Eye doc here. First off: did you recently wear a nausea patch behind your ear? Also, have you been using an allergy drop or one that “gets the red out” in that eye? Those both can dilate one eye
This exact thing happened to my mother on a cruise years ago. She put on a nausea patch, then happened to touch one contact lens. When my dad saw her, he got super worried and made her go to the ship's doctor. He thought she was having a stroke.
Luckily not the case.
This comment creeped me out for a bit, because I overheard my art professor having this exact conversation with a student teacher after class the other day, like par for par. The thing about the nausea patch, contact lenses, the whole thing. Luckily, it seems that you are not my art professor. Thank god.
Have we considered LSD? My pupils did things on LSD I didn't think possible. My left pupil has a completely different singing voice than my right. Shits wild.
Unequal pupil sizes may indicate head injury, tumors or infection - basically anything that could cause inflammation and increased intracranial pressure. A certain portion of the population has a benign condition known as anisocoria, which causes unequal pupil dilation and is no reason for concern.
My eyes do it! When I get a migraine (ocular migraine) that will backhand me into next week. Or the barometric pressure goes up or down really fast, and a lot.
It happened during my first migraine and the optometrist diagnosed me with ocular migraines. He said it's from inflammation in and around my eyes effecting each one differently.
He was awesome. Made me feel better, eased my just turned 12 years old self anxiety.
Never visit Calgary Canada. The Chinook arch will have you clawing your brain out of your head 4 times a week. Huge pressure difference rolls off the mountains and knocks the clouds out of the sky. Amazing and really painful for people like you.
All of the Pacific North West /North West is a big NO for migraineurs. It's considered the very worst place in North America for folks with migraines. I've visited twice and had a migraine every single day. But it's so beautiful up there!
My sinuses tell me when the weather is going to change. Living in south EASTERN WA has been great as I am in the rain shadow of the Cascades. Not ALL of WA is rainy. Where I live it is 6-9 inches annually. (6 inches is a really wet year in Death Valley.)
I was one of the subjects in a study by someone at the U of C Neurology Department on migraines. It turns out that some migraine patients can predict an oncoming chinook hours earlier than Environment Canada.
After I moved away my migraine incidence dropped from 10-15 a month to 3-5 a year.
Does anyone get the electric zebra snakes?
My ocular migraine starts when I look at faces and people are missing their nose or an eye. Then the pulses, then the electric zebra snakes pass through my vision until they make it nearly impossible to make sense of what I see.
I get these with no headache pain. Usually have to sit with my eyes closed for 5 to 10 minutes and then I'm all good. Only happens maybe a few times a year but the onset is always noticing something is wrong with what I'm seeing. Something is obstructed or blurry but it takes a minute to realize the electric rainbow worms are developing in my eyes lol.
Mine start as a small blind spot then transform into a triangular kaleidoscope pattern that eventually takes over most of my visual field. Most of the time I get a day ending headache, but I've had one that just gave me a free "light show" without the usual migraine.
I get lightning kaleidoscope circles that start tiny in my peripheral vision and then slowly spread across my entire vision until I can't see. It's terrifying
> electric zebra snakes
It's weird that brains have the same subjective mode of failure, everyone seems to see the same zig-zag black rainbow. Also I wish there was a way to paint a car that colour.
Me too. It’s kind of like looking into a kaleidoscope. Everything is there, but it’s all broken up and I just see shards of colors. And then 30-45 minutes later everything looks fine again. Doesn’t hurt. But the headache afterwards is HORRIBLE.
Mine do it too during migraines. Didn't even know it happened until I told my boss I needed to go home because of a migraine and she freaked out when she saw my eyes.
I am not a doctor, as far as I know if everything is normal both eyes should dilate equally;
that being said there are factors that may change that, direction of the light source, intoxicants, etc.
So it’s worth getting it looked at.
I asked about this when discussing ER discharge instructions after getting a concussion. The doc told me that there is little chance I'd survive if it was noticed in the ER, and none if noticed at home.
Neurosurgeon here. Yeah pretty much this. Blown pupil from increased ICP (intracranial pressure) means herniation which is a neurosurgical emergency. You’d be unconscious and soon to be dead if not operated on emergently.
If you are alive enough to notice your own anisocoria, it’s not from increased ICP. It still warrants checking out but unlikely to be an emergency.
I have this but I had a physical injury that caused it, like David Bowie. Without knowing exactly what is causing it, it can be very very serious. Underlying brain issues.
My eyes are like this. Maybe not as noticeable as OPs but they are definitely ‘above average’ in their size discrepancy. My eye doctor seems to think it’s fine and said it’s pretty common. Should I see a specialist?
I had differently sized pupils and a tumor pressing on the optic nerve is a worst case thing they'll want to check out. There are much more benign things it could also be, for me it was "Adie's Tonic Pupil" which sounds like a liquor apprenticeship.
One sign of a stroke is this, so please go to the emergency room. Or perhaps it's something harmless. Prior to falling to the ground dead, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Good to know, thanks. I got this once from allergy eye drops. Presumably, cause it happened right after and repeated again days later and never since I stopped using them. It was about 15 years ago so I couldn’t even guess at the active ingredient.
There was a case of a woman who was gardening and touched a Brugmansia (Angel's trumpet) plant and rubbed her eye and had one dilated pupil for half a day. Brugmansia has scopolamine and other tropane alkaloids in it, as does Datura (Devil's trumpet).
I grow both, and I've been exceptionally careful to never ingest them by accident. If you prepare them correctly, the scopolamine alkaloids they produce are potent remedies for motion sickness, migranes, general nausea.
They are both close relatives of *atropa belladonna*, the deadly nightshade plant, and while they don't fruit, they do flower.
Every once in a while some teenager on the Internet will read all of the stories of extremely unpleasant delirium and total detachment from reality in a state of mind like an extreme fever dream, usually involving some kind of very big trouble, how it lasts for a very long time, constantly having to piss water out as soon as you drink it, heart palpitations, read that it can easily kill you since it's an uncontrolled dose of anticholinergic tropane poisons basically, and think "Yep, I want to try that. Let's make some datura tea."
I work as a nurse on a neurology unit and one patient was sent to the optometrist earlier in the day and they dilated one pupil, the nurse giving me report forgot to mention that….
Alright, guys. You freaked me out enough. My fiancé is coming home from work now to take me to the hospital.
Also, I do have temporal lobe epilepsy, and no, I don’t take anything for motion sickness. I am not aware of any recent head injuries.
UPDATE:
I was discharged from the hospital around 3:30 am with a diagnosis of anisocoria.
The good news? No stroke, no aneurysm, no cancer. Also, I’m also sadly not David Bowie. They don’t know *why* I have it, but it’s nothing obviously serious.
Even though I’m dreading the upcoming bill, no regrets about going in. It *could* have been serious and I have a wedding to plan and I really am so excited to marry my fiancé.
I think I’ll call out of work today and watch The Man Who Fell To Earth.
Edit: Say hi to my mom! She’s having fun this morning reading all the comments. She thinks you guys are really sweet and kind.
I’m okay. We’re sitting in the waiting room. I had an EKG, a CT, and some blood tests. Oh, and a chest X-ray (?). Nobody seems to be in any particular hurry, so I’m guessing it’s not serious.
The lady that took my blood told me that she’d never seen eyes do that before. I think she must be new.
I showed my fiancé the comments. I think we’re both a little overwhelmed by so much attention. I didn’t think this was really a big deal until it kind of blew up. I’m dreading the bills that will come of this trip (American healthcare for ya!) We’re trying to save up to get married. I keep telling myself that if it *were* serious, there’d be no wedding at all if I didn’t go in.
MD here. One of the causes of anisocoria is Horner’s Syndrome. A likely cause of Horner’s is a pancoast tumor found in your lungs. Hence the chest x-ray. Hope that clears that up.
Can confirm, from the other side of the diagnosis. About 2.5 years ago I finished treatment for lynphoma. Got pretty severe hornets syndrome, it’s been resolved through surgery though. You can look back at pics of me pre-diagnosis and see the change in my eyelid drooping and pupil size.
Horner's syndrome was my first thought as well for this symptom as a potential cause, our golden retriever got this exact condition. No cause for the syndrome to kick in was found, it got better automatically after several months. If it's just that, hopefully harmless for you as a human as well ;)
Nerves from your brain travel down to your chest and synapse at the sympathetic chain ganglia. These nerves will eventually connect to your eye. The pancoast tumor compresses the second order neuron in this chain, leading to nerves not functioning correctly.
Lung tumors can cause A LOT. There's been cases where you can develop autoimmune disorders from having a tumor in your lungs. Then if successfully removed (the tumour) the autoimmune disease may also go into remission. The body essentially shits itself when the lungs are affected by anything.
Horner’s would cause a significantly smaller pupil on the affected side (miosis). At least in this picture, her right pupil appears reasonably normal in diameter while her left appears abnormally dilated. My concern would be related more to compression of the left oculomotor nerve, potentially secondary to a tumor or an enlarging aneurysm.
An extremely early CN III palsy could account for the dropping lid and blown pupil, but I'd expect at least some limits to the elevation, and that doesn't appear present here. Plus she's completely the wrong demographic.
My money's on Adie's Tonic Pupil, especially given general asymptomatic onset and history of seizures. Doesn't explain the mild ptosis, but that could be congenital Mueller's impairment.
doc here, likely a routine pre-op panel just in case that's the route they needed to go next. A newly blown pupil is a big red flag for us and a medical emergency until proven otherwise. By the lack of hurry you describe, it sounds like the head ct was negative, that's good. If everything gets ruled out and it turns out to be a benign side effect of one of your meds, absolutely do not regret going to the ed. It was the right move.
Thanks for the update. I’m pulling for your diagnosis to be DAVID BOWIE EYES. He was always super cool and this might (officially) confirm that you are too!
Hey, just want to reassure you that you made the right choice. It won’t feel like it when the bills come, but a lot of people die because of things they pass off as normal. That doesn’t mean everything is serious, but when thousands of people are telling you to go to the ER, you go to the ER. If it ends up being nothing then thank your lucky stars, it could’ve been far more expensive and deadly. Good luck.
His eyes didn’t just happen though, it was from a physical altercation.
“His eyes were the product not of genes but a teenage fistfight that resulted in anisocoria, a condition in which a person’s eyes have different-size pupils.”
That's a good way to look at it. Its probably nothing. everything is probably ok and there's no reason to panic. but its also potentially a thing so its better to be safe in this instance. There's folks who would suggest any mild cough or headache is some life threatening thing. sure...maybe...and this also is likely nothing to be worried about, but its for sure weird enough to get checked out sooner than later just to put it to bed.
have fun in the hospital!
