I should mention, after seeing my optometrist, I tested out showing mainly right side peripheral loss, even though my neurosurgeon said if anything I would lose my left side.
I remember before I had my AVM removed my peripheral vision was fine, but ever since I had my surgery when I was 11, I haven't had any peripheral vision in my right eye.
i didn't have a ddiscussion with the dr before surgery. i was in the shower and woke up 2 weeks later in the hospital. dr said the clot was bout as big as hmm the clot was bout as big as my middle finger
the condition with my vision is called optic neuropathy
Yea my son had same thing happen his lost was permanent
Actually, it is not unusual for it not to be detected. I also have imnaired vision due to the AVM.
Mine was a large on in the right occipital extending into the thalmus. The AVM was is wrapped around the optic nerve for my left side of vision. It currently only impacts the upper left quadrant in both eyes. Please remember that the optic nerve for the right vision goes to the left side and vice versa.
My loss of vision is what caused the detection for my AVM when I was 22. I had gone to the hospital with what I thought was a migraine. Fortunately the ER Dr. was relatively new to the area and brought his expertise. He noticed the missing quadrant and then sent me to another hospital for a CT scan.
Please remember this was in the dark ages before all hospitals had CT scanners and MRIs were still on the drawing board.
I am sure they put in in a dome that flashed red dots and you had to push a button when you saw it.
That essentially is what they did for me except that it was all manual.
The conditions at that time 30 years ago were rather primitive. My options were to leave it alone or have it removed, which they said i would definately loose my left half vision from both eyes.
I chose to do nothing at that time.
Eventually i went to Boston for the Bragg Proton radiation treatment, which slowed down the growth but it did not accomplish what we wanted. Years later it was determined that treatment was useful in small AVMs but not as large as mine.
My loss of vision was a sort of barometer for me. I knew I wsa missing the upper left quadrant and then in 30 years I noticed that I was having issues with the lower left quadrant disappearing. MRIs identified that the AVM had grawn an additional 5cm so it was time to get treated.
I eventually chose the embolizations with follow-up by gamma knife.
Your vision was probably already impaired and you compensated for this without even realizing it. It never occrred to me when I was playing ball etc. why the ball would dissapear and then land on me.
i have been extremely fortunate that mine did not have a bleed or aneurysm.let me know if I can be of any assistance. Ross
hi, my AVM was discovered when it hemoraged 3 years ago and they say the stroke caused the complete loss of my left peripheral vision in both eyes - avm was on right. Bu i started experiencing blurred vision ten years prior to that and when i saw someone about it they said i just needed to stop looking at the computer screen at work for too long.... they told me at the time i had 20/20 vision. it was when i woke from my emergency craniotomy that my left peripheral had gone and i will never know if it was from the stroke or the actual operation because that can do it too. all i know is that it has never come back despite all my efforts to contradict doctors. i even flew to NY from australia to take part in a program being tested at the university of rochestor to restore loss of vision from stroke through computer training. the program seemed to be making a difference for me until i fell pregnant with twins and was put on strict bed rest and not allowed to sit up at a computer. when they were finally born i tried to resume the training but with two babies i just don't get time so i will never know if my vision could have come back or not. and i will never know to what degree it had already gone before my hemorage. perhaps like you i had just gotten used to it as I have now.... sorry i'm probably not much help with my story but it helps to share. it sounds like you still have peripheral vision in your left eye? do what you can to hold on to that as it means you still have full vision and can drive - just like someone with only one eye. all the best to you and good luck with your avm xo
Hi Will
I lost peripheral vision as a result of my AVM bleeding but not prior. I was told this was a common impairment following stroke / brain bleeds. I'm not able to drive because of it. Aside from this, it doesn't have a massive impact on my life. I don't enjoy being in busy places because I tend to colide with others and bollards are a bugger, but other than that I function pretty much as normal.
