I’m 43/f, mostly healthy with MS and thyroid dysfunction (possible oscillating thyroid disease). I take synthroid and adderall 5mg xr (weekdays only). Never smoked, I drink 1-2 drinks a couple times a month, no recreational drug use. I wear glasses for astigmatism and nearsightedness. My left eye has a substantially stronger prescription and only one of my eyes has astigmatism (can’t remember which). I also have some scarring on my left retina that’s been there unchanged for over a decade. It’s presumed to be from CSR. To be clear, my left eye even before that scarring was observed has always been my weaker eye but vision changes did prompt me to visit the eye dr around the time it was found.

A few weeks ago I woke up and I saw flashes of light in my peripheral vision. It lasted a few hours and then went away. Later that morning I kept thinking my glasses had smudges because my vision was blurry. Later I realized it was my vision in my right eye that was the problem. I had what seemed to be a gigantic floater that would pass over or rest on my field of vision. It did not improve over the weekend and I noticed mild eye discomfort. Like a dull ache in my right eye. I made an appt for Tuesday to have my eyes checked.

The optometrist said she saw a lot of “debris” and described it as Schaefer’s sign but saw no retinal tear. I was urgently referred to an ophthalmologist who said I did not have Schaefer’s sign and was diagnosed with PVD. He also said there was no retinal tear. Since then I have been struggling with the vision changes due to this large floater as well as a dull ache in my eye.

I tried to research PVD a little but almost everything describes it as gradual and something that happens as part of the aging process. The opth said it is uncommon for people to have symptoms like I did but it can happen. He said it’s unlikely I’ll have a retinal tear but that can also happen. I go back for f/u to opth next month.

Will these visual changes go away or is there treatment for it? The opth said what I’m seeing is the edge of my retina floating over my vision or something?

What about the dull ache?

Should I consider getting a second opinion given the disagreement over shafers sign? I feel reassured that there is consensus over no tearing but does it seem unusual for the optometrist to have seen “lots” of debris and the opth to see none?

Is it unusual for someone my age to have this? It definitely was not gradual like described in the literature and I couldn’t find much of anything on people under 45 experiencing this.

Any resources or journal articles you can recommend that would be relevant to someone my age with a similar presentation?

Does this predispose me to other things and should I continue to be followed by opth now?

Thanks.