Does the following sound familiar? You wake up in the morning or the middle of the night for a snack and you start to open your eyes and they feel stuck together? Maybe you have to slowly open them or move your eye around while they are closed or sneak some drops in there just to get them open. You may open them quickly and experience a severe tearing pain. This pain may last for minutes, hours, or even days. Sometimes you may be afraid to open your eyes period. All the previous descriptions are of recurrent erosion syndrome. This is a condition where the cornea (the front clear layer of the eye that you see through) has a tear of the superficial tissue called the epithelium. It is t
Migraine is an extremely common type of headache that can be chronic and recurrent. Migraine often involves the visual centers of the brain. It is most likely caused by a "vasospasm" or blood vessel constriction in the brain. They tend to be more common in women, and can change throughout life. Often they are on one side of the head rather than more spread out, and they are associated with nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and sound sensitivity. A "classic" migraine typically has vision involvement. It will start off with some visual changes that are characteristically a scintillating scotoma as shown in the image above. I have suffered from migraines in the past and the image is n
A pterygium is a growth that covers at least part of the cornea which is the clear window over the eye. As shown in this image, a progressive pterygium can cause blurred vision. However, it also can often cause irritation, unsightly redness, and even tearing. The best way to avoid these growths is to wear sunglasses and avoid ultraviolet light exposure to the eye. Besides sun exposure, there may also be other factors such as wind, and dryness that may contribute. The decision to remove these growths is an active one between the patient and the surgeon. When I discuss removing the growth, I will definitely recommend removal for progressive growth of the lesion because this may cause vis
