I have been seeing spots/sparkles/flashes of light for over a year now. I dubbed it 'a sparkle day'. Some days are worse than others and some days I do not see them at all. Well I finally had enough of these sparkles and went to see an eye doctor today. He looked in my eyes and said 'this is bad'. He said my pupils were twice the normal size, they were too large. He told me to wear very dark sunglasses, prescribed -.25 glasses for night vision, and some lubricating eye drops. He did not diagnose me with anything? I am just curious why that is 'bad'? I think I will get a second opinion. I am also confused on how sunglasses and eye drops will fix the problem?

I'm sorry that you are dealing with the flashes of light and are so panicked about the enlarged pupils. I'm not sure what that could mean, but please do get a second opinion from a totally separate opthalmalic practice. You may be able to get the medical report from that dr that said not in so many words that things were not as they should be. He most likely provided a diagnosis on paper at least for medical insurance or just records in general. Perhaps you can call up the office tomorrow and ask the office manager or nurse what diagnosis he has provided. Perhaps you can bring those records/reports to another eye dr.

He may have suggested eye drops due to dry eye(?) I'm only saying that since I have dry eye as well though don't use the eye drops that the eye dr gave to me as I'm so obsessive-compulsive about my health and various medications ;) Please don't take after me though :)

I happen to also get ocular migraines which may cause an aura or visual stimulation such as the flashing lights or also for me, seeing what looks like rain but in my house ;) The migraine usually hurts on one side of the head, just fyi. However, the flashing lights can indicate other problems such as (not to panic you even more) a detached retina. The dr would've most likely had told you about that if he suspected it so it's great that you're considering getting a 2nd opinion to be more clear of what's going on with your vision.

Please do go to (another) opthalmologist and Not an optometrist as the former has had much more training in eye disorders and may perform other treatments. Perhaps a teaching hospital has such a dr or even a referral from your family physician can point you in a certain direction rather than just pulling a name out of the yellow pages ;) Wishing you well.

I went to a more expensive eye doctor. They did about 5 more tests, including pupil pictures (which were really cool). And said my pupils were large but they are normal. She said the sparkles I see are caused from a lose viterous gel in my eye which was caused from pre eclampsia I had a year ago.

Thankfully, it doesn't sound like anything serious. I didn't realize that pre eclampsia can cause that type of thing with the eyes. I'm glad that you did get a second opinion. Thanks for giving me an update :)

Slightly off topic, but my cat (who we had to unfortunately had to put to sleep due to unrelated cancer) had retinal degeneration (retina is at the back of the eye that takes in light) and one of the supplements that helped her with night vision (albeit thankfully it doesn't sound like you do) which seemed to be helped by the herb 'bilberry' (from the blueberry family, just a little bit of trivia ;) and it was recommended by her vet who practices alternative as well as conventional medicine for animals.

We also gave her two other supplements, per the eye vet, taurine (essential amino acid) and brewer's yeast (may help those with nerve regeneration problems albeit not a panacea, cure-all) and one or all three really seemed to help her night vision. She was then able to go into dark rooms once again albeit still having noticeable problems with vision. Not sure if you have cats, but they don't make their own taurine and must get that in their diet or by supplementation. She also had colitis (inflammation of the colon which is part of the large intestine) and what helped her was gastroplex prescribed by the alternative (and conventional medicine) vet. It really helped the loose bowels and much better than prednisone (for her). Just fyi and please take good care :)

I'm sorry you are dealing with eye problems. Hopefully it is nothing serious. My thoughts and prayers are with you.:angel: Hang in there.

Nadine:)