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What Causes Frequent Blindness For Few Seconds?

A couple times a day, for no more than a couple seconds I seem to go blind. It does not happen as a result of a particular activity and there has been no recent head trauma. This has been going on for 2-3 months. My vision does not go blurry, it just literally goes away. No shadows, no light, nothing at all for 2-5 seconds then like a light switch it s back. My friends joke and say it s blinking, but my eyes are open when this happens. It is becoming more frequent and am getting very worried. What is this?

posted on Tue, 15 Jul 2014

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

Sat, 19 Jul 2014 Answered on

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 Last reviewed on

Post as: Anonymous Non Anonymous

Keep me posted

Ophthalmologist, Dr. Anupama Desai's Response

Hello,

Amarausis fugax is temporary loss of vision for a brief period of few seconds to minutes. It can occur as a result of reduced blood flow in the retinal vessels, in migraine . It is important to get a thorough eye check up done by an ophthalmologist who can refer you to a cardiologist also if vascular ischemia is suspected. Common risk factors are hypertension, atherosclerosis.
hypercholesterolemia/triglyceridemia.
Regards

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What Causes Frequent Blindness For Few Seconds?

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