It is common for optometrists to see people who are distressed by sudden changes in their vision, often out of the blue. The experience may include blind spots in vision, blurred patches or seeing black and white zig zag patterns, often in an arc shape. Scintillations, lights, kaleidescopic or prismatic effects are also common symptoms.

The typical duration of these visual effects is 20-30 minutes. Thankfully most of these symptoms will completely resolve within an hour.

A headache may follow or there may be some milder feelings of being ‘washed out’. If you experience these symptoms the vision changes will make you feel like taking a break, it is smart to rest or have a cup of tea to relax.

When we examine the inside of your eye, everything usually appears healthy and normal. We can conclude that these effects are not caused by a problem with your eye, and we make a tentative diagnosis of migraine based on listening carefully to the symptoms you describe.

For a more detailed description on how migraine auras occur, feel free to click this safe link for further information. https://migrainecanada.org/