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OT: Eye vision differences

SAG 180

Titanium
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Location
Cairns, Qld, Australia
I'm off to the eye doctor this week: About 6-7 years ago I had lightning bolt flashes of white light in both eyes when getting up in the morning. When I rang the eye doctor and told him, this he immediately cleared a spot in his busy schedule and had me go in that day. It turned out that my eyes were just ageing a bit and the clear gel in the eyeball was hardening with age and separating from the retina which in severe cases can detach the retina. In my case it was fine apart from a few floaters of retina fibres.

So today I'm having a Sunday nap as I had a bit of a sinus headache from all the stick welding of a new bench and I wanted to give the neighbours a break from the angle grinder. I noticed that when I was lying down on my side, one eye, the uppermost eye was dimmer than the lower eye, this made colours more grey or less bright in the uppermost eye. I only noticed because I was holding my forehead with my hand and it split the vision so that only one eye could see part of an object, not both eyes. With both eyes looking at the same part of an object, you can't see anything wrong.

This upset me a little and I experimented with it a bit to the point that rolling over in bed and making the other eye uppermost duplicated the effect, the other eye, now on top was seeing things a little darker than the lowermost eye. Sitting up resulted in no visible difference in vision brightness, so at least the effect happens to both eyes and is reversible.

So....anyone ever experience this?, do I have a brain tumour? does this explain some of my idiot posts on this forum??.
 
Unfortunately you have not one but three inoperable brain tumors.
Wire $200,000 to my account and I will use my psychic power to heal you. This is your only chance.

Did you happen to notice that when this was happening you had pressure on one side of your head?
Try lying in the same position and just hold your head with your neck.
If the same eye was dimmer all the time, that might be a cause for concern.

Don't feel bad, my son gets worked up like this all the time.
 
Good, I'm not the only one. At night when I'm reading in bed, my left eye is fine where the paper background is bright white but with the right eye, it's noticeably dimmer with a yellow tint. I only see this difference with one eye shut but not with both open just like you described. I've noticed in brighter conditions such as being in a well lit room looking at my monitor, I can notice this same difference but I really have to pay attention as it's not as obvious. And definitely don't notice it outside during the day.

I first noticed this about 10-12 years ago and it has never gotten any worst. For all I know, it's always been there but seems when you get older, you tend to focus on every little thing. I've been wearing glasses since 7 years old and I'm really good about getting a full eye exam every 2 years which fortunately my eyes are still healthy so I'm told not to worry about anything.

If it concerns you, I would definitely see a ophthalmologist which I have done a couple of times in the past when I was freaked about something with my eyes such as an increase of floaters. If anything, being told that your eyes are healthy is a big relief.

Patrick
 
logic: good to know stuff like this does occur.

Kimfab: yes it still occurs with no pressure on the side of the head, after lying down it takes about a half minute to occur, it doesn't start straight away. I'd been doing this in medium lighting. After the headache had faded, later in the day, I couldn't notice the colour difference any more but it was getting a bit dark to try and see a difference.
 
I was told long ago that odd eye stuff that occurs and then you get a headache is probably not a big issue (eye doc). He mentioned that he gets headaches that can be preceded by all sorts of odd stuff, similar to migraines.

When you HAVE a headache, odd stuff happens also.

As long as the headache(s) have no bad cause, the visual stuff associated is apparently not necessarily an issue.
 
I have had what I can only describe as a "color temperature" difference between my left eye and right eye since at least college. I first noticed this after getting hit in the eye with a racquet ball, but it may have been there before that. Always consistent which eye is which. Not really dimmer or brighter, just a slightly different color rendition between the two eyes. Weird, and occasionally annoying, but whenever I mention it to an eye doctor, he or she just says, "hmm, that's interesting." :)
 
I've noticed that if I get up in the night, and go downstairs to get a glass of water, one eye sees, and one eye is pretty much blanked out - as if there is absolutely no light.

Your note prompted some (cursory) research. If Wiki is to be believed, "The eye takes approximately 20–30 minutes to fully adapt from bright sunlight to complete darkness and become ten thousand to one million times more sensitive than at full daylight. In this process, the eye's perception of color changes as well. However, it takes approximately five minutes for the eye to adapt to bright sunlight from darkness. "

I thought that this was fascinating. This implies that there is a control system involved. And both your iris, and the up- or down-regulation of different compounds and pathways are involved. I'm inclined to think that it's just the balancing part of our light/dark control system is a little weak. But see a doc to confirm.

J
 
I have had a difference in color perception between my eyes for a long time. I first noticed it probably thirty years ago. Cataract surgery in both eyes did not change it, so the difference was not due to one lens being darker than the other.

Jim
 
Thanks for the feedback that people are living with some eye colour differences. This morning with no sinus headache both eye appear identical in vision. These days my eyes experienced a drop in optical gain from when the gel separated from the retina as is normal with age. I suspect the sinus headache allowed pressure from behind the eyeball which would have pressed the retina back in contact with the gel instead of having liquid in between which gave temporary better and brighter vision in that eye.

I'll see what the doctors say......
 