Take care
Pauline
Hi Will, My black spots I mean there is a black patch in my field of vision, I notice them mainly when I move my eye slightly, it's a bit like spotting a bug out out of the corner of your eye but when you actually got to spot it there is no bug there, the other times I notice them is if I am reading a book, the black spot scrolls across the page with my eye movement. They also dont seem to last too long but are slightly annoying more than anything..Best of luck :)
I have no peripheral vision eithher but this actually happened after the removal of the AVM. I'm really glad that your here, I hope that you find the answeres your looking for. Best of luck!
hi man.
i too suffer from half-field vision loss due to my right temporal lobe avm, it is called 'hemionopsia' or hemionopia, and can affect one or both eyes. in my case, it has affected both. this vision issue is discussed in my memoir, and is discussed on this page in my site:
Sorry to hear that..... I had a bleed 3 years ago and went through 6 embolization and finally the removal of the AVM -right temporal lobe. I did not know any issues until after a car accident. Got my self checked and found out left side of each eye could not see light very well ( Light test by Optomologist. It took years for me to find this out. Sometimes people cannot be thorough. should have been caught prior.
it's a horrible condition, cuz it is hard to process that you actually have it. there is NO BLACK LINE or dividing partition in your vision... it looks as if you see EVERYTHING! you're not even aware you have it. it's difficult for me to remember myself. i've walked into the women bathroom many times, cuz all i can see is 'nen.' i have also been hit by a few cars - and a u-haul truck! - because i didnt see it. of course, since i look normal, nobody believes i have this form of blindness. i feel better to know others have this same condition.
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hello everyone thanks for all the responses, i'll try to answer everyone as best I can. First I'm 24 and the AVM was unruptured when the doctors did the CAT/MRI scans. I did my angio last week and the AVM was 6.6cm in the longest measurement taken. I have not done any procedure since then. I never had any symptoms, no headaches out of the norm and no seizures. As far as my vision goes, I'm fairly positive lack of peripheral vision was preconcussion but how far I can remember beats me. The neuro opt said if I did have it and lost it I would have noticed and would have probably complained a long time ago. So I'm leaning towards congenital like the AVM. I will look into hemianopia for those who mentioned it. I see most people here suffered loss of vision post op or post bleed, which isn't a factor for me. So is it possible that my AVM started growing near the optic nerve during birth?
I will be going back to my doctors this month and bring up all the stuff mentioned and see what they say. Thanks.
@Pauline hah, I know the feeling! it just happened to me today. I always find myself bumping into people, some of them with the mean mug face to me but I just apologize and move on.
Regular eye exams don't test peripheral vision. They're only concerned with straight ahead vision so you can see. We only found out about my son's vision loss because our reg. eye doctor takes pics of retinas because of bleeding disorder. Found bleeding on retina and papilledema( swelling of optic disc and nerve) and sent us to neuro-opthamologist. The papilledema was actually a side effect from shunt failure causing increased CSF pressure ( which is the only thing that causes papilledema) and proved that his shunt wasn't working right. Told the damn docs that I wasn't crazy and they were wrong.HIs vision is improving now but he's only 10 and had these problems for a couple of years. Still don't know what he'll be left with. Next check coming up soon
hi no they said my peripheral vision weakness was bacuase of the stroke after the arm ruptured an my crainotomy
I work for an opthamologist and at lunch yesterday I asked him if the visual field defect was caused from my stroke. He stated that it's possible or may be caused from the pressure on the brain that caused the stroke. We see a lot of patients who have had strokes, maybe not related to having an aneurysm but they all have a loss of vision. He said when a person complains with visual loss an MRI is one of the first test that should be ordered. Then the aneurysm would be detected and that not all people with aneurysms complain with headaches.
Hello Will. My situation is a tad different. I had great vision before my AVM. There was one experience when I was 19, and had a bad migraine that lasted about a week. For that week, the eyesight in my left eye seemed to be altered temporarily. It seemed like I started at the sun for a long time - that's the best way I can describe my vision.
Seven years later, I would have an AVM rupture that would alter my eyesight completely. I can't really describe it, but all I can say is that my couldn't see clearly, and had to take a cab to work instead of commuting and walking to work. A month after surgery, it would be discovered that the peripheral vision in my left was gone since the AVM bleed was located in the Parietal/Occipital lobe and injured an eye nerve.
Where was your AVM located exactly? All the best to you.
Yeah I do but I think it happened after all the surgeries ( I was 3 when I was diagnosed). I had the AVM on my left side and I don't have peripheral vision on my right eye. I honestly thought it only had happened to me.