Always worries about eyes / retina

[merlin05]

Hi,

My HA jumps from worry to worry, but a recurring one is my eyes and in particular fear of retinal issues. I have ugh myopia and some astigmatism too (myopia around 7 but they usually add the astigmatism so itÂ’s closer to 10 with how they write it down). IÂ’ve been told that IÂ’ve got a slightly higher risk of detachment because of the myopia, although when IÂ’ve expressed concern over this the optician has said that itÂ’s only a slight increase on whatÂ’s already a rare condition.

I find myself testing my eyes a lot, e.g. going into a completely dark room to check for flashes. Sometimes in day to day life I think I might be seeing a flash but then realise itÂ’s really just light bouncing off my spectacles in a particular way.

ThereÂ’s one thing that happened back in spring, around 6 months ago now. I was in a play park with my family and wasnÂ’t wearing sunglasses. I have really sensitive eyes so almost always wear sunglasses when itÂ’s bright outside. It was late morning and there were a lot of bright clouds, but the sun was covered. We heard an aircraft fly overhead and looked up at it. When I looked back down I noticed a black spot in my vision exactly like the sort youÂ’d see when a camera flash goes off. The spot faded and disappeared completely after about 30 seconds (I didnÂ’t time it). I can create a similar effect by staring at a bright car headlight for a few seconds.

I’m basically concerned in case this was a “flash” of the type that’s concerning from the point of view of retinal issues. From what I’ve read though it sounds like something between an afterimage and a overstimulation.

[Strew49]

Just wanted to say that I'm on the brink going into high myopia and my eyes have not stabilised so I'm fairly certain I'll be firmly in it at my next test. I think about this A LOT and it can cause such severe anxiety and depression. I know, from experience, that advice might not help at all how you're feeling, but it helped me a tiny bit to learn that even when high myopia causes tears/detachments, most cases are treated with vision retained. I appreciate that's not all that comforting, because the procedures can still cause fear but it wouldn't necessarily mean vision loss. I get flashes with migraines, so I understand the worry of wanting to monitor them, but with retinal detachment the symptoms would be prominent and would not go away. From what I've read and understood, a shadow in the vision that doesn't go away is the main sign. The kind of black spot you're describing sounds like a normal reaction to intense light, I also get little black spots sometimes with eye fatigue the important thing is that they do eventually disappear.

One thing that helped me, was to make an effort to watch/read the content of blind content creators and to make a conscious effort to learn what I can do now to make what I do more accessible for blind and visually impaired people. I may never end up with visual impairments, but there are people who already live with them and a huge part of my fear is how inaccessible the world is for that group so if I can do even a small part to make it better at least I know I'm contributing some good. It's also shut my anxiety up quite a lot to see that life goes on, and can be rich and fulfilling even if it's something we'd rather doesn't happen.