Black Discs

[Northfield]

What do black discs appearing when I open my eyes 1st thing in the morning?

[Jihm]

When you first open your eyes, are you lying in bed in low light? I ask because when I first go to bed at night and look up at the ceiling in low light, I can see a black splotch - a black misshapen image - with either eye, each different but with jagged edges. With both eyes open I see the 2 splotches mixed together to produce just one big rather formless black splotch - but only if I look up at the light colored ceiling in dim light. I have no idea what causes this. And I don't see the splotches any other time. I will ask my local eye doctor about this the next time I see him - if I can remember to do so.

[JimGlanDwr in reply to Jihm]

Yet one more here sometimes they are discs and sometime two banana shapes making a broken circle with a gap in the middle. I seem to get them more on bright sunny days.

Like Ikansea the eye clinic didn't have an answer they suggested they may be floaters, I think not. I've had this for several years now and they haven't got any worse.

There has been some discussion here about this about a year ago so it must be quite a regular thing.

[Ikansea]

Yes, I have this, too. Always when lying down. usually after a nap. I close one eye and then the other. The splotches fade quickly and, like Jihm, they are different in each eye. I have only been diagnosed with wet AMD in one eye though I have dry AMD in the other, so I find it a bit worrisome. I have asked the retinal specialist about this, among many other things, he didn't have an answer. I would be interested to hear what your consultant says.

[Jihm in reply to Ikansea]

Like you I have wet AMD in one eye and dry AMD in the other. This is quite interesting. I hope we can find an answer.

[ElviraKate]

I have something like this - it's more like a speckle of small spots in a disc shape first thing in the morning, and disappears shortly after I get up and start moving around. I also get odd after-images: in the morning, like JimGlanDwr, I often (but not always) get a banana-shaped after-image as if I'd been looking at a light. I thought it was light reflecting off my breakfast coffee but I don't think it is. Again it disappears after a while, though it lasts longer tan the average after-image. Finally, when I turn the light out at night I get a dark disc seen only against a light curtained window, but I am fairly sure that is an after-image from a screen or white page of the book I'm reading. These things worry me on and off but I've had them for about a year, and have had two retina examinations during that time, so am hoping they aren't damaged areas, or the consultant would surely have said. I also have a lot of floaters and the consultant has never been fussed about them.

[Bobbie915]

I have this disc like image in both eyes, always in bed lights out, where there is just a little light from outside. Both eyes wet AMD and loss of central vision in one. When I asked the doctor at the macular clinic about this, she just replied - that's the Macular. I have assumed - maybe wrongly - that it is the Drusen you are unable to see through in poor light.

[Rosalyn-helpline Partner]

Dear Northfield,

it may be that you are seeing your area of damage. Try ringing the ophthalmologist via their secretary and clarifying if this is likely to be the case.

Kind regards,

Macular Society

0300 3030 111

[Jogie]

Hi, I have CSR and I see black shapes when I first open my eyes (scotomas). These shapes match exactly with the areas of scarring and of fluid which show when I have a retinal scan. The scarred areas show as black and the fluid areas show as grey. It's one of the ways know I have a new leak and monitor changes to existing leaks.

[arsenal9]

I get a round black doughnut in my right eye and a elongated triangle in my left eye for the first hour of most mornings when I am on holiday. As I am in bright, often sunny, light for most of my days on holiday, I have assumed that this is the cause. Wearing good sunglasses seems to reduce severity. Back home in the UK I spend much more time inside and the black shapes do not occur. Best wishes J Laker.