Central Serous Retinopathy: My Symptoms

One of our writers has had to deal with an eye condition known as Central Serous Retinopathy. Since we work with eye surgeons I asked her to write about it and agreed to post it on this blog. She has written a series of nine blogs on her experience with Central Serous Retinopathay.

This is blog post 3 of 9:

What I see is like a round shadow almost in the very center of my vision and only in my right eye (it is not precisely in the center because when I try to look directly at the spot my vision moves down and slightly to the right). When I look at something light, the spot is dark. When I look at something dark the spot is light.

The spot is not completely opaque. I can kind of see through it. It is round and has a lighter area in the upper left-hand part of the circle. It varies in size, and seems to vary in opaqueness.

I have good days and bad days. Sometimes even good and bad hours. On a good day the spot gets smaller, which means it gets out of the way and I can read around it with no problem. It also seems to fade some, so it's just not as noticeable and distracting.

Bad days

Days when I am really stressed or was really stressed the night before are worse. If my blood pressure goes up, that makes it really bad. Bright, sunny days are bad, but I never see well when it is very bright.

On a bad day it is large and covers the center of my vision to the point that obscures my ability to make out letters with that eye. If I really concentrate I can eventually figure them out. Lines of text within the circle are wavy. Letters look smaller through that eye.

Normally my left eye is dominant. I know this because I am cross-dominant. I shoot with my right hand, but aim with my left eye. It's just instinctive and the most natural thing in the world to me. Many people have tried to correct me on it, but it has never interfered with my aim.

Years ago I was told I have poor convergence, which means my eyes don't work together very well. My depth perception has never been good. I tend to "look through" one eye at a time, and I can consciously switch when I need to.

When the spot is bad I can’t seem to block that image out, even though it is in my non-dominant eye. It makes it hard to see in general, like everything is dim, but bright light makes it worse, it makes everything seem even dimmer. My depth perception gets even worse than normal and sometimes I feel a little dizzy and disoriented. It makes it hard to think and makes me feel tired.