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one-time night blindness in one eye

Hi everyone,

To start with, I'm a 20 year old healthy female. I few nights ago something really strange happened to me when I turned out the light to go to sleep. A few minutes after I turned the light off, when my eyes should have adjusted to the dark, something didn't seem right with my vision. So I covered my left eye with my hand, leaving my right eye open, and everything went pitch black. I couldn't see anything out of my right eye. With my left eye I could see the shapes and shadows that you can usually make out in a dark room, but out of my right eye was just total pitch blackness. I turned my light back on, and everything was completely normal; I could see with both eyes. Then I turned the light out again, and once again, I had vision in my left eye but not in my right.

This happened a few nights ago, and it hasn't happened again since. This is probably irrevelant but I thought I'd mention it- I have a couple of enlarged lymph nodes as well as a swollen tonsil on the right side of my neck/head that have all been checked out by a doctor. I also have a new lump on the top of my head, also on the right side. As I said, this is probably all irrevelant to the vision problem, but I thought that maybe since all of this is on the right side of my head, which is the same side as the problem eye, it could somehow be involved.
Does anyone have any ideas of what could cause one-time temporary night blindness in one eye? Thank you for reading!
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Avatar universal
I have had night blindness a few times now. I havent kept track of the eye that goes "blind" but this time I can tell how it happened. After reading the doctor's response I feel a little relieved but Im not so sure if it is a normal thing. I was lying in bed on my tummy and the room is completely dark except that there is some light from coming from a window but almost nothing. I was reading my phone with just my right eye (with my head turned to the right, still lying on my tummy). Then I turned the screen off and tried to grab some water from my bedside table and noticed this happened away. My vision was way darker on my right eye. This has happened more than 3 times already maybe. It takes me a lot to see the same on both eyes. Is this really normal? :/... Thanks a lot!
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177275 tn?1511755244
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Avatar universal
Guys this is called

"Transient smartphone blindness"

most (not all) of the cases described above on this forum are related to lying on one side and not seeing clearly from the other eye. If you notice this next time, try to remember if you were using your smartphone /watching TV/ tablet just before it occurred.

It will occur in the DARK, while lying on one side and occluding that eye, while the other eye watches the BRIGHT screen of your phone. When you turn off your phone, the eye that was watching the screen has been BLEACHED. It can take up to half an hour for the vision in both eyes to equalise.

It's quite common for doctors to be baffled and send lots of Echo and EKG and CT and MRI scans.

It is largely benign.

Google "New England Journal of Medicine Transient Smartphone "Blindness""
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Avatar universal
I am 24 and i have been having the same thing happen to me everynight. At first it would go away after a few minutes,But now it stays for 30 or more. Has anyone gotten an answer on this yet? I would really like to know. Thank you.
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177275 tn?1511755244
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Avatar universal
I think I've found the answer to this problem which I had exactly as described.. Also visited the opticians and an eye specialist who had no clue or decent advice. I had suspicion it might be something to do with looking at my phone on a night time whist in bed, it turns out I tend to use my right eye only when laying over the side of the bed with my left eye closed against the pillow. Afterwards when looking around the dark room my 'right' eye is blind no shapes, pitch black. After reading a link from someone posted of this  'phenomenon' regarding your eyes adapting to light and dark this has confimed it for me.. simply one eye has adapted to the light from scrolling through your phone or whatever and the other has attapated to the dark as it's probably closed. Explains why its is not always occurring and both are fine when the light comes back on.

Link - http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/05/15/how-to-make-your-eye-feel-like/
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177275 tn?1511755244
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Avatar universal
I had this too after reading on my iPad. I switched to sepia but it did not help.  After first episode I got a PVD and a Weiss ring floater.  I'd been to retina specialist and he said nothing could be done but I went to California and got floater zapped with laser. They did say 90 % that right eye would ge PVD too.
Last night I got the right eye not adjusting to dark and feeling of blindness after reading on iPad.  The retina specialist did say I had cobbling of the retina.  I wonder if these so called retina displays on the iPad could be damaging to the retina.  I'm 56 and had the first PVD ( Post Vitreal Detachment ) at 55. That's kind of young for this type of thing.  Makes me feel like I'm having a stroke.
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1 Comments
IPads and iPhones and computers and video games do not damage the eye or cause PVDs but can cause eye fatigue and discomfort and is causing a worldwide increase of myopia. so much so that by 20/50 it is estimated that half the world's population will be myopic
177275 tn?1511755244
Yes it would be extremely rare and my feeling is it was not an early symptom of a RD or PVD.

