Kaleidoscope vision / blackLine around pupil

[Abitorangelooking]

Yesterday at work my vision went really odd. It was like there was a bright semi circle of kaleidoscope at the periphery of my left field of vision. Lasted about ten minutes but my eye felt weird afterwards like there was something in it.

I did Google and it said it could be a form of migraine. When looking at my eye I can see a pronounced black line at the side of pupil that never used to be there. I know people have limbal rings but these tend to disappear with age not appear when you are in your 40s

Anyone experienced similar? I’ve made an optician appointment for next week and will probably follow up with GP regardless as I’ve been feeling awful for a bit now.

Any chance you're pregnant? I had ocular migraines occasionally with my last pregnancy.

Absolutely no chance of pregnancy. I do think Im peri menopausal and yesterday was first day of a late period so hormones could definitely be out of whack.

I get them sometimes OP. Got them in my last pregnancy but now get them sometimes at the end of my period, so I'm assuming it's hormones, but I do not enjoy it.

I did not enjoy it bc either. I thought I was having a stroke.

I would not wait till next week to see the optician. If you’ve never had this before you need to see someone asap to rule out any serious issues. Ring all the local opticians you can tomorrow and try and get in as as emergency. If you can’t do this you should go to your nearest A and E department that has an eye clinic. They should dilate your pupils with drops and do a proper check.

Totally appreciate what you are saying but When it was happening I checked to see if closing the eye of the affected side would stop it and neither did closing both eyes weirdly so pretty sure it’s neurological as opposed to actually eye related.

Do you mean the black ring which is around the iris? (Which is called the limbus). They can sometimes get more obvious with age, but there are a couple of conditions which can cause them too.
it does sound like a visual migraine.
Seeing the optician is the right thing to do. You definitely do not need to go to A&E.

I never used to have a black ring round it though. I’ve actually dug through some old photos just to double check. It’s also uneven it’s thicker on the outer edge of iris. The other eye also has a ring but not as thick at the side. It’s so weird looking at something different on your own face.

It does sound like an ocular migraine.

I think any sudden onset visual changes are classified as a medical emergency, so definitely get checked out.

I'm not sure about the change in your eye - do you have a clearer photo?

Ditto this. You need an emergency appointment as soon as possible (tomorrow).

Sounds like the sort of migraine auras without headache that I get, although mine tend to last a bit longer than 10 minutes. Mine normally start with a small blind spot, as though I’ve been staring at a bright light, but instead of wearing off it grows until I realise bits of words on the page or computer screen are missing, and if looking at a person I can only see one of their nostrils, even when face on to them… then the rainbow, scintillating, zig zaggy semi-circle appears in the periphery of my vision and keeps getting bigger but further out until it disappears. I will also feel a bit tight headed and slightly distant from everything, but can carry on normal conversations and pretend everything is “normal” (ie unless, eg, driving a car, don’t have to stop doing what I’m working on until it goes away, although it obviously hampers my ability to process visual information quickly and just feels a bit peculiar). I don’t get headaches with the auras and only very seldom get them. Normally, in retrospect, I realise I had been feeling a bit run down beforehand, or had mild stomach issues prior to it.

The first time you get symptoms like this, you must get it checked out, to make sure it is not something like a transient ischaemic attack or some other issue that could also be a pre-warning of something more serious.

Sound exactly like my migraines except my zig zags are black and white and shimmery.

Mine also starts with blind spot, then progresses through shimmers etc., before my vision goes back to normal, and the headache kicks in. I think I'm not completely 'normal' during the 1st stage.

Mine seem to be triggered by stress.

I saw a small shimmery circle in the left side of my field of vision a couple of times several years ago. It was very distracting but not at all painful, but I was kind of expecting it to become painful because although I've never had any kind of migraine before, I wondered if that could be what it was. On both occasions it happened to be possible for me to have a rest with my eyes shut for half an hour or so, and it was gone when I opened them again. Eventually I worked out I'd been sitting at DH's computer on both occasions and the tower is on the desk beside the monitor, with a very bright small circular light on the "on" button, which was on my left. The next time I used that computer I covered the light and I never saw the shimmery circle again. Could you have been exposed to a small bright light like that that isn't part of your usual routine?