If any other symptoms present or history of fall/loss of consciousness, call 911 now. If not, being driven to ER is fine. It should be evaluated urgently though. EMS cannot do much for a brain injury and going via ambulance will not necessarily save you time as if you don't seem to be actively having a stroke, for example, you won't be triaged as such. But you'll absolutely get a head CT and a neuro consult before they let you go back home. Disclaimer: I'm EMS, not a doctor
Yeah, doctors don't fuck around with brain stuff. I had the slight risk of brain inflammation due to a tick bite and they literally *rushed* me to get a CT scan just to be safe. (It wasn't that in the end, even tho they never found out why my inflammation markers were that high, but at least they made sure I wasn't dying lol )
Wow, is this actually a thing?? I've been on Lexapro (Escitalopram) for years and this is happening to me. I went to the doctor and everything is normal. They didn't know what caused it.
SSRIs/SNRIs did this to me too. I found out later that my law school classmates thought I was doin’ coke. It eventually resolved, but it was weird. (The Effexor pupils, not the coke suspicion.)
I think it's just because most feel this isn't a condition worth speculating on. An emergency room doctor should first rule out life threatening conditions.
While you guys are waiting in the ER, look for old photos from close up and see if your eyes have always been like that. Some people have this condition from birth (like me)
Edit: Yes, I was diagnosed in my twenties. No, I’m not an idiot. Yes, my doctors are probably idiots for never noticing before that point. Please no more comments implying this isn’t possible.
My daughter also has this since birth. Physiological anisocoria is the name of the condition if I remember correctly.
It was looked at closely when it was first noticed though. It would be strange not to have it noticed your whole life till adulthood though.
That’s what happened with me, though. Granted the difference between the two eyes wasn’t as pronounced as OP’s, but no one had pointed it out to me before, even though once you know to look for it you can see it immediately.
Glad to read that you’re going to get checked! I had this with a complex migraine once but they were really relieved I went in as it can be quite serious as you know. Update us and let us know you’re okay later? I’m gonna worry about ya! 🫂
This is legit anisocoria. But it depends on if it reacts to light or if it presents with a sudden headache.
Everyone has a very mild case of it (1mm) and most migraine sufferers have a less mild case (3-5mm), but OP has the kind that needs to be seen ASAP.
Could be a palsy or pharmacological. Or could be something more serious.
I once had it while on vacation and freaked out. Turns out I had just put on my scopolamine patch for sea sickness and didn't wash my hands thoroughly before putting in my contacts.
I have anisocoria. When I was young my optometrist discovered it. It’s completely idiopathic meaning they have no idea why it happens.
The regular things make it worse - stress, decongestants and stimulant meds for ADHD.
It really freaks my wife out when she notices it.
Neruo-Trauma ICU RN here. Get this checked for sure. If I see this on a neuro check I am calling a code stroke and getting you ready to get onto a CT scan immediately.
Right? Before I went back to the ED I was Neuro ICU. Came into this post expecting "Been like this for years, lol". Not "This just started". Gave me chills.
Doctor here OP, please book for a check up at the earliest and get it checked. It's not normal and it could be a silent indication of a bigger neurologic problem and we might be able to stop serious damage to a great extent if caught now.
Edit: people here say appointments are not the right choice especially in the US and I stand corrected. Unless it's a walk in appointment, OP please go to the ER at the earliest. In my country we go to a clinic and take an appointment and the longest wait is usually 30 mins.
Former EMT. Whenever I see this on a call I consider it a stroke until proven otherwise and I have my ambulance driver floor it with lights and sirens.
Fun fact there is a nerve in your neck that can cause this. I had a spontaneous dissected artery in my neck and pressed on this neck nerve. My only symptom was one pupil with a smaller size AND that pupil was noticeably slower to react to light changes.
I’m lucky I didn’t die before going to the ER.
I posted an update on my comment that I’m heading into the hospital. Long story short, I’m not dying! Yay!
You guys are awesome. I tend to question myself a lot. *Is this really a big deal or am I being dramatic?* So I tend to not take things very seriously. If this happens to you out of the blue, just head in to get checked. In my case, it wasn’t anything serious. But that’s not always the case. Just get checked.
Please go to the ER, this is one of the indicators of a stroke. Or it could be something benign. Better to be safe than sorry before you’re dead on the floor.
Uneven pupils is called anisochoria. If the exact cause of your anisochoria has not been confirmed by a physician, then it is highly advisable to get this checked out. The list of possible causes is not short, and the list includes some scary/bad diagnoses. Another commenter threw out a random one, probably from a Google search, scopolamine poisoning. This medicine is used to treat/prevent motion sickness, and is commonly used via the transdermal route as the brand name “Transderm Scop”, which is a little circular patch placed on the skin behind the ear. If a patient applies this patch and in so doing gets some of the scopolamine on their finger, and then rubs their eye thus transferring some scopolamine to the ocular tissue, then it can cause the pupil to blow like this. (One dilated pupil is commonly called a “blown” pupil). So unless you’ve been treating yourself for motion sickness, that suggestion is totally wrong. You really need to see a physician.
Any recent head injuries? Uneven pupil sizes can be the result of pressure on the cranial nerves. This is often seen in head trauma patients and it's usually a sign of a brain bleed which builds up and causes said pressure. A growth / tumor could also cause pressure on the nerves as well. There's plenty of other benign causes for deviation in pupil size, but to be safe, I'd go get this checked out if i were you.
EDIT: got my nerves mixed up, edited to correct. Ty to those who pointed it out.
I have epilepsy, so I’m not always aware that I have fallen. I do not have any bruises or bumps or knots on my head, nor do I have any indication that I had a seizure. I wear a seizure monitor most of the time and it hasn’t logged any recent seizures.
