What causes peripheral vision shadow on widening the eyes?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 19-year-old male. I have been to a few ophthalmologists about this and they seem to think it is benign. But I want to get some other input on this. If I widen my eyes and move my head around, I can see shadows in my far peripheral vision moving as my head does. And it seems that the shadows change and become different sizes as time goes on. Now I do have astigmatism in my right eye and from time to time I get aching, almost gnawing pains that are with the movement of the eye. And has happened in both at the same time before. I find that it happens mostly when I am in a place with very weird or bright lighting or when I am looking at a bright screen in a weirdly lit room. I suffer from anxiety and depression which is why I guess I am coming out to ask some more questions. And I also have Asperger’s syndrome. The aches radiate to my temple as well. But as I have said I have been to doctors and they have dilated my pupils and looked at my retina and ocular nerves and told me they looked good. So I honestly do not know what could be causing these weird shadows. I have had them for quite a while. And they also get bigger and more noticeable with head tilt like when I exercise or go running or do something very physical. I currently take Prozac 20 mg and Pantoprazole 10 mg.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

What you are describing is most probably breaks in the gel shaped part of the eye and is called floaters. It is a normal and physiological condition that we see in patients that have refractive errors and have no significant consequences. If these symptoms persist and are causing you discomfort look for an ophthalmologist that does a procedure called laser vitreolysis who could break them down into smaller bits so that you do not notice them that much and that is pretty much the only method of treatment.