a cataract cause the waviness as well. I only first really noticed this a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it was there all the time and finally progressed to the point where it was noticable or a recent occurence. Although I'm better now, I also had a pretty bad two/three week cold as well.

Based on my described symptoms, can anybody venture a guess what it might be? I'm wondering if someone with confirmed macular damage can comment on whether they share the same symptoms which is the loss of contrast and blurriness of everyday items, whether there are straight boundaries present or not?

I will be extremely grateful for any comments. To say I'm nervous about the whole situation is a huge understatement. If it continues to get worse, the time is approaching where I won't be able to do my job, save nothing of getting my driver's license renewed. The doctor who thinks it is a cataract says he won't do surgery until it gets worse. I'll add that I don't have diabetes or high blood pressure. I generally eat ok and take Ocupower vitamins. My worse sin is that I drink too much alcohol. If you have any specific questions or need something to be clarified, please ask.

Thanks,

Gary

Gary:

I have a quesion for you. When you were looking at the Amsler grid and saw wavy lines, did you have any blind spots?

I didn't know what a "cortical" cataract was, so I looked it up. Your symptoms do sound like that, except, as you say, it's not supposed to affect the central vision.

I can answer a couple of your questions, but can't be of much more help.

When wavy lines result from MD, it's because of blood leakage behind the retina. This is the wet variety of MD. The fluorescein angiogram you had would detect this. I don't know if a cataract can cause wavy lines. It can distort the light passing through, so it's possible. The dry variety of MD is caused by thinning of the retina. I'm not familiar with the symptoms--you'd have to look that up.

Macular damage doesn't necessarily show up visually on a dilated examination. I have no central vision, but my retinas don't look bad enough to warrant that (eg, pallor, narrowing of blood vessels). There are rarer conditions that affect different layers of the retina also.

Let's hope it turns out to be a cataract and is fixable. If you do need lens replacement, "look into" crystalens (they are multifocal).

Good luck,
Torre

I have macular edema due to leaking blood vessels in the retinal area. This was caused by diabetes. I remember my first symptom was blurriness in my left eye and when I closed my right eye and checked the license plate in front of my car, the numbers were slanted! Since this had never happened before, I assumed it was because I had just flown home the night before on a long plane trip and the pressure had affected my eye.
When I finally realized that the condition was not going to clear, I saw an opthomologist, had a angiogram done in both eyes and found out diabetes had damaged both eyes, the left being more damaged than the right.
But if diabetes and high blood pressure have been ruled out in your case, it's puzzling that you are seeing way lines on the grid test. I wouldn't let it go... I would continue to see other doctors until you find the reason for your problems. Your eyesight is far too precious to take any chances in that regard.
It seems fairly clear that missing spaces and wavy lines on a amsler grid point to some sort of macular/retinal problem.
Please take care of yourself. If I had only acted earlier I might have been able to save more of my eyesight. I can still drive, but have problems with reading, strong light glare and the detail art work I have always loved.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I don't believe I have any blind spots and passed a field vision test. The general blurriness and loss of contrast is consistant and seemingly thruout the whole central vision. The waviness I see while seemingly always present to an extent seems to "move around" some and I don't know if it's my imagination or not but sometimes worse at some times then others. I wish my left eye was ok so I could compare between the two. Since first being tested for the eye problems, 3 1/2 years ago, my vision has decreased further but at a fairly slow rate, maybe one line or so on the Snelling graph. When I take the eye tests where you looking into a chart in a machine, I see better then when looking at a chart on the wall.

I'm sorry for the eye problems you two are having. I've always gotten by fine with basically monocular vision until this happened. I would much rather lose my hearing. I see the opthamologist on the 17th and depending on what he says, I may try to get a third consultant outside the insurance rhelm with an othamologist, possibly from the Mass Eye and Ear in Boston. If anybody has any recommendations of one within the greater Boston area, pease share.

Gary

Geepondy, I just finished reading all of your earlier posts. Since Nov. 04, I have seen two Opthalmologist, and two Retinal Specialists, on more that one occasion, and have had several tests. My initial complaint was a "blurry" spot in front of me occasionally, and one very large and long floater, all of this was new, beginning around o1Nov04. I have been told of a cataract on my right eye since I was 15, but had not "seen" it, or did not realize it was affecting my vision.

I have read and my doc says that they are having great results removing cataracts at an earlier point, rather than allowing them to go "ripe" as they have in years past.
I felt that I was even too young for the surgery, as I only knew people in their 70's and 80's who have had the surgery.

Whatever you do, keep going until you feel comfortable and have all of your questions answered. Some doctors don't tell unless you ask.

Thanks Joyful54. I have just discovered that I definitely have a blurry, hazy blob, right in the middle of my central vision, also maybe extending a little to the right. This is much more apparent in low light then regular light. I was looking at a strip of outlets on a powerstrip in very low room lighting when I noticed the central one had a white haze on it and I just barely could make out the two slots where the plug plugs into while the one beside it and below it in peripheral vision were basically fine. This blob followed wherever I shifted my central vision. The problem was not as bad as I increased the room lighting. I feel this is either the problem of my vision loss of recent years or a major contributor to my problem.

I am concerned about the bending of straight lines in a convex nature at or around this blurry blob but I am really hoping it is a lens disorder rather then a macular problem. From what I read the blurry, cloudy blob seems to be more like a cataract as with md, people report gray or black spots, not cloudy blobs. I suppose there is an outside chance it could be both.

Like you, I have a stupid floater(s) but I don't think that is the cause of my problem, they are just a pain in the butt.

I have read about the focusable crystalens that Torre mentioned. If my problem definitely is a cataract and requires surgery at some point, these definitely sound promising although I would not want to be an early test study with monocular vision.

Anyhow I see another ophthamologist this coming Thursday. I also have recommendations from co-workers of two more that I may see, even if my HMO insurance will not cover it.