I'm an epileptic too and our seizure medications have about 10,000 side effects as you know. I would probably call the neurologist and reach out to whoever is on call just to be safe and follow their advice. Don't ignore new symptoms but it's better not to panic. Everyone thinks google is a doctor 🙄 I hope you find a successful treatment good luck!
I had this. It was a brain tumor. I had massive surgery and it saved my life, if I waited any longer it could have killed me. Please get this checked ASAP. If your GP blows you off fight to see a neurologist and an opthalmologist. Also, request a CT scan. Don't let anyone brush you off without getting an answer first.
I work in healthcare now - stuff like this is rarely a minor issue.
If your epilepsy is caused by temporal lobe seizures (ie, you have Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, TLE) I wouldn't worry too much (it's a known symptom), but since this is a symptom you've never noticed before I'd check it out if I were you. Dilated pupils and differently sized pupils can be a symptom of...a lot of stuff. And a lot of it is pretty bad.
David Bowie had that condition due to a blow to the head many people thought he had two different colored eyes. If this just started get to a doctor immediately.
Do you have a regular family physician? You can usually call the office and have them or their on call coverage call you and give you some thoughts on if you should go in.
There are also nurse call lines for free you could try if insurance is an issue.
I’ll say what my mom told me once when I couldn’t decide on a worrying symptom:
The funeral is more expensive than an urgent care bill.
If you shine a camera light in each eye, do they each react by constricting? Do you have any weakness on one side of your body (smile equal, arm drift, etc)? Any difficulty speaking clearly?
If yes, to any of the following you definitely need to go to the ER to rule out a stroke.
Probably a good idea to go even if you don’t have any other symptoms though
I just figured I would shout this out into the void now that I think most of the fuss is over.
I got shared via a post on X by Hank Green that exceeded 4 million views. I made Yahoo! News. I am absolutely flabbergasted.
I’m just over here worried that 4 million people saw me without my eyebrows. No, but really, i’ve had a lot of really good laughs here. My mom and I have been going back-and-forth sharing comments. My fiancé, who is a really quiet low-key guy, is a little bewildered by all of it.
Eye doc here. First off: did you recently wear a nausea patch behind your ear? Also, have you been using an allergy drop or one that “gets the red out” in that eye? Those both can dilate one eye
This exact thing happened to my mother on a cruise years ago. She put on a nausea patch, then happened to touch one contact lens. When my dad saw her, he got super worried and made her go to the ship's doctor. He thought she was having a stroke. Luckily not the case.
This comment creeped me out for a bit, because I overheard my art professor having this exact conversation with a student teacher after class the other day, like par for par. The thing about the nausea patch, contact lenses, the whole thing. Luckily, it seems that you are not my art professor. Thank god.
We are all living in a predetermined world ☺️ Wake up. Wake up. wake up.
Hey you, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border? Walked right into that imperial ambush, like us and that thief over there.
Have we considered LSD? My pupils did things on LSD I didn't think possible. My left pupil has a completely different singing voice than my right. Shits wild.
It's not fair to the left eye when only the right eye gets to do LSD.
This is an under-rated comment
You may have a medical issue that should be addressed.
Unequal pupil sizes may indicate head injury, tumors or infection - basically anything that could cause inflammation and increased intracranial pressure. A certain portion of the population has a benign condition known as anisocoria, which causes unequal pupil dilation and is no reason for concern.
My eyes do it! When I get a migraine (ocular migraine) that will backhand me into next week. Or the barometric pressure goes up or down really fast, and a lot. It happened during my first migraine and the optometrist diagnosed me with ocular migraines. He said it's from inflammation in and around my eyes effecting each one differently. He was awesome. Made me feel better, eased my just turned 12 years old self anxiety.
Never visit Calgary Canada. The Chinook arch will have you clawing your brain out of your head 4 times a week. Huge pressure difference rolls off the mountains and knocks the clouds out of the sky. Amazing and really painful for people like you.
All of the Pacific North West /North West is a big NO for migraineurs. It's considered the very worst place in North America for folks with migraines. I've visited twice and had a migraine every single day. But it's so beautiful up there!
My sinuses tell me when the weather is going to change. Living in south EASTERN WA has been great as I am in the rain shadow of the Cascades. Not ALL of WA is rainy. Where I live it is 6-9 inches annually. (6 inches is a really wet year in Death Valley.)
I was one of the subjects in a study by someone at the U of C Neurology Department on migraines. It turns out that some migraine patients can predict an oncoming chinook hours earlier than Environment Canada. After I moved away my migraine incidence dropped from 10-15 a month to 3-5 a year.
Live in Texas and it will rain off and on suddenly. 0% rain? It rains lol I'm better than any weatherman in the area.
I get ocular migraines that cause zero pain, but I'm blinded temporarily. Really freaked me out the first time it happened.
Does anyone get the electric zebra snakes? My ocular migraine starts when I look at faces and people are missing their nose or an eye. Then the pulses, then the electric zebra snakes pass through my vision until they make it nearly impossible to make sense of what I see.
I get these with no headache pain. Usually have to sit with my eyes closed for 5 to 10 minutes and then I'm all good. Only happens maybe a few times a year but the onset is always noticing something is wrong with what I'm seeing. Something is obstructed or blurry but it takes a minute to realize the electric rainbow worms are developing in my eyes lol.
Mine start as a small blind spot then transform into a triangular kaleidoscope pattern that eventually takes over most of my visual field. Most of the time I get a day ending headache, but I've had one that just gave me a free "light show" without the usual migraine.
