What Causes Red Eye?

Posted on Sat, 8 Nov 2014

Question: Hello. I'm a 22 year old male currently trying to diagnose a symptom in my right eye. About a year ago I started experiencing a jiggling in vision in my right eye. It almost acts like a consistent twitch that gets weaker and stronger, less noticeable and more noticeable, to me, all throughout the day. It lasted about a month during autumn in 2013, and now has lasted about 5 weeks a year later. If I were to try to describe my symptom any more, I'd say my vision feels like it's wobbling. I can also feel the movement in my eye but it's not visible to someone else. As far as I know, it can't be seen by another person. I've had retina scans from an Optometrist and recently had an MRI and spoke to a neurologist. The optometrist told me my vision was fine and ruled out Nystagmus, the closest thing he could find related to it. After going over the MRI the neurologist tried consoling me by telling me, "Ever heard the saying if it's not broken don't fix it?" As relieved as I am to know that my brain looks as healthy as ever, I'm still left with this odd visual twitch that plaguing me with a constantly shaking world. My question would be, could it be MS? Should I get a lumbar puncture and who would I speak to in order to get one? Lastly, I should tell you that I'm in the military and worked five months disposing hazardous materials. Jet fuel, Mercury, Hydraulic fluid, Sodium Chromate, and a few others although I can't name them off the top of my head. I wasn't directly exposed to any of these, besides the chromate, but I did work with them for months. Almost the same time as my eye started showing these strange symptoms, I was attempting to take the supplement 'Chlorella', an algae used as a detox for heavy metals. I took it for a week and then stopped when my eye starting showing symptoms. Anyways, this might all sound a bit crazy, but I'm getting desperate for an answer. Thank you for any and all responses!

Answered by Dr. Dadapeer K (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Need to rule out vestibular problems and migraine.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to Health care magic.

I am Dr. DADAPEER K, an Ophthalmologist and I answer health problems related to eye.

I reviewed your history. It seems from the history that you are having episodes of jiggling or wobbling vision.
The most common cause as your optometrist has tried to rule is nystagmus. Since it is absent no need to worry.
The second thing to be considered is vestibular disorders resulting in nystagmoid movements called as oscillopsia. This needs to be ruled out by examination with your ENT doctor and neurologist.
Since MRI is normal this is unlikely to be Multiple sclerosis, hence no need to worry about it.

The other group disorders which can cause these symptoms are primary headaches like migraine. In these conditions in the aura phase or in the prodromal phase you will have these symptoms and these are usually followed by headache.

Hence in your case multiple sclerosis is unlikely, nystagmus is absent, I would like to rule out Vestibular problems and primary headaches like migraine.
Hence you need to consult your doctor to rule out these conditions.

Hope the information is helpful to you.

Thank you
With regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dadapeer K (37 minutes later)

Thank you for your advice Doctor. My next step as soon as I return to the US will be to speak to an ENT and also try to rule out oscillopsia or migraines. Once again, thank you!

Answered by Dr. Dadapeer K (36 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Thank you

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Thank you for the follow up question.

Do get back to me with the examination results.

Thank you for writing to Health care magic.

With regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar