Visual hallucinations of curve form dimension

Visual hallucinations of curve form dimension: " Also, since I was small I have been seeing pulsating red circles occasionally when in sunlight – they lasted about 20 minutes and I never got a headache after. However, in April 2005, I started seeing these circles everytime my eyes are exposed to sunlight in anyway (e.g. in a room with a window and overcast day outside). Recently, I started having a constant flickering in my vision which I know is a very faint version of the red circles – and this is happening even when my eyes aren't exposed to sunlight" (subject #301).

Similarly, the 65-year-old patient from Luda et al. (1991) reported persisting visual hallucinations "in the shape of... rings..." (p. 582).

RN, Monocular persistent visual hallucinations with "target-shaped pattern" of curve form dimension, 2010

A 61-years-old female with a positive family history for migraine and a history of migraine with aura (including recurring attacks of retinal migraine) from the age of 31 sustained, with sudden onset, persistent monocular visual hallucinations of curve form dimension ("target-shaped pattern") at the age of 54, diagnosed 5 years later as a complication of migraine with retinal migraine by her neurophthalmologist.

"This is for the migraine-aura.org website developers, researchers or interested parties

The following description of my persistent aura without infarction I think is more or less unique. I spent years trying to find out what my visual problem was / is. Perhaps this description can help others.

After much research my neuro-opthalmologist identified my unusual persistent aura as visual snow related. I see a grayish target pattern that looks much like a macular disk; it becomes 'visible' and disappears in rhythm with my heart beat. This aura appeared rather suddenly in the fall of 2003 for no apparent reason. I also have chronic migraine and traditional aura migraines. While nothing has succeeded in stopping any of these problems, the headaches at least have been greatly softened with gabapentin, careful diet, exercise and plenty of sleep. Once I knew that my odd aura was probably a persistent aura and appeared to be benign, it quit bothering me so much. I learned to ignore it.

I did draw a picture of this aura by putting a paper down on the table and sketching what I was seeing. I would be happy to send a scan of that drawing if it could be of help."

(RN, E-Mail to Klaus Podoll, November 6, 2010)

"Attached is a jpg file of the persistent visual snow related aura I described in my first E-Mail.

It is the equivalent of tracing. I put the paper on the table and drew what I was seeing from the inside. There is a one-to-one correspondence between what I see and what is 'projected' on the paper.

The pattern is in one eye only, my right eye. It appears in the center of my visual field.

This image does not develop over time, it is what I see with each heart beat. The only difference that ever occurs is that at times it is much clearer than others. In other words, the grays are darker and the lights are lighter. So far I have seen no particular reason for this to occur.

Visibility is usually, but not always, restricted to light-colored backgrounds (walls, clothing, furniture), backlit screens – particularly computer screens, and the sky. It is gray mixed with light, but on the whole a dull image."

(RN, E-Mail to Klaus Podoll, November 7, 2010)

"The heart-beat, target-shaped pattern, the one identified as a persistent aura without infarction and identified by my neuro-ophthalmologist as related to visual snow appeared suddenly in October 2003. It has always been the same although I was much more attentive to it when I did not know that it is probably benign. The persistent aura is always in my right eye."

(RN, E-Mail to Klaus Podoll, November 7, 2010)

"Yes, the onset was indeed abrupt.

As I was reading one evening all of a sudden I noticed this very intrusive pulsatile gray spot behind the type, doubly annoying because it was in / near where the eye focuses to read. I have had it ever since. Just recently my glaucoma specialist mentioned that they (he and the other eye doctors) had feared that there was something wrong with the macular disk or some other structure and he had entered a period of watchful waiting with frequent eye visits on my part. But nothing developed. The neuro-ophthalmologist identified the problem as a persistent aura without infarction related to visual snow sometime around the beginning of 2008."

(RN, E-Mail to Klaus Podoll, November 15, 2010)

"My other aura, which occurs one or two times a month, is a classic scintillating scotoma in black, white, orange and blue and is preceded by a blind spot."

(RN, E-Mail to Klaus Podoll, November 7, 2010)

"My classical auras began at age 31 in 1980, six months after the birth of my first child. The classical scintillating scotoma that I mentioned before is always preceded by a small blind spot in the center of my vision. The small light that then appears in the blind spot grows into a reverse C in black, white, blue and orange growing larger until it disappears. The classic aura is in my right eye about 98 percent of the time, very infrequently it is in the left eye or both eyes. The whole aura process lasts about 20 minutes and is very typical of migraine auras. Initially the headaches and vomiting connected with this aura were debilitating. That is no longer the case."

(RN, E-Mail to Klaus Podoll, November 7, 2010)

"Yes, one of my sisters has migraine auras, and my son has classic auras."

(RN, E-Mail to Klaus Podoll, November 7, 2010)

References

Luda E, Bo E, Sicuro L, Comitangelo R, Campana M. Sustained visual aura: a totally new variation of migraine. Headache 1991; 31: 582-583.

top