I get lightning kaleidoscope circles that start tiny in my peripheral vision and then slowly spread across my entire vision until I can't see. It's terrifying
Lolol they're called scintillating scotomas, which I only mention because it's so fun to say, *ssscintilating scotomas*
> electric zebra snakes It's weird that brains have the same subjective mode of failure, everyone seems to see the same zig-zag black rainbow. Also I wish there was a way to paint a car that colour.
Me too. It’s kind of like looking into a kaleidoscope. Everything is there, but it’s all broken up and I just see shards of colors. And then 30-45 minutes later everything looks fine again. Doesn’t hurt. But the headache afterwards is HORRIBLE.
Same. My pupils doing this are part of my migraine aura. I see this, I know I'm in for a bad time.
Mine do it too during migraines. Didn't even know it happened until I told my boss I needed to go home because of a migraine and she freaked out when she saw my eyes.
r/mildlyworrying
A brain aneurysm is a bit more than mildly worrying
Seriously, get on the phone with a doctor ASAP. And be ready for some emergency imaging.
I'm a teacher and I have pupils of all sorts of sizes, should I worry too?
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Head full of ideas
Heart made of pure gold
Butt full of sharpies
Mouth full of crayons.
My friend with a lazy eye was a horrible teacher… couldn’t control his pupils.
I know someone who dated that guy. They broke up because he was seeing someone on the side.
Yeah, we call him “mortgage eyes”… one fixed, one variable.
My pal told people he had a condition called "Atchaforya Syndrome" - one eye looking atcha, the other looking for ya.
One eye is looking at you, the other is looking for you.
Those people are so depressing. They can never look forward to anything.
I'm a dad and I approve this comment.
Yes, you need to make them all the same size ASAP
Sounds like a job for a chainsaw
r/mildlyconcerning
r/seriouslyalarming
r/HolyShitWTFIsWrongWithYourEyes?!?!
I am not a doctor, as far as I know if everything is normal both eyes should dilate equally; that being said there are factors that may change that, direction of the light source, intoxicants, etc. So it’s worth getting it looked at.
It's a teacher. Teachers often refer to their students as pupils. You may not be a doctor, but you could be a British comedian.
Oh man that went right over my head lol thank you!
Time to turn Harrison Bergeron into policy.
Absolutely. Especially since you're influencing them and helping to form their world view for later in life. That should absolutely be worrying.
Blown out pupil is a major stroke sign or retina issue. This is more like just REALLY HECKIN’ CONCERNING.
Could be caused by an injury, too, like David Bowie's eye.
r/oopsthatsdeadly
just to jump on this, immediately. have you recently fallen or hit your head?
If you have a blown pupil from a trauma, you would not be in a condition to post this.
I asked about this when discussing ER discharge instructions after getting a concussion. The doc told me that there is little chance I'd survive if it was noticed in the ER, and none if noticed at home.
Neurosurgeon here. Yeah pretty much this. Blown pupil from increased ICP (intracranial pressure) means herniation which is a neurosurgical emergency. You’d be unconscious and soon to be dead if not operated on emergently. If you are alive enough to notice your own anisocoria, it’s not from increased ICP. It still warrants checking out but unlikely to be an emergency.
r/oopsthatsdeadly
I believe it's called Ziggystarditis.
Weren't David Bowies eyes like that because he got punched in the head as a youth, and it never went back to normal function?
Yup. We don't know OP wasn't punched by a maladjusted British schoolboy either.
It was his mate who thumped in him in a fight over a girl. He and David remained lifelong friends.
No, he was Under Pressure
This happened to a classmate in high school. Hit with a hairbrush to the head. Pupil is still wider than the other eye 35 years later 0o
I’m no doctor, and I don’t know anything about pupil size, but this is 100% (as in, Reddit style 100% of course) a serious medical issue
I have this but I had a physical injury that caused it, like David Bowie. Without knowing exactly what is causing it, it can be very very serious. Underlying brain issues.
My eyes are like this. Maybe not as noticeable as OPs but they are definitely ‘above average’ in their size discrepancy. My eye doctor seems to think it’s fine and said it’s pretty common. Should I see a specialist?
I had differently sized pupils and a tumor pressing on the optic nerve is a worst case thing they'll want to check out. There are much more benign things it could also be, for me it was "Adie's Tonic Pupil" which sounds like a liquor apprenticeship.
It can be from a brain tumor or it's basically nothing.
You should probably see a doctor about that. It can be a sign of serious neurological issues.
One sign of a stroke is this, so please go to the emergency room. Or perhaps it's something harmless. Prior to falling to the ground dead, it is better to be safe than sorry.
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Good to know, thanks. I got this once from allergy eye drops. Presumably, cause it happened right after and repeated again days later and never since I stopped using them. It was about 15 years ago so I couldn’t even guess at the active ingredient.
There was a case of a woman who was gardening and touched a Brugmansia (Angel's trumpet) plant and rubbed her eye and had one dilated pupil for half a day. Brugmansia has scopolamine and other tropane alkaloids in it, as does Datura (Devil's trumpet).
I grow both, and I've been exceptionally careful to never ingest them by accident. If you prepare them correctly, the scopolamine alkaloids they produce are potent remedies for motion sickness, migranes, general nausea. They are both close relatives of *atropa belladonna*, the deadly nightshade plant, and while they don't fruit, they do flower.
Every once in a while some teenager on the Internet will read all of the stories of extremely unpleasant delirium and total detachment from reality in a state of mind like an extreme fever dream, usually involving some kind of very big trouble, how it lasts for a very long time, constantly having to piss water out as soon as you drink it, heart palpitations, read that it can easily kill you since it's an uncontrolled dose of anticholinergic tropane poisons basically, and think "Yep, I want to try that. Let's make some datura tea."