JCH MD
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Avatar universal
Lat year I had this a couple of times over the course of 4 or 6 weeks. Each time, after turning off the light at night, my left eye was briefly blind, then gradually recovered vision (my bedroom is not all that dark). If I turned the light back on, my vision in that eye was normal. Frequency and severity gradually decreased and it then ceased completely. I had my eye/retina checked and it was found to be fine. The odd thing is that about 6 months later I first had symptoms of vitreous detachment in that eye which in turn caused a retinal detachment 10 days later. This makes me inclined to think that the original thing may have been some early symptom of the vitreous detachment (which is usually harmless). Ophthalmologists are not sure, as it seems to be quite a rare phenomenon. I'm female and 58.
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Avatar universal
Dear John

Sorry to bother you but does the '=' sign mean anything?

Thanks

Nightblindness
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1 Comments
Mean's I've read the last question and have no comment.
177275 tn?1511755244
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Avatar universal
For anyone wondering, i can regularly do this by myslef in the dark. i have fully control over both eyes to do this. its just the way light is percepted and it gets altered. the color black is not actially a color its a lack of reflection of color so it can change in pitch darkness.
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177275 tn?1511755244
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Avatar universal
I am a 52 year old female who first noticed similar vision issues about 3 months ago. It has recurred fairly frequently over the three months.  It seems to be connected to using my mobile phone to read news / emails etc in the dark when in bed.  I switch off the phone and then cannot see out of my right eye (my dominant eye).  This lasts for a couple of minutes and then I seem to have adjusted to the darkness in both eyes.  

When it first happened I was advised to go to A&E and was seen by an ophthalmologist.  Also blood was taken for testing.  I was then referred to a neurologist and had more tests - including an MRI / MRA / ultrasound.  Everything was normal.  I was advised to take a daily aspirin - which I do. There was a concern that it was a 'eye-stroke' (TIA) or 'amaurosis fugax'.  I also have seen my optometrist due to usual check-ups for contact lenses and no issues were seen.

With all tests coming back clear and yet the issue repeating but only happening under a very specific set of conditions (use of bright phone in dark room) I believe that it is more likely to be an issue with my right eye adjusting to darkness from a bright light.

Reading other posts have helped me and I think that there is nothing sinister.  However, I would suggest that people are tested to rule out the possibility of medical issues first.

One more thought.  This stream of posts seem to be over recent years - when smart phones etc have become common use at night time.  I will keep an eye on this post and also I am going to not use my smart phone for four weeks at night and then use it again and see if I notice a pattern.

