What Causes Sudden Onset Of Wavy Distortion Of Vision?

Posted on Sat, 12 Jul 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 12 Jul 2014 Answered on

Sat, 2 Aug 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I experienced a sudden wavy distortion in my vision that seemed to grow. It lasted maybe 20 minutes or so. This has never happened before, but I do have a history (16 years ago) of meningitis. Do I need to go to urgent care or is it safe to wait until Monday to call an opthalmologist?

Answered by Dr. Dadapeer K (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
You can wait till till Monday.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to Health care magic.

I am Dr. Dadapeer K, an ophthalmologist and I answer health problems related to eye.

It seems from the history that you had an episode of sudden onset of wavy distortion of vision lasting for few minutes.
This indicates an episode of transient ischemia. The common causes for transient ischemia are vascular diseases of retinal vessels or carotid vessels, prodromal symptom of migraine....
If the attacks are recurrent this requires evaluation to rule out underlying causes.

Hence you can wait till Monday and consult ophthalmologist until the attack recurs.

Hope the information is helpful to you.

Thank you
With regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar