Progressive, recent color vision loss and light sensititivity in my 16 yr old son - Eye & Vision Message Board

amcr · 09-08-2003, 11:51 PM

My 16 year old son is losing his color vision. This started about 1.5 weeks ago, after he'd had a headache for a couple of days. The headache went away, but he was left with light sensitivity and color vision loss. It has progressed to the point where he can only see some shades of brown and blue, and everything else is shades of gray.

He told us about it on Thursday before the holiday weekend. The doctor's office was closed for the weekend from Friday through Monday. We took him to the pediatrician on Tuesday, and to the ophthamologist on Friday. We (my son and I) were very unhappy with the eye dr, as he was not very communicative about what he was doing or why, and seemed to latch too quickly onto the theory that this is migraine related (based on the fact that it occured after a headache and there is a family history of migraines). That dr scheduled a CT scan w/contrast for this Wednesday. We're gonna do that, but we will be taking the films with us to a new dr, a neuro-opthamologist who I called today. Their first available appt wasn't until Sept 16, so we have a week to wait. They didn't seem to think this was an emergency situation, and neither have I. But then today my son returned to school (he didn't go Friday) and the light bothers his eyes so much more than last week that he is having a very difficult time reading and seeing the chalkboard (he does wear wrap-around dark glasses, which he got a note from the dr to ensure he'd be allowed to keep them on at school). So now I'm planning on calling the new dr's office back tomorrow morning and seeing if it is at all possible for him to be seen sooner rather than later. (Also, they said that we didn't have to keep the CT appt, as they'd prefer an MRI, but that we could if we wanted to.)

I have looked around some online about color vision loss, and have not been encouraged by anything I've read. Right now one of my concerns is that this will be permanent, whatever the cause. Another concern is that he is saying that he has lost more color in the past week, and what will it be like by next week? Is it really even wise to wait to see the doctor?

I am glad to have found this forum, and hope someone can help me with some good info.

Torre · 09-09-2003, 06:46 PM

amcr:

Sorry, I can't suggest anything, but keep us posted. This is very interesting.

I hope all turns out well for your son.

Torre

galad · 09-15-2003, 03:54 PM

Have they looked at his optic nerves? The colour loss after having pains in the head plus the extreme photophobia sounds very like optic neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerves).0 I had this and initially I had to wear dark glasses in doors. That, however, was before everything got really dim and dark. The condition cleared up of its own accord in about 2 months.