Blurry vision after certification dives?

[Lenaxia]

Hey guys,

One of my friends just got certified yesterday which is totally awesome, but this morning she is asking me about blurry vision.

She says there's no pain at all but she has a minor loss of peripheral vision and its hard for her to see. It's persisted since this morning and hasn't abated yet. Otherwise she's fine and apparently after the dives yesterday she was fine too. She does wear contacts.

Has anyone experienced or know someone who's experienced similar symptoms before?

As a bit more detail, she did surface moderately quickly 3 times during the dives because she couldn't deflate her BCD, but at the depths that they were at (35ft max for 30 min or so), aside from an embolism, there shouldn't be anything else really dangerous, and there was obviously no embolism since shes not dead.

Thanks guys,

-Mike

 

[grantwiscour]

The blurry vision might not be a problem but it is a bit concerning. It sounds like something related to pressure but I'm not doctor or opthamologist. Maybe give DAN a call.

 

[Guba]

I would DEFINITELY give the DAN hotline a call. I'm not a physician, but I've been involved in the medical field enough to know that loss of peripheral vision is many times related to a loss of blood flow, either to the optic nerve or the part of the brain where vision is analyzed. In my layman's opinion, losing any part of vision for an extended period is cause enough to seek the advice of experts (read that professionals), and DAN is the quickest way to get the information and/or recommendations you need.

By the way, embolisms don't always kill...many times they produce stroke-like symptoms as damaged blood vessels restrict proper blood flow to specific area of the brain and nervous tissue. Altered vision is one of those symptoms. Make the call.

And don't let the lack of depth minimize the dangers of rapid ascent. Remember, the greatest pressure changes occur in the first 10 m.

 

[Lenaxia]

Called DAN, they told her to just go see a normal doctor. Guess we'll have to wait for a final diagnosis.

 

[Dyin-To-Dive]

This might sound like a stretch, but when I dive, I get really dry eyes. I used to wear contacts and have had lasik since then. When I dove with contacts, the next day, my eyes would be very dry in the morning and I would have to use artificial tears to help with the issue.

I would still see an opthamologist, but it may be as simple as dry eyes.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Not sure what the status of this is, but if the symptoms are persisting she needs to get to the ED immediately. This could be caused by a number of things, but if it's related to ischemia, time is of the essence. Don't wait.

 

[Lenaxia]

So just as an update... this turned out to be a non-starter. Turns out when she went to the doctor and they asked her to take out her contacts her vision returned to normal. The culprit? She put in her husband's contacts. The astigmatism correction caused the loss of peripheral vision and the weaker prescription caused the blurriness. Go figure, clumsiness at it's best.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

 

[mathauck0814]

Now that's funny. Glad everything ended up OK.