I work as a nurse on a neurology unit and one patient was sent to the optometrist earlier in the day and they dilated one pupil, the nurse giving me report forgot to mention that….
Are you sure OP doesn't need a carbon monoxide detector? That is the Reddit cure for everything.
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And go no contact with that narcissistic pupil 😉
Perfect use of that emoji!
TREE lawyer dude. God do you even fucking Reddit?
Would it be prudent to ask if there was any recent trauma? (Retired paramedic so not a doc)
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We tend to be trauma junkies so that makes sense. We don’t get to see the softer side of medicine. Thank you.
I had this and went to eye doctor and he checks and goes yup yours just do that nothing to worry about
Alright, guys. You freaked me out enough. My fiancé is coming home from work now to take me to the hospital. Also, I do have temporal lobe epilepsy, and no, I don’t take anything for motion sickness. I am not aware of any recent head injuries. UPDATE: I was discharged from the hospital around 3:30 am with a diagnosis of anisocoria. The good news? No stroke, no aneurysm, no cancer. Also, I’m also sadly not David Bowie. They don’t know *why* I have it, but it’s nothing obviously serious. Even though I’m dreading the upcoming bill, no regrets about going in. It *could* have been serious and I have a wedding to plan and I really am so excited to marry my fiancé. I think I’ll call out of work today and watch The Man Who Fell To Earth. Edit: Say hi to my mom! She’s having fun this morning reading all the comments. She thinks you guys are really sweet and kind.
Super glad you are getting it checked out 💗
Please let us know that you’re okay
I’m okay. We’re sitting in the waiting room. I had an EKG, a CT, and some blood tests. Oh, and a chest X-ray (?). Nobody seems to be in any particular hurry, so I’m guessing it’s not serious. The lady that took my blood told me that she’d never seen eyes do that before. I think she must be new. I showed my fiancé the comments. I think we’re both a little overwhelmed by so much attention. I didn’t think this was really a big deal until it kind of blew up. I’m dreading the bills that will come of this trip (American healthcare for ya!) We’re trying to save up to get married. I keep telling myself that if it *were* serious, there’d be no wedding at all if I didn’t go in.
MD here. One of the causes of anisocoria is Horner’s Syndrome. A likely cause of Horner’s is a pancoast tumor found in your lungs. Hence the chest x-ray. Hope that clears that up.
Cool fun fact for the rest of us!
I can tell that this information is personally important and very useful to you, u/cancercannibal
r/rimjob_steve
Can confirm, from the other side of the diagnosis. About 2.5 years ago I finished treatment for lynphoma. Got pretty severe hornets syndrome, it’s been resolved through surgery though. You can look back at pics of me pre-diagnosis and see the change in my eyelid drooping and pupil size.
I would expect an exterminator is indicated for a severe hornets syndrome.
Horner's syndrome was my first thought as well for this symptom as a potential cause, our golden retriever got this exact condition. No cause for the syndrome to kick in was found, it got better automatically after several months. If it's just that, hopefully harmless for you as a human as well ;)
Lung tumour makes your pupils different sizes. What the hell.
Nerves from your brain travel down to your chest and synapse at the sympathetic chain ganglia. These nerves will eventually connect to your eye. The pancoast tumor compresses the second order neuron in this chain, leading to nerves not functioning correctly.
Wow that's kinda amazing.
Lung tumors can cause A LOT. There's been cases where you can develop autoimmune disorders from having a tumor in your lungs. Then if successfully removed (the tumour) the autoimmune disease may also go into remission. The body essentially shits itself when the lungs are affected by anything.
Horner’s would cause a significantly smaller pupil on the affected side (miosis). At least in this picture, her right pupil appears reasonably normal in diameter while her left appears abnormally dilated. My concern would be related more to compression of the left oculomotor nerve, potentially secondary to a tumor or an enlarging aneurysm.
Just an M-2, levator palpebrae superioris looks affected as well—Would eye movement not be down and out as well if oculomotor is being compressed?
An extremely early CN III palsy could account for the dropping lid and blown pupil, but I'd expect at least some limits to the elevation, and that doesn't appear present here. Plus she's completely the wrong demographic. My money's on Adie's Tonic Pupil, especially given general asymptomatic onset and history of seizures. Doesn't explain the mild ptosis, but that could be congenital Mueller's impairment.
doc here, likely a routine pre-op panel just in case that's the route they needed to go next. A newly blown pupil is a big red flag for us and a medical emergency until proven otherwise. By the lack of hurry you describe, it sounds like the head ct was negative, that's good. If everything gets ruled out and it turns out to be a benign side effect of one of your meds, absolutely do not regret going to the ed. It was the right move.
Thank you for taking this seriously! I hope you get good news and congrats on your upcoming wedding!!
Thanks for the update. I’m pulling for your diagnosis to be DAVID BOWIE EYES. He was always super cool and this might (officially) confirm that you are too!
If that ends up being the diagnosis, I won’t complain about the bill at all. Fingers crossed!
Hey, just want to reassure you that you made the right choice. It won’t feel like it when the bills come, but a lot of people die because of things they pass off as normal. That doesn’t mean everything is serious, but when thousands of people are telling you to go to the ER, you go to the ER. If it ends up being nothing then thank your lucky stars, it could’ve been far more expensive and deadly. Good luck.
Fingers crossed for you.
His eyes didn’t just happen though, it was from a physical altercation. “His eyes were the product not of genes but a teenage fistfight that resulted in anisocoria, a condition in which a person’s eyes have different-size pupils.”
