Bluring of vision

[bertie3620]

I am having trouble with my vision, have been using CPAP for little over a year, have seen the eye doctor and had my glasses changed 6 months ago but still have blurred vision.
Could this be caused by the air blowing into my eyes from the CPAP?

[LSAT]

The air should not be blowing in your eyes. You need a mask adjustment or a different mask. Why have you waited so long???

[BlackSpinner]

It could be because of air blowing into your eyes either from mask leaks OR from inside through your tear ducts. Try and find an ophthalmologist who knows about cpap therapy.

[lars4life]

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[pap4life]

Only impact that a CPAP could have on the eyes is through air escaping from the mask and blowing into the eyes. I would think that the air pressure would have to be unbearable for it to blow out your tear ducts. It would be whistling out of your ears first. I suggest a better fitting mask is in order.

[lars4life]

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[LinkC]

How about one of the total full-face masks? The FitLife comes to mind.

The pressure would be the same inside and outside the tear duct.

[imsleepynomore]

You might be getting dry eye caused by the vent air check this out . Unfortunately as we age a lot of things go south and dry eye is one of these problems this will cause blurred vision until you replace the moisture with drops. My eye doc has helped me with drops and medicine I put in my eyes twice a day .

[guest4]

Are you sure it's because of the cpap? Are you diabetic? Do you have a new medicine? Lots of things could be the cause. Too much vitamin E, etc.? Just some thoughts. Not a doctor.

[PST]

Bertie3620, this is just a possibility, but I've been bothered by a condition that blurs my vision and can't be corrected with lenses, so I'm going to describe it in case you would like to ask your doctor whether this might be what's affecting you. The name -- epithelial basement membrane dystrophy -– makes it sound more serious than it really is. It involves fine lines on the cornea, which is why glasses don't help. It is a little like trying to take a clear picture using a camera with scratches on the lens. Even if the focus is perfect, scattering of light by the scratches and irregularities in the surface make the image blurred. This is also called map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy because to some imaginative ophthalmologists the marks look like the outlines of continents on a map, clusters of dots, and parallel lines like the whorls of a fingerprint. I had a flair-up last week, and when tested Thursday I had 20/100 vision in my left eye, even with glasses, largely (according to the doctor) because of a little circular scratch right in front of the pupil. Other signs of the condition include sensitivity to light and glare around bright objects at night.

How does CPAP figure in? Map-dot-fingerprint is caused by a thickening and disorganization of the outer layer of the cornea that make it fragile and easy to scratch. Recurrent erosions of the cornea can occur just from movement against the inside of the eyelid, especially if the eye is dry. Map-dot-fingerprint is rather common but usually not symptomatic. My ophthalmologist tells me that drying of my eyes from mask leaks is probably what started this off for me. I don't usually have leak problems, but every once in a while I knock the mask out of place during the night and end up with a leak pointed at the eye. My episodes have often come after I've been burning the midnight oil for a week and then sleep 12 hours. The injury can come suddenly with opening of the dry eye when the cornea is susceptible.

Map-dot-fingerprint is fluctuating rather than progressive and can be treated. The standard treatments for mild cases are eye drops and a salve that contain salt. This pulls moisture out of the cornea. That sounds backwards. Why pull water out if dry eyes are a problem? Because the condition can allow the cornea itself to become waterlogged, called corneal edema, which makes it more easily injured. The drops dry out the cornea, and then normal over-the-counter lubricating eye drops can help keep the lids moving easily over the eyes.

The salve feels weird going into the eyes, but it helps in two ways. It is essentially Vaseline with salt in it. You squeeze a little right into the eyes before bedtime. In continues the process of pulling moisture out of the corneas while providing lubrication and preventing drying of the eyes from mask leaks or other sources of nighttime airflow.

I am curious if anyone else has been diagnosed with this. It may not be what bertie3620 has, but it's one more thing to check out.

[Shellie_p]

You might be getting dry eye caused by the vent air check this out . Unfortunately as we age a lot of things go south and dry eye is one of these problems this will cause blurred vision until you replace the moisture with drops. My eye doc has helped me with drops and medicine I put in my eyes twice a day .

Yea this is happened to me a few times also. Doc gave me some samples of drops that moisturize and they did the trick. I only need them on occasion when i wake up.

[Slimmm]

I am a mouth breather and in 2012 went through two different nights of sleep study. A full mask was the only option. The cpap machine is set at 15 which makes it impossible to put the mask on in a comfortable way. It must be tight!,to seal correctly and when I wake I have huge thick lines on my face that are painfull and I usually rip the mask off when I wake after 5 hours and then sleep great without it. But the other problem is the pressure created internally has changed my vision. Without it I have 20/30 vision and can pass an eye test easily. Using the cpap and I need a eye glass prescripton to read the chart for a driving test. All I have read so far is a doctor said it is leaking and blowing into the eye. Wrong. This doctor need more training. Pressure in the whole ears nose and throat puts tremendous pressure on the eye as well and this has been ignored.

[Julie]

Well... I wouldn't ignore what the doctor said because it is a problem for many of us and we deal with it in different ways. Drying of the eyes is an important factor and can change your vision, so do follow up with it whether or not you find there are other problems as well. You didn't say what your pressures are set to so it would be a good idea to do that here and we'd have more to go on to try and help. I wonder if you're aware that Cpap blows such a tiny amount of air into your system relative to so many other therapies for different conditions, and your assuming your symptoms are all due to that may be jumping the gun without further investigation - not everything's about Cpap.

[chunkyfrog]

I always have to use artificial tears when I wake up. Sometimes I need it if I'm out in the wind.
Dry eyes is a side effect of Travatan-Z, which controls my glaucoma. Mask leak contributes, too.

[HST]

I am a mouth breather and in 2012 went through two different nights of sleep study. A full mask was the only option. The cpap machine is set at 15 which makes it impossible to put the mask on in a comfortable way. It must be tight!,to seal correctly and when I wake I have huge thick lines on my face that are painfull and I usually rip the mask off when I wake after 5 hours and then sleep great without it. But the other problem is the pressure created internally has changed my vision. Without it I have 20/30 vision and can pass an eye test easily. Using the cpap and I need a eye glass prescripton to read the chart for a driving test. All I have read so far is a doctor said it is leaking and blowing into the eye. Wrong. This doctor need more training. Pressure in the whole ears nose and throat puts tremendous pressure on the eye as well and this has been ignored.

I guess that doctor is in your home watching you sleep Does your machine have a function to detect leak percentage after use?