Last year, a patient came in complaining of headaches and blurred vision. These are not uncommon symptoms for many of the patients whom I see. The patient was relatively young, 41 years old.
When I examined her, I noted that the optic nerve of the left eye appeared abnormal. Also the best vision the patient was able to obtain in that eye with glasses was about 20/40. The right eye was correctable to 20/20 with glasses.
When I checked the patient's peripheral vision, both eyes showed a defect. With both eyes showing an identical defect, the problem probably lied somewhere within the brain.
We referred the patient immediately. Unfortunately it took two weeks for the patient to see the specialist. Once the specialist saw the patient, he immediately ordered imaging of the eyes and brain to help determine the etiology of the problem.
Many times when a visual field problem in both eyes is found, you think of a tumor. This was not the case. Instead, an aneurysm was found, a very large one at that.
Surgery was performed on the patient.
The patient came back to my office relating the above story several months after I originally referred her to the specialist She did lose sight in the left eye. She stated she almost died on the operating table. She also relayed what her surgeon said: "You should hug the eye doctor who referred you. If you waited any longer, the aneurysm would have probably ruptured and you would have died."
You can see the patient's brief letter in the "testimonial" section of the website, www.wehelpuc.com. I've been practicing optometry for 30 years and I am more passionate now about the profession than ever.
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