Temporary Double/Blurred Vision

[TropicalDiver]

This summer, I did a brief dive in a canal about 25' deep in the keys. Upon surfacing and taking my mask off, one of my eyes couldn't focus correctly. This lasted about 15 minutes, despite blinking, wiping my eye, etc. Then it resolved itself and my vision returned to normal... Had done 2 air dives to about 70' and 45' respectively in the morning. This third canal dive in the afternoon where it happened, I was diving air, no safety stop, duration of dive about 20 minutes. I did have LASIK about 2 years ago, with good results. Since symptoms went away after about 15 minutes, I didn't worry about it...

Within the last two weeks, a friend of mine is having the same symptoms that I had - blurred vision, in one eye, I think. He's had it twice in the last week. Dives are to 70', 67 to 71 water temp, and nitrox, duration 35 min or so - two tanks the first time and three the second. Not sure if he did full safety stops. Each time it was after the last tank of the day. Blurred vision resolved itself in his case also, after about 30 to 45 minutes or so.

Any ideas on what this could be?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

My wife recently experienced something similar after 3 dives over the course of the day to 70 to 106 ft. She had blurry vision in the right visual field of each eye. We went to the ER and the attending physician and a consulting opthamologist's poinion was that the symptoms were classic for an occular migraine caused by the constriction of a blood vessel.

Their opinon was that it was most likely diving related as changes in pressure and O2 levels can trigger an occular migraine but their advice was literally to take 2 asprin and call us in the morning if things are not back to normal.

I called DAN and the person I spoke with there did not disagree with their assessment or treatment recommendations and indicated that any kind of eye related DCS would be very rare particulary with the dives and surface intervals that day.

The symptoms did resolve the next morning leaving her with a fairly significant headache which had been predicted by the ER doc the night before.

 

[rmediver2002]

The eye or more specifically the fluid within the ocular socket absorbs inert gas very rapidly.

I am making a complete guess here but perhaps the problem is an amount of inert gas getting under the membrane and distorting the shape of the lens slightly...(could this be due to the injury / surgery site?)


I hope the picture is attached here but this is showing some nitrogen bubbles trapped in tear fluid under a contact after a ten minute dive to 60 FSW.

Jeff Lane

 

[Lloyd]

A transient blur like this is probably retinal or neurological. I doubt that the lens would distort. The lens is isolated from the body with no circulation. I suspect a small bubble in the retinal or brain circulation. The following is from www.scuba-doc.com, and I am a eye doc.

Investigators such as Polkinhorne[30], Scholz[31], Day[32], Kania[33], and Holden[34] have found ocular changes in divers. Alterations in liver enzymes were documented by Doran[35] and heart and skin effects were found by Maehle and Stuhr[36] and Ahl'en, Iverson, Risberg, Volden, Aarstet and associates[37], respectively.

The effect of diving on the eye has been the subject of considerable attention. Polkinhorn[30] studied the ocular fundi of 84 divers and found that divers had significantly more abnormalities of the retinal pigment epithelium than a comparison group of non-divers. In addition, the prevalence of fundus abnormality was related to the length of diving history. The changes noted were consistent with blockage of retinal and choroidal vessels, either from bubbles during decompression or altered behavior of blood constituents during conditions of
increased pressure. Sholz[31], on the other hand, could find no evidence for retinal damage caused by diving in a large study of color vision in divers. In a study of the pupil for neurological defects, Day[32] studied the pupil cycle time in the neurological assessment of divers with equivocal findings. Kania[33] found that professional divers who had never suffered from decompression sickness had fundal changes similar to those divers who had had the disease, leading to the conclusion that diving may cause permanent degenerative changes in the fundus of the eye. Fluorescein angiography was done by Holden[34] on 26 divers who had used safe diving practices for at least 10 years, with 7 controls. There were no significant differences, indicating that the macular abnormalities seen in divers can be controlled by safe diving.



Lloyd

 

[Rage]

I've experienced something similar in a shallow pool (not scuba - no mask). Symptoms went after a day. But I do have a known reoccuring condition - recently diagnosed as corneal erosion, due to a previous injury.

Have you read http://www.scuba-doc.com/diveye.htm ?

Sish.
===

 

[Lloyd]

Corneal erosion should have caused you alot of pain. The fresh water in the pool (hypotonic) can cause your cornea to swell and cause blurred vision.
Lloyd

 

[Rage]

On bad days, I wouldn't be able to open either eye and have to sit in complete darkness. Its been ~14 months from previous injury to diagnosis of this problem.

Hopefully it can now get sorted so I live normally again. Been given lube to see if that helps.

I did not have a clue on what was going on, so thanks for the info Lloyd! Any other info / treatments appreciated. Corneal patch / surgery has been mentioned but not in any detail.

S.
=

 

[TropicalDiver]

Wow! Didn't even know that scuba-doc.com existed! Great info!

So am I reading this correctly? That it probably was a temporary blockage of some blood vessels leading to the eye that was due to either blood mass differences or a bubble in the blood??

 

[DocVikingo]

Without the benefit of a thorough diagnostic work up, one cannot offer a confident opinion as to the possible cause of the visual disturbances that you report.

However, an etiology based on some blockage of sight-related vasculature appears much more likely than an amount of inert gas getting under an ocular membrane and distorting the shape of the lens. In the absence of an injury or disease process of which you almost certainly would be aware, there is no ready mechanism for such distortion that I can think of.

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual, and should not be construed as such. If you have concerns about an eye problem, consult with your doctor or an ophthalmologist.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[TropicalDiver]

Doc - of course it's educational and not a dr-patient relationship! I guess you have to cover all your bases though...hate that people have to put in all the disclaimers for any info provided.... BTW - COFFEE SHOULD BE SERVED VERY HOT!!!

My eye is just fine now and has been for a while - just trying to figure out what "might" have contributed to the "temporary" difficulty and to obtain some BASIC understanding of what was written -- in real-world terms rather than medical-ese, as I had to use context clues to determine what vasculature, fundi, fundus, choroidal, etc really mean in real-world terms. Was just making sure that I had understood whas was written...

Thanks for all the info from the people who posted - learned something new this week!