Persistent after image, now with sparkle

[ElviraKate]

An odd thing happened this morning and I would very much value any other experience or advice. I'd plan to contact Moorfields and go up there, but my husband is 93 and asthmatic, and we are effectively self-isolating. I do not want to travel into town if I can possibly help it. Has anyone else had this sort of phenomenon and if so, what happened next?

I had my third Eyelea injection at Moorfields about a month ago in my right eye. The distortion is now minimal and that is a great relief. They scanned both eyes, of course, and said that now both retinas were looking very similar, with a certain amount of drusen but otherwise relatively healthy. So far so good.

However, they have never been able to explain why I get occasional after-image blobs in both eyes but particularly the left eye. These have a curved shape, are in the lower outer quadrant just outside the focal area, and are for all the world as if a sun reflection just caught my eye off centre. They are frequent in the morning (I used to think it was light reflecting off my coffee) and fade after an hour or so. Sometimes they come back in the evening, not always. I've had them for a few years but no scans have revealed anything particular going on.

This morning I had one in my left eye which was different, in the usual place, but now there was a kind of sparkle in it. I have occasional optical migraines: these start in the focal point and spread out in the usual arc and are the same in both eyes because they are not on the retina. However this sparkle, which looked a bit like the beginning of a migraine, was off-centre and only in the left eye. It's now gone but it was alarming at the time.

Does this chime with anyone else's experiences?

Kate

[Hidden]

Hi, I once had a sparkle event in my bad eye whilst in the shower. Didnt last long but was very weird, don't recall any particular shape to it, think it was more water droplets like shiny diamonds ( no outside sunlight just internal bathroom illumination). Went on to have a migraine within the hour. Never had it again but do get migraines themselves often.

Separately, after cataract surgery, I often get a circular ring of lights in that eye in low light conditions. Doc said my pupil expands particularly wide and was going past edge of new lens causing the effect.

Hope you get an answer from Moorfields, be interested to hear.

[ElviraKate in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, eyesright, that's interesting. I thought it might be a sort of migraine, though it was only in one eye, and didn't develop either the usual aura or a headache. It went away as the after-image patch faded and hasn't come back. I'll wait to ask Moorfields either until it happens again or until I next go there. That's supposed to be on April 9th - but not sure how I'll get there in the present crisis! We'll leave that bridge until we need to cross it