Good evening everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone can give some casual advice on a vision problem I've had for the past two days. Suddenly, in the late afternoon yesterday, I noticed that the vision in my right eye had become blurry. Although the blurriness fluctuated, it never cleared, and I went to bed hoping it would ease off through the night. I woke up fine - and was very relieved! - but within about a half hour it was back, and has persisted through the whole day today (again, getting slightly better and slightly worse, off and on, without ever clearing).

I wear glasses. I am farsighted in that eye (and nearsighted in the other, go figue) but I can't sharpen the foocus or get rid of the blur in my right eye no matter how near or close the object I'm looking at is positioned. I have a mild "eyeball headache," which feels like simple strain from trying to focus for the past two days. There is no pain in the eye itself, and I have no other symptoms. I don't have diabetes that I know of, but have never been tested for it either (so I suppose it's a possibility). My right eye isn't bloodshot, nor does the pupil look either larger or smaller than the pupil of my other eye. I have had floaters (hair-like, rather than spots) since I had Lasik six years ago, but there are no *new* floaters.

Basically, I'm baffled by what would cause painless blurring, in only one eye, that fluctuates (my vision being normal on first waking up, for example), with no other symptoms. Wouldn't a bleed, infection, or inflammation in the eye cause a steady state of blurriness, or some sensation of pain or pressure?

Of course, I'm also worried as heck. This being Southern Ontario, I don't have a family physician, and an opthamologist is impossible to see without a referral.

Hi. I'm in southern Ontario too. Make an appointment with an optometrist. ODs are well-trained and can tell you if something is wrong.Coincidently, my husband was at the optometrist's yesterday and the bill was $75.00.
I don't know much about dry eye, but the folks here have said that will cause blurriness. But you should get it checked out.

Dependent on your age, it could be a normal condition known as posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) which mainly affects people in the 50-80 years old region. An optometrist/optician will not always be able to detect it. If it last for more than a week, you should see an ophthalmologist at a hospital or eye clinic.
PVD is due to shrinkage of the vitreous gel inside the eye and its separation from the retina. This occurs with most people in that age range and often passes without notice. In others, the gel is a bit sticky and it does not separate cleanly (as in my case).
If you are not in that age range, then you should see an eye specialist asap to find out the cause.

Thanks for you replies, Brian and Keela. I really appreciate you taking the time to read my inquiry and post back.

I got in to see an opthamologist today and he saw nothing structurally wrong (no bleeding, inflammation, or infection). He has a couple of ideas about what could be causing the blurriness:

(1) Eye strain from focusing too long on a fixed distance. I'm finishing up my thesis (it's literally due tomorrow!) and have been spending 16 hours a day in front of my notebook.

(2) Damage from Lasik surgery. I had Lasik about 7 years ago to correct for myopia. Apparently, inside my eye, there are now lots of strange "folds" that are "dessiccated." I don't know what part of my eye he's talking about (lens? cornea?), or what these "folds" are, exactly. I'll ask for more details when I go back - right now I'm hoping it's just eye strain.

If both (1) and (2) turn out to be non-starters, the opthamologist said we would talk about something like diabetes, but for now he's "not too worried about that." I guess it doesn't look a disease process at work.

So I go back in two weeks. In the interim I have to use lubricating drops and promise to stay off the computer - after tomorrow, of course!

Hi, samgrey.

Two words stood out to me in your post about your visit to the eye doctor-- "dessicated" and "folds."

There is a condition that you may want to check out, called anterior basement membrane dystrophy; it has other names, like epithelial basement membrane dystrophy, Cogan's dystrophy, and map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy. It is characterized by what some doctors describe as a slipped rug (like a rug on a smooth floor that has been multiple folds from having been slid upon) appearance. It can result in painful recurrent corneal erosions, but most patients are asymptomatic or have mild, fluctuating visual acuity and / or astigmatism without any pain or severe loss of vision.

If you had LASIK, you may have developed it where the epithelium was severed from the basement membrane. I have it and did not see signs of it until over 20 years after a corneal abrasion that I suffered.

You may want to experiment with a relatively pricey eye drop, called Muro 128 5%. It is mostly saline, and it helps to dry out those "folds," which are dessicated, perhaps in some places, but the bottom of them is waterlogged (with this condition). If your vision becomes crisp due to the Muro, which you can get in local drugstores for, like $20 per 15ml bottle, then you will have a clue as to whether or not this problem is the one that you have. Muro is over-the-counter and safe to use. I used it for a month under the care of a corneal specialist, and it helped me to crisp up my vision and cured my astigmatism that was caused by abmd.

Here is more about it:

-Dominantly inherited, also called Map-Dot-Fingerprint Dystrophy or Cogan's microcystic epithelial dystrophy.
-The most common anterior dystrophy incidentally seen in the ophthalmology practice during routine examination.
-Clinical features:

-Symptoms: more commonly asymptomatic.
-Signs:
o Bilateral, map-like patterns, fingerprint lines, fine dots (microcysts) or comma-shaped opacities
o After the third decade of life, about 10% of patients present with recurrent corneal erosions
o A mild decrease in visual acuity

Checking back in, after the second visit to the eye doctor, with an update...

The official diagnosis is "accomodative spasm," which occurs when your eye locks into a specific focal distance - for example, in the wake of me staring at my laptop screen 16 hrs./day while finishing my thesis. It wasn't a strong/certain diagnosis - the doc basically said he didn't see anything that indicated any *other* sort of problem - so I'm not as relieved as I could be.

My vision is intermittently back to 20/20, as it does stray into blurriness for short periods when I spend too much time on the computer, watching a DVD, reading, etc. It takes a rest of about 15 minutes, eyes closed, for the blurriness to clear. With luck, my eyes will get stronger and I'll be back to steady vision in the next little while. In the meantime, I've invested in a few audiobooks :)

Gentealgel - thanks so much for your input. The eye doctor indicated that he's not too worried about the folds for now, but has instructed me to call if I have any other issues. (I hope the folds don't become a problem in the future!)