I'll keep you updated.
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177275 tn?1511755244
Those symptoms would require an evaluation by an ophthalmologist and your family doctor or internist.  It could be a TIA (transient ischemic attack) and due to disease of heart, blood vessels, eye or brain. Please make appointments to have this checked out.
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Avatar universal
I am a pre-diabetic over 40 female, extremely nearsighted (wear glasses or contacts), and just had this happen to me for the first time last night. Just the right eye, like a blurred/grayed out cloud in the middle of my visual field in the right eye, but it went away if I turned on the lights, then came back when I turned lights back off. A short time before, I had been looking at a very bright app on my phone screen, and then fell asleep briefly. My dog woke me up to go out, so it was very dark in the house, and that's when this "blur" in my right eye's vision occurred. Lasted about 5 minutes I'd guess.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I am a pre-diabetic over 40 female, extremely nearsighted (wear glasses or contacts), and just had this happen to me for the first time last night. Just the right eye, like a blurred/grayed out cloud in the middle of my visual field in the right eye, but it went away if I turned on the lights, then came back when I turned lights back off. A short time before, I had been looking at a very bright app on my phone screen, and then fell asleep briefly. My dog woke me up to go out, so it was very dark in the house, and that's when this "blur" in my right eye's vision occurred. Lasted about 5 minutes I'd guess.
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Avatar universal
I am shocked that so few ophthalmologist seem to know or understand this phenomenon.  My left eye often goes COMPLETELY blind after I read or work on a computer for extended time.  I have mono-vision with my left eye dominant for near vision and it becomes light saturated when I read or do computer work.  My distance-dominant right eye sometimes even closes the eyelid during that time, since it is not being used while I work on a computer or read at night. When I turn off the lights, the left eye blindness lasts for a long time and I can't see anything at all from that eye...which is quite disturbing.  Of course if I turn the light back on it is fine. So, clearly it isn't a detached retina, or a stroke or a macular hole since all of those conditions would not improve with turning the light back on. I've had all the usual eye exams finding nothing at all wrong.  This blog was very helpful. http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/05/15/how-to-make-your-eye-feel-like/  Luckily, I found it before I had CT scans etc etc.
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177275 tn?1511755244
Thanks for the follow up information.
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Avatar universal
I just wanted to update the forum about my condition.  I did go see an ophthalmologist who did all the tests possible within an office setting.  I have a family history of Fuch's disease and am very myopic, which increases my chances for retinal tears.  Everything came back normal.  I do have neck problems and headaches, so it was recommended that I go do an MRA/MRI of my neck and brain to see if blood flow was normal.  If you can afford it, definitely do an MRI/MRA as it looks at all the arteries in your brain/neck, if not, you may see if you can do an doppler ultrasound, which studies the main carotid arteries.  Everything came back normal, except that they found I had severe sinusitis, which I was referred to an ENT for.  That could be the problem with my headaches.  I will also go see a physical therapist/acupuncturist to see if that will help.  Back to topic, my ophthamologist recommended that I moisturize my eyes as much as possible.  So she gave me some Refresh Liquid Gel drops to take before bed.  I found that has helped.  I have not had the issue since my appointment (cross fingers), so we will see.....   My recommendation through this ordeal is to do all you can to rule out any "major" conditions and, if not, follow common sense.  Get a good night sleep (I find that my condition tends to flare up when I don't sleep full 8 hrs), moisturize your eye as possible, especially in this computer age, and kind of wait and see.  Hope this helps anyone!
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177275 tn?1511755244
You do of course Lizc3 need to see an ophthalmologist or optometrist for a baseline eye exam. However what you describe can be explained by having one eye exposed to more light than the other, like a reading light on one side. When you turn the lights off the side nearest the light will have the worse vision and take the longest to see normal in the dark. This is due to the fact that the visual pigments the  eyes sees with are bleached out by the light on one side more than the other.  That side will take longer to shift from the light vision system of the retina (photopic vision) to the night vision system (scotopic)

JCHMD
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have had night blindness a few times now. I havent kept track of the eye that goes "blind" but this time I can tell how it happened. After reading the doctor'a response I feel a little relieved but Im not so sure if it is a normal thing. I was lying in bed on my tummy and the room is completely dark except that there is some light from coming from a window but almost nothing. I was reading my phone with just my right eye (with my head turned to the right, still lying on my tummy). Then I turned the screen off and tried to grab some water from my bedside table and noticed this happened away. My vision was way darker on my right eye. This has happened more than 3 times already maybe. It takes me a lot to see the same on both eyes. Is this really normal? :/... Thanks a lot!
Helpful - 0
177275 tn?1511755244
Force:   Almost impossible that your hare retinitis pigmentosa (RP).  RP is an easy diagnosis to make in most cases, the changes in the retina are profound, the symptoms don't match yours or what's posted in most of this discussions, is associated with severe night blindness, is constant and progressive.

I think your OD friend and ER cousins are spot on.

JCH MD
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