Double vision

[meeegun]

i have been told that i have double vision but it was before i was diagnosed so i don't know if its related to MS or not. i also have an astigmatism but my left eye is much worse (as in -175 ish on the right and -425 ish on the left). the optometrist said that this is a very unusual finding. i was really excited when i was fitted for contacts years ago, only to discover that whenever i would wear them everything seemed distorted. i eventually stopped wearing them because i didn't feel like my vision was very good while wearing them. i told the optometrist this and she checked me for double vision and found that i did have it. i have been wearing glasses with prism ever since.

for me, i don't see double. at least not with contacts in. i have no idea if i actually see double without glasses on because my astigmatism makes everything blurry. what i see with contacts is that everything just appears distorted. walls seem bent funny, sort of like when you look through a glass of water. does anyone here experience thier double vision this way?

i had always planned to get lasik but the last time i went to the eye doctor i was informed that without vision therapy lasik will be worthless because i will still see double and need to correct it with glasses. talk about disappointment! my eye insurance just changed so i need to get in and see an opthamologist to find out more about the double vision. i have been thinking a lot about getting the visual evoked potential testing done-- not because it would change my diagnosis but i would like to know if my optic nerves have lesions.

[Redwings]

i have been thinking a lot about getting the visual evoked potential testing done-- not because it would change my diagnosis but i would like to know if my optic nerves have lesions.

Hi meeegun:
The VEP measures nerve conduction speed all the way from the retina in the eye to the visual cortex at the back of the brain. It isn't capable of localizing where in that pathway a lesion is, so by itself a VEP can't be used as a test of the optic nerves. (In other words, it isn't an "optic nerve test." This is probably the #! misunderstanding that people with MS -- and even neurologists -- have about the VEP.) The test results have to be used in combination and context with other information to determine whether the results might indicate an optic nerve problem. While some clinicians feel that the VEP is more sensitive to optic nerve throughput than brain throughput, other clinicians disagree (my own neuro-ophthalmologist is one who disagrees).

A VEP can indicate whether there's demyelination somewhere in the visual pathway, but can't "find lesions" in the optic nerves. An MRI has to be used to find them, but even then they don't always show up. Even mild atrophy might not show up on MRI. Other tests have to be used to localize damage to the optic nerves. Depending on how up on neuro an ophthalmologist is, the ophthalmologist you eventually see might be able to explain that in more detail.