Weird vision issue...

[seawasp]

I may have had faint symptoms of this for a while, but today I notice they're quite acute. The symptoms in question are fairly simple: it seems that the whole world has a second, shadowy "ghost", looking like a Photoshop "drop shadow" effect, vertically beneath it. With text the effect is quite striking; at normal distances, it appears literally like a drop shadow, nearly the height of the text itself and exactly duplicating the text, but much fainter. If I squint through my eyelashes the drop shadows go away but I'm not sure if that's actually making them go away, or changing the apparent contrast so I can't see them any more.

It appears to be the same in both eyes -- no apparently stronger or weaker effect in either eye -- and exists whether I wear my glasses or not.

I'm hoping this is going to go away -- maybe it's a matter of slightly irritated eyes or something. If it continues or gets worse it will become a significant impediment, though.

Comments

[ebartley.livejournal.com]

You should see an eye doctor Monday. It doesn't sound like anything familiar and a few minutes of hunting around the Mayo Clinic's website and google didn't reveal anything, but there are several eye diseases which can be slowed or even stopped but can't be reversed.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Sounds like something you should have checked out, yes? Before it gets worse.

[richardboustead.livejournal.com]

Sounds similar to something I have called Keratoconus. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratoconus - note: the article makes it sound much scarier than it actually is) It's the cornea of the eye being a bit thinner than it should and getting distorted by pressure from the interior of the eye. The good news is that the later it appears, the less serious it tends to be and the slower it progresses. At the moment I've got it contained with corrective lenses.

It's a possibility. Agree that you should have it checked by a qualified optometrist (which I am most definitely not)

[remus-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely seen an optometrist soonish. The fact that it goes away when you squint indicates a possible corneal problem.

[aardy.livejournal.com]

The astigmatism I have in one eye sometimes causes something like that, though not quite to that degree. (In conjuction with my other focal issues, it means I occasionally see triple images instead of double when I'm not wearing my glasses--two clear-ish images and a shadowy third--and it's especially noticable with text.)

But I agree with the others; with symptoms that noticable and that constant and jumping from "maybe it's been there and I didn't notice it" to "I can definitely see it" that quickly, it's worth getting it checked out ASAP. It may turn out to be basically nothing (in which case you're paying for peace of mind), but if it's something correctable, it may be more easily corrected if caught now than after it gets significantly worse.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I have astigmatism and see a ghost _above_ rather than below. It's most apparent when looking at horizontal lines when the light allows for sharp contrasts. With text I see a shadow line between two real lines. Oncoming car headlights show as four lights rather than two (though I'm so used to it I know there are only two really). Yes scrunching my eyes up makes it come into focus and the shadow disappears. Corrective lenses help but don't get rid of the problem completely, however since i've had it for over 35 years without it getting substantially worse I don't worry about it too much. I hope yours is quickly sorted and your mind put at rest. Seeing an optician makes a lot of sense.