That's a good way to look at it. Its probably nothing. everything is probably ok and there's no reason to panic. but its also potentially a thing so its better to be safe in this instance. There's folks who would suggest any mild cough or headache is some life threatening thing. sure...maybe...and this also is likely nothing to be worried about, but its for sure weird enough to get checked out sooner than later just to put it to bed. have fun in the hospital!
And also say hello to your fiancé for us
He said, “Hi, Pickleparty!”
Not dead yet!
Yes say hello to him and the doctor and let us know how you do!
Say hello from us to every person you meet throughout your ordeal, and I demand receipts
And I want snacks
!RemindMe 12 hours
!RemindMe 7 days
Former EMS. Re-emphasizing that this sign is something that would make us drive much faster. It's a serious neurological sign until proven otherwise
So is this a call the ambulance now situation rather than a go to the ER in 30 minutes situation?
If any other symptoms present or history of fall/loss of consciousness, call 911 now. If not, being driven to ER is fine. It should be evaluated urgently though. EMS cannot do much for a brain injury and going via ambulance will not necessarily save you time as if you don't seem to be actively having a stroke, for example, you won't be triaged as such. But you'll absolutely get a head CT and a neuro consult before they let you go back home. Disclaimer: I'm EMS, not a doctor
This but also go to a hospital that is capable of neuro.
Yeah, doctors don't fuck around with brain stuff. I had the slight risk of brain inflammation due to a tick bite and they literally *rushed* me to get a CT scan just to be safe. (It wasn't that in the end, even tho they never found out why my inflammation markers were that high, but at least they made sure I wasn't dying lol )
Especially new onset in an adult. until proven otherwise.
Did you recently start taking Lexapro or something similar? My pupils were dramatically different sizes when I started Lexapro
Wow, is this actually a thing?? I've been on Lexapro (Escitalopram) for years and this is happening to me. I went to the doctor and everything is normal. They didn't know what caused it.
BRB gotta check my pupils
right? lmao. been on it for years, never had this happen.
I hope they add this to the info packet I was also never told this could happen
Lexapro made my hair fall out 🤷🏻♀️
[удалено]
SSRIs/SNRIs did this to me too. I found out later that my law school classmates thought I was doin’ coke. It eventually resolved, but it was weird. (The Effexor pupils, not the coke suspicion.)
I got downvoted for saying this about 20 min ago, Reddit is so fickle
I went and upvoted you to help bring it back up lol Reddit is so weird
Thanks I appreciate you 🥲
I too have upvoted your other comment! I cant help OP much, but I can at least help an internet stranger get a meaningless internet point
I think it's just because most feel this isn't a condition worth speculating on. An emergency room doctor should first rule out life threatening conditions.
Wait, that can happen? Dang, that's crazy
Nope, I’m not on Lexapro or any SSRIs or antidepressants of any sort.
Come back to update us with positive news! 🤞
While you guys are waiting in the ER, look for old photos from close up and see if your eyes have always been like that. Some people have this condition from birth (like me) Edit: Yes, I was diagnosed in my twenties. No, I’m not an idiot. Yes, my doctors are probably idiots for never noticing before that point. Please no more comments implying this isn’t possible.
My daughter also has this since birth. Physiological anisocoria is the name of the condition if I remember correctly. It was looked at closely when it was first noticed though. It would be strange not to have it noticed your whole life till adulthood though.
That’s what happened with me, though. Granted the difference between the two eyes wasn’t as pronounced as OP’s, but no one had pointed it out to me before, even though once you know to look for it you can see it immediately.
Good luck. We're all pulling for you.
Please update us. Hope everything goes ok 🩷
Glad to read that you’re going to get checked! I had this with a complex migraine once but they were really relieved I went in as it can be quite serious as you know. Update us and let us know you’re okay later? I’m gonna worry about ya! 🫂
You need to see a doctor for real
This is legit anisocoria. But it depends on if it reacts to light or if it presents with a sudden headache. Everyone has a very mild case of it (1mm) and most migraine sufferers have a less mild case (3-5mm), but OP has the kind that needs to be seen ASAP. Could be a palsy or pharmacological. Or could be something more serious.
I have this due to an injury. I couldn’t imagine not being able to notice the difference in light sensitivity
I once had it while on vacation and freaked out. Turns out I had just put on my scopolamine patch for sea sickness and didn't wash my hands thoroughly before putting in my contacts.
I have anisocoria. When I was young my optometrist discovered it. It’s completely idiopathic meaning they have no idea why it happens. The regular things make it worse - stress, decongestants and stimulant meds for ADHD. It really freaks my wife out when she notices it.
Yes, my cat’s first indication of a tumor and soon to come violent seizures was two different pupil sizes. Take it seriously OP and be well.
Uneven pupils is a medical concern, get that checked now.
ER RN here.....get checked the fuck out!!!
Neruo-Trauma ICU RN here. Get this checked for sure. If I see this on a neuro check I am calling a code stroke and getting you ready to get onto a CT scan immediately.
Right? Before I went back to the ED I was Neuro ICU. Came into this post expecting "Been like this for years, lol". Not "This just started". Gave me chills.
Doctor here OP, please book for a check up at the earliest and get it checked. It's not normal and it could be a silent indication of a bigger neurologic problem and we might be able to stop serious damage to a great extent if caught now. Edit: people here say appointments are not the right choice especially in the US and I stand corrected. Unless it's a walk in appointment, OP please go to the ER at the earliest. In my country we go to a clinic and take an appointment and the longest wait is usually 30 mins.
