Eye issues after aortic surgery

I had a complete emergent Aortic Dissection in 2015 with a dacron graft repair. Coma for two weeks. I have had ocular migraines since then about every other month. No pain, just a jagged rainbow that develops and takes 25-30 minutes to complete. Can't work or watch TV. I just wait them out. I have also had the swirly eye phenomenon, too. My right eye just started jumping all over and I could not get it to stop. It's happened several times. My brain scans showed a left parietal lobe stroke but it's unclear when that occured.

Suffice it to say, if you have survived an AD you've been through a lot of trauma in having your vasculature fixed. The docs aren't always going to have an answer for why certain things happen. Remember that it only in the past 25 years or so that people even survived an emergent dissection. I am convinced that the profound hypothermic circulatory arrest with the accompanying cerebral death that I underwent for my two surgeries left me a little different. It's okay. We're all here and we're all capable enough to ask good questions. Peace.

I am way later to the party as well, but I had an aortic root repair done in September 2024. I get halos and spots in my vision that correlates to migraines that was there previous to surgery and they seem to be more frequent. I do also get the uncontrollable eye movement for 30 to 60 seconds then it goes away and doesn't happen again for a month. It is disturbing and freaks you out and I am getting the same thing., "everything is fine from doctors. It is really hard to explain. I read the post about the stroke and apparantly that has not happened to me. Did anyone else gather any new info about this?

So I had an ascending aortic dissection in 2015 followed by emergency, open-heart surgery and a couple of weeks in a coma. The fact that you’re here is an absolute miracle. I have had spots, shutter vision, blindness, various visual hallucinations, as well as a jagged lightning bolt that moves across my vision slowly over about a 30 minute timeframe. I got a sneaking suspicion that the hypothermic complete circulatory arrest has something to do with all of it. If you were on DH CA, then I suspect you were in the same wonderland that I was in. It’s the kind of thing that almost nobody knows anything about even people in the medical community. Most of my information came from going back to California and sitting talking to my thoracic surgeon for an hour. Once I understood what he had done to me in saving my life, it was a lot easier for me to accept a little bit of the crazy auditory and visual situations. I did have my right eye start swirling around independent of my left eye uncontrollably. When I went to the emergency room, they told me I had had a left parietal lobe stroke. That makes total sense given all the crazy medical stuff that they did. So, don’t despair. You’re not the only one. The type of surgery you and I both had is absolutely as cutting edge as anything that’s possible medically. The fact that you’re having some after effects is normal. Feel free to reach out to me privately if you want to talk more. Peace.

I underwent open-heart surgery in 2013 for my ascending Aorta. A few months later, I began experiencing occasional visual disturbances—my eyes would show jittery movements, and sometimes a gray area would temporarily block my vision. These episodes typically lasted around 10 minutes and then resolved on their own. I consulted several eye doctors, but none were able to identify a specific cause.

Around the same time, I also experienced a sudden loss of sensation in one of my legs while shopping. This, too, resolved after about 10 minutes. I saw a neurologist and underwent an MRI of my brain, which showed no significant abnormalities. The neurologist diagnosed the visual episodes as migraines and the leg numbness as a transient ischemic attack (TIA).

I was prescribed 75 mg of Plavix (Clopidogrel), and since starting the medication, I have not experienced any further migraines or TIAs.

I am really glad to hear from others. I’m sorry it is happening to all of us but company is never a bad thing when weird stuff has been going on! I have had the stray ocular migraine for years, stray being one year if that. After my first open heart surgery in November 2023 to repair the aortic aneurysm and the aortic valve I had a couple in the hospital. After that they pretty much dwindled to once every month or two. I had a second open heart surgery in July 2024. I came out of that one with my left arm not working well initially. They ran a CT while I was in recovery fearing I was having a stroke. Thank God it was not that.

The thought from there was the arm was pinned badly for the time it took the surgeon to replace the valve and rebuild the aortic arch. I did request and got an MRI and another CT while I was still at the hospital. Still no sign of stroke. The neurologist hoped it would resolve itself eventually. So far I still have issues with my left arm and shoulder. Sometimes a tremor sometimes a sense of tingle or numbness. And when I am lifting over my head my left arm shakes some.

I have also been getting the ocular migraine or whatever it is on the left side and more frequently. There are stages where it will be more than once or twice a week. A little frightening when skiing last winter or driving! I do find if I close my left eye I can keep going although it does ruin depth perception. The people who already posted did a better job of describing the weird changes in vision than I could.

I am having an EMG this week on the left arm and wherever else the neurologist wants to poke around. It may not show anything new but I’m all about chasing answers where they may be. It is curious that a few of us have noted this specifically on the left side. I will be interested to see what others say. Thank you all for sharing and apologies for the long response. 🙂

I get the migraine with aura but no headache. It’s the shiny arc that eventually gets larger and leaves field of vision. I had that once a couple of years before my thoracic aortic dissection. Now I get brief episodes of eyes almost going to double vision and sometimes achieving double vision. No often and not frequent. I told the hospital staff about it but they weren’t concerned after the operation. I had some binoculars vision issues about 8 years ago. I’m doing some eye exercises I did then to see if that helps.

Me: Aortic dissection, aortic aneurysm, aortic root damage, aortic valve damage, coma, perfusion, a. graft, a. valve replacement, etc. late 2023.
Also me: ocular migraines going back to 2019. After surgery random stars off to either side of view.
Like @moonboy stuff was messed up and bypassing heart and lung function, I was on machines much of a 10 hour surgery.
Result: 18 months later, the stars are almost disappeared, the ocular migraines persist, and my care factor almost nil.
As moonboy said, just happy to be here. Wish I wasn't in this group, but glad that I am. My event was a strange way to get a free membership to the best group of great people.
Keep talking to each other.

i do get ocular migraines with no headache pain. both eyes with zig zag patterns off to outside of eyes.. many times seems brought on by light: like computer screen or windows with blinds open. eye doctor offered maybe brain tumor luckily negative. any and all information on subject would be very welcome. driving etc. is scary at times. ty. had aortic valve replacement 2022 (cabg) but problem didn't start until 2024.