Seeing Blue Horizontal Lines
SEP 19, 2023
Question:
For some time I have been seeing blue horizontal lines. If I look at square wire fencing the top and bottom are blue. Occasionally short straight lines become quadrupled, or more. In the garden, soil can look like tweed cloth where a small line is multiplied. What might this be?
Answer:
These symptoms are non-specific and can occur with many conditions. Question to consider are how often and what is the duration of the symptom? Is it getting progressively worse? Does it involve one or both eyes? If the symptom is definitely in one eye then it may be ocular migraine, or anything that can affect the macula, such as a macular pucker (or even macular degeneration). If it is in both eyes than the problem may not be in the eyes but may be in the brain and could be caused by many, many things such as a compromised blood supply (as in migraine), inflammation, or even a nutritional deficiency. Therefore, anyone with symptoms such as these should have a full evaluation by an ophthalmologist. If a clear explanation is not found on exam then consideration should be given to imaging and other tests such as a neurological consult, physical exam and blood testing.
This question was originally answered on Mar. 03, 2014.