All I can tell you is if in doubt SEE your eye Dr. At age of about 50 I got where I could not read the writing on a 6-32 tap laying on the bench. went to eye Dr. complaining. Found out I had a cataract. Had the lens replaced and the other eye done about a year and a half later . could see like a 20 year old again . About 5 years later started having the lightening flashes . went to eye Dr. had a detached retina. in left eye about 3 years later had one in the right eye. Every thing is fixed now and all ok. Take care of your eyes. Its no fun going blind.
 
Unfortunately you have not one but three inoperable brain tumors.
Wire $200,000 to my account and I will use my psychic power to heal you. This is your only chance.

Did you happen to notice that when this was happening you had pressure on one side of your head?
Try lying in the same position and just hold your head with your neck.
If the same eye was dimmer all the time, that might be a cause for concern.

Don't feel bad, my son gets worked up like this all the time.

1. You generally want to avoid making jokes about inoperable brain tumors.

2. You want to avoid being a total dick head when some dude is having problems with his eyes. It's not like he has a hang nail. Eye problems are scary. It's kind of nice to be able to see if you're a machinist.
 
1. You generally want to avoid making jokes about inoperable brain tumors.

2. You want to avoid being a total dick head when some dude is having problems with his eyes. It's not like he has a hang nail. Eye problems are scary. It's kind of nice to be able to see if you're a machinist.


Hi John, I guess I kind of set Kimfab up with my line about tumours in the first place so he's only following through with the punchline. A friend and I do discuss tumours a from time to time having noticed that people who work with radio frequency electronics tend to fall off their perch much later in life from tumours of one kind or another, including my friend's father who was a WW2 RF engineer. He contends that it's the RF exposure and I contend that it's the RF exposure and a whole range of toxic substances used in or with electronics such as carbon tet in days gone by.

Anyway I have a booking to see a doctor who then has to refer me to an opthamologist. I ran the eye experiment again today under identical conditions but without the headache and I have the same results: whichever eye is lowest sees brighter colours after a minute or so to adjust. At this point it seems like whichever eye is lowest actually functions better than normal in that position than when upright. I'm due for a checkup anyway and it's money well spent, I'll keep you posted on the results but it will take several days to see the specialist.

-Mark
 
When you consider that compared to an eye what most of us consider fine work is about a subtle as a bulldozer, it should be no surprise that it can be disturbed easily. That they work at all is amazing and working as well as they do is beyond reason. Imagine trying to explain vision to a person who had never had it or heard of the concept. As I have aged, I have gone through various strange effects which usually faded away after a while. I argued with opthamologists for years about my hypermetropia. Because I had wide range accommodation and could focus up close, they could not understand that my eyes would also focus at a setting beyond infinity. When I looked through an eye loupe with one eye, that one would zing out to the max focus and lock there. When I went back to normal activities, I would have eyes focused at different distances. I had to flat refuse to continue the work I was doing and for years could only use binocular magnifiers. I finally found an opthamologist who had been a Navy doctor, dealing with sailors who looked through various visual devices all the time. Turned out the Navy had known about the problem for years.

Bill
 
1. You generally want to avoid making jokes about inoperable brain tumors.

2. You want to avoid being a total dick head when some dude is having problems with his eyes. It's not like he has a hang nail. Eye problems are scary. It's kind of nice to be able to see if you're a machinist.



Who pissed in your cornflakes?
 
As long as I can remember, my eyes haven't portrayed the same color most of the time. Nothing very drastic, but they have never been the same.
 
I have had what I can only describe as a "color temperature" difference between my left eye and right eye since at least college. I first noticed this after getting hit in the eye with a racquet ball, but it may have been there before that. Always consistent which eye is which. Not really dimmer or brighter, just a slightly different color rendition between the two eyes. Weird, and occasionally annoying, but whenever I mention it to an eye doctor, he or she just says, "hmm, that's interesting." :)

I have the same thing except that it comes and goes. Nobody I ever mentioned it to had ever heard of it before. I kind of like the warmer look one eye provides.
 
1. You generally want to avoid making jokes about inoperable brain tumors.

2. You want to avoid being a total dick head when some dude is having problems with his eyes. It's not like he has a hang nail. Eye problems are scary. It's kind of nice to be able to see if you're a machinist.


Sorry if I offended you but at my age I have had so many problems with my eyes, teeth, feet, knees, guts and all.
Had a period there for about 6 years where I went to the hospital at least once a year to have something removed or shuffled.
After a while you get to the point where it's just another medical bill.

While the eyes are especially valuable, the chances that this problem is just a natural occurrence is extremely high and the chances it is because of a brain tumor is infinitesimally small.
A brain tumor does not work that way. Look it up. Try not to panic.

Also thanks for the saves from Sag and toolmaker.
 
Sorry if I offended you but at my age I have had so many problems with my eyes, teeth, feet, knees, guts and all.
Had a period there for about 6 years where I went to the hospital at least once a year to have something removed or shuffled.
After a while you get to the point where it's just another medical bill.

While the eyes are especially valuable, the chances that this problem is just a natural occurrence is extremely high and the chances it is because of a brain tumor is infinitesimally small.
A brain tumor does not work that way. Look it up. Try not to panic.

Also thanks for the saves from Sag and toolmaker.



No problem, some people have zero sense of humor.
 
Sorry if I offended you but at my age I have had so many problems with my eyes, teeth, feet, knees, guts and all.
Had a period there for about 6 years where I went to the hospital at least once a year to have something removed or shuffled

How old are you and how many surgeries have you had?
 








 
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