Eye issues after aortic surgery

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 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?

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.

A little late to the party. But me too. Ocular migraines with halo sometimes two or three times a week, sometimes zero a week. And every three or four months my eye just sort of crosses and there’s double vision. Doesn’t last long—maybe 90 seconds or so. Guess misery loves company. Glad to see others are all in the same boat. My dissection and surgery was June 2022.

You have no idea how relieved your post made me. Thank you so much for responding. It’s so difficult to explain to anyone how it feels. If my MRI/MRA is normal I will stop there. Just so frustrating how the docs just say they have never heard of that. We know our bodies and we know when something isn’t right. We have to be proactive. Hang in there. Hopefully these episodes will go away with time.

I had aortic arch repair almost 4 years ago and I have the exact same thing!! About a year after my surgery it started- I get these episodes about 1 time a month with double vision and it feels like my eyes are moving or I can’t move them. Lasts only a few seconds sometimes a minute but always very brief and resolves on their own. I have the flashing ribbon on the edge of my peripheral vision at times also- last week it lasted about an hour. I have had mri- was essentially normal they said. My bp tends to stay lower side. My docs have no clue- recommend me going to see a neurologists just haven’t wanted to take that next step yet. But I am a little relieved to see it may not be me going crazy!!! And I never had anything like this prior to surgery, thank you all for sharing!!!

Jeane

Thank you for replying
Seems like it’s more common then we know.
It’s very concerning when it happens. My uncontrollable eye movements are what really scare me. My MRI/MRA is Tuesday. If they don’t find anything I will just deal with it. It’s so comforting to hear from others with some of the same issues. 😌

I have had eye issues after emergency surgery for my aorta dissection (3 repairs). I get flashing lights at the edge of both eyes. My cardiac MD and surgeon don’t seem concerned either. I went to an ophthalmologist says it’s dry eye and BP related. He suggested natural eye drops. That has seems to have lessened them. Possibly from trauma. 🤷‍♀️ Best wishes!

Yes I saw her last week. I am scheduled to have a MRI/MRA on Halloween
Not the best day 😂
She thought it would be a good move. I work in a hospital laboratory and I talked to our Pathologist
He said with my past vascular diseases it would be a good idea. 2 years ago I had 12 inches of my colon removed due to ischemic colitis now the
Aneurysm. I will post what they find. Hopefully nothing.

Hello @texasdeb, you mentioned you were going to see your PCP and you were going to discuss your involuntary eye movements with them. Were you able to do that and have you learned anything new?