i have something in my eye

this again! but this time retinal flashes and a floaty thread-like something, left eye only (no sensation tho of something there tho)

it's annoying! i expect it will be gone by morning

If it’s sudden you might want to read this page

yes i was just reading that!

i have had the flashing a couple of times in the last several years, the thread-like thing is i am reasonably sure from its behaviour an actual hair or eyelash -- i am not concerned yet but we'll see how it is tomorrow

but thank you

(will check in w/my GP 2moro as it does seem like i still have an unusual number of the floaty hair-like phantoms in my left eye today)

on GP's advice booked a minor eye condition examination at the local optician to be on the safe side

"it is abt the size of the taj mahal"

typical among blues-eyed people

so it's a "posterior vitreous detachment" -- which is kinda routinely normal as you get older and nothing to worry about, the bits and bobs bobbling around in there will gradually go away or i will stop noticing them

HOWEVER if the flashes return and the floaters increase -- or a dark curtain movs across my vision -- then i have to drop everything and hurry back to the optician as soon as it opens, bcz that might be a detached retina (which is bad)

but for now everything is fine except the eye-drops he used mean my sight will be blurry all evening

he did not say: "I don't think you're ready for this (detached) jelly"
he DID say" "look to your left please. now look to your er other left" -- bcz no i can't tell them apart and i will never learn

Spent some of yesterday inside an MRI machine (I was a test subject, don't worry). Said test involved inducing vibration to the back of the head to image the brain in a specific way. Halfway through one of the several-minutes-long vibration sequences a small bit of sleepy eye fluff was dislodged from my tear duct where it had been hiding, which then vibrated painfully against my retina while I, encased in a sci-fi sarcophagus, was unable to move. It was agony! All in the name of scientific advancement though so I can hardly complain.

i think you can complain! science with its big boots should advance away from yr eyeball!

that's certainly a thing to read the day before i have an mri scheduled...

MRIs are fine, I was test subject for a special vibration-inducing version that you will not have. Remember to fix the ear mufflers on well though, those things are loud!

update on my eye issue: as it's six months on and while it hasn't got worse it hasn't really got better i agitated to get it looked at the the royal eye infirmary derriford:

in conclusion
a) one eye is fine for the moment
b) the other -- with the floaters and the blurry patch -- is indeed afflicted by posterior vitreous detachment (PVD), but there's no sign of any retinal detachment so that's good news. some sort of PVD will almost certainly happen at some point to the other; when it does i shd see an optician to be on the safe side (in case of retinal tears), and ditto any return of bright flickering rings or first-time emergence of curtains of darkness. the fact that my eyes ache and water and feel like pointy cubes at the end of the day is unrelated (tiredness and dryness, seek out optrex). the floaters and blurriness won;t go away exactly, but my brain will gradually adapt to make them less visible (especially if i don't spend time winding it up by comparing sight in one eye with sight in the other)

i very much wish my work weren't 1 x fvckton of uninterrupted reading, off of paper and on-screen, at the moment

logging in to post something reads p much exactly the same as that last^^^post

i'm used to ending the day with a headache, starting it with a headache (when i'm facing a day's fact-checking) just sucks

i don't think this is directly related to the PVD issue but i am certainly straining my aged eyes day-on-day-on-day and these days reading far less for pleasure when i am also reading for work

Sounds really stressful, but nothing to worry about?

not stressful exactly, but definitely tiresome (and much better today)

i think the root of this kind of headache is basically weather (air pressure), then worsened by caffeine (which i take periodic breaks from but not when i have a work project with a heavy deadline) and of course the fact that this work involves non-stop reading and hence demands on my eyes from screens and print on paper

the specialist at plymouth eye hospital seemed unworried by the aching, he said it wouldn't be related to the PVD and was honestly p normal for ppl my age with my kind of job -- take breaks, use optrex, try not to strain the muscles etc

i do have an optrex spray, which feels refreshing but sadly smells like very ancient carrots

Good to hear the specialist is unworried. Though I don't know how you avoid straining muscles: sounds like doing less, but if you need to work the hours.

tbh i usually get to slacken off between projects: this has been an unusually protracted one (three months instead of three weeks; but the focused stuff will be done by next week)

flashes & floaters in the other eye for several days: vision express confirm it's PVD as anticipated, also confirm there's nothing to worry about (this comes to us all)

Got a sliver of metal in my eye once, grinding on metal in a fabrication shop. Apparently it bounced off the wall behind me, flew into the interior of my face shield, bounced off that and lodged in my eyeball.

Doctor had me lau back and stare at a small blue light so my eyes would be stationary while he took a dental drill to work out the metal. I never stared at something so hard before. As soon as the drill touched my eye, my vision started pulsing and the blue light was vibrating.

Good times!