MS Vision Loss
I learned something new when I went to an ophthalmologist appointment this week and I wanted to share it with the MS community so they do not make the same mistake I did.
I have permanent nerve damage in my left eye from not getting treatment. Had I known that having an optic nerve flare would have cause permanent vision complications I would have gotten treatment sooner. The ophthalmologist recommends that even if vision impairment is the only problem you are having during a relapse, it’s important to get treatment right away because if you leave it untreated you could have or will have permanent optic nerve damage.
The reason I didn’t go in for treatment was because my prior MS relapses that impaired my vision was accompanied with other MS symptoms and I would get treatment right away. So this time when it was just my vision that was impaired, I thought I would “tough it out” because my vision wasn’t too bad off and I thought it would go back to normal. But after five months of my vision not returning to normal I went to see an ophthalmologist for the first time and that’s when he told me the damage was permanent from my optic nerve inflammation being around for so long without treatment. He also said that there isn’t anything he could do to repair the nerve.
My vision loss is similar to the picture below:
I am getting new glasses which will help but I will no longer have 20/20 vision with glasses. I also have a minor loss color distinction in my left eye, reds and oranges have been dulled and from my left eye it is difficult to tell the difference between certain shades. During the eye test with reading the letters, I can only view one letter at a time, the rest are very blurry, and I could not clearly see the letters as a set.