quick flash of light in eyes, on and off for 6 years

[jeff314]

Hi,  

I'm new to this board but it looks very informative and active.  For over six years I've had bouts of eye flashes (not lightning) localized to to around 1:00 Oclock on my viewing area.  At first, they appeared once an hour for two weeks.  Then went away for a year.  This occurred for 5 years until several months ago when the flashes became more frequent, like every 30 seconds.  Sometimes they would be preceded by slight eyeball discomfort/pain, then once the flash occured, the pain would subside. I've had an MRI would showed several subtle white matter lesions on the pariental lobe, a visual field test, an ERG, a VRG, four retinologists exams, and two neuro-opthamlogist exams.  Everyone is stumpted.  Next is a Flourescien angiograph and a B ultrasound of orbit area.  My concern is that this is going to get worse and slowly destroy my vision.  It is not know whether it's optical or brain related yet.
The flashes only last for a half second, but they are fairly large approximating a basketball size if looking at a blank wall from 10 feet back.  I think there might be pressure from a sinus issue pushing on the optic nerve, or something that can explain why this flash occurs so consistently every 30 seconds or so?  Lastly, the flashing completely subsided for most of last month.  I thought it healed itself, but now it's back with a vengeance.  Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have.  

[jeff314]

Dr. Hagan,

Thank you for your quick reply to my sight issue.  I will persue an EEG and continue to hopefully rule out MS.  My blood work came back negative for autoimmune checks. So with luck, my lesions are just from unknown life events.

Do you find Flouresceine angiographs to be dangerous?  I've read they can cause sudden death or cardiac arrest more frequently than we'd like to see.

Again,
Thanks - Jeff in Falls Church, VA

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I think its unlikely that it will destroy your vision. I would see a neurologist and have an EEG to rule out atypical seizure and also to discuss the white matter lesions and rule out MS as cause.

JCH III MD