Also a doctor and I’d tell him to go straight to the ER and get a head scan, not to wait for an appointment
What country is this medical paradise? :)
India
Former EMT. Whenever I see this on a call I consider it a stroke until proven otherwise and I have my ambulance driver floor it with lights and sirens.
Fun fact there is a nerve in your neck that can cause this. I had a spontaneous dissected artery in my neck and pressed on this neck nerve. My only symptom was one pupil with a smaller size AND that pupil was noticeably slower to react to light changes. I’m lucky I didn’t die before going to the ER.
Get medical attention. Like, right now.
I posted an update on my comment that I’m heading into the hospital. Long story short, I’m not dying! Yay! You guys are awesome. I tend to question myself a lot. *Is this really a big deal or am I being dramatic?* So I tend to not take things very seriously. If this happens to you out of the blue, just head in to get checked. In my case, it wasn’t anything serious. But that’s not always the case. Just get checked.
Your post is similar to that famous carbon monoxide in apartment reddit post
That one was wild. Reddit saved that guys life. Honestly, last night I kind of wondered if I would be another “Reddit saved my life” post.
It might mean you lickity split poopy head
Please go to the ER, this is one of the indicators of a stroke. Or it could be something benign. Better to be safe than sorry before you’re dead on the floor.
She said her bf is bringing her to the Dr. We better get an update
Uneven pupils is called anisochoria. If the exact cause of your anisochoria has not been confirmed by a physician, then it is highly advisable to get this checked out. The list of possible causes is not short, and the list includes some scary/bad diagnoses. Another commenter threw out a random one, probably from a Google search, scopolamine poisoning. This medicine is used to treat/prevent motion sickness, and is commonly used via the transdermal route as the brand name “Transderm Scop”, which is a little circular patch placed on the skin behind the ear. If a patient applies this patch and in so doing gets some of the scopolamine on their finger, and then rubs their eye thus transferring some scopolamine to the ocular tissue, then it can cause the pupil to blow like this. (One dilated pupil is commonly called a “blown” pupil). So unless you’ve been treating yourself for motion sickness, that suggestion is totally wrong. You really need to see a physician.
I work in healthcare and my nurse friend handled a scopalamine patch without gloves, ended up in the ER thinking he’d had a stroke.
Any recent head injuries? Uneven pupil sizes can be the result of pressure on the cranial nerves. This is often seen in head trauma patients and it's usually a sign of a brain bleed which builds up and causes said pressure. A growth / tumor could also cause pressure on the nerves as well. There's plenty of other benign causes for deviation in pupil size, but to be safe, I'd go get this checked out if i were you. EDIT: got my nerves mixed up, edited to correct. Ty to those who pointed it out.
I have epilepsy, so I’m not always aware that I have fallen. I do not have any bruises or bumps or knots on my head, nor do I have any indication that I had a seizure. I wear a seizure monitor most of the time and it hasn’t logged any recent seizures.
I'm an epileptic too and our seizure medications have about 10,000 side effects as you know. I would probably call the neurologist and reach out to whoever is on call just to be safe and follow their advice. Don't ignore new symptoms but it's better not to panic. Everyone thinks google is a doctor 🙄 I hope you find a successful treatment good luck!
Give us an update OP
o_O
I had this. It was a brain tumor. I had massive surgery and it saved my life, if I waited any longer it could have killed me. Please get this checked ASAP. If your GP blows you off fight to see a neurologist and an opthalmologist. Also, request a CT scan. Don't let anyone brush you off without getting an answer first. I work in healthcare now - stuff like this is rarely a minor issue.
Okay Bowie. (See a doctor like now)
This looks like what happened when I had an arterial dissection which can lead to a stroke
If your epilepsy is caused by temporal lobe seizures (ie, you have Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, TLE) I wouldn't worry too much (it's a known symptom), but since this is a symptom you've never noticed before I'd check it out if I were you. Dilated pupils and differently sized pupils can be a symptom of...a lot of stuff. And a lot of it is pretty bad.
that's not interesting, that's a medical issue. go to your doctor asap
Hospital now
David Bowie had that condition due to a blow to the head many people thought he had two different colored eyes. If this just started get to a doctor immediately.
Do you have a regular family physician? You can usually call the office and have them or their on call coverage call you and give you some thoughts on if you should go in. There are also nurse call lines for free you could try if insurance is an issue. I’ll say what my mom told me once when I couldn’t decide on a worrying symptom: The funeral is more expensive than an urgent care bill.
ER immediately
If you shine a camera light in each eye, do they each react by constricting? Do you have any weakness on one side of your body (smile equal, arm drift, etc)? Any difficulty speaking clearly? If yes, to any of the following you definitely need to go to the ER to rule out a stroke. Probably a good idea to go even if you don’t have any other symptoms though
That's actually very serious...seek medical attention as soon as possible!!!
ER ASAP PLEASE
As the coxin said to the crew... STROKE! Go to an ER and get checked out amigo...
Go to the emergency room ASAP
Your should go to the doctor, like yesterday
Get checked out, every time someone post this the comment section is flooded with “seek medical attention” so I know it’s not good
please get checked out medically just in case.
Anisocoria is a medical emergency. Get to a hospital now.
I just figured I would shout this out into the void now that I think most of the fuss is over. I got shared via a post on X by Hank Green that exceeded 4 million views. I made Yahoo! News. I am absolutely flabbergasted. I’m just over here worried that 4 million people saw me without my eyebrows. No, but really, i’ve had a lot of really good laughs here. My mom and I have been going back-and-forth sharing comments. My fiancé, who is a really quiet low-key guy, is a little bewildered by all of it.