Question about physiological anisocornia (Opthamologist opinions please?)?!
Question: went to the doctor with fears of possibly having brain tumor due to frequent headaches and the fact that my pupils were differently dilated, but I learned that I have physiological aniscoria and I am slightly nearsighted and am getting glasses.
What concerns me is that the doctor said I had physiological aniscoria. I am concerned because she says I must have been born with it, however I do not recall ever having different pupils in the past (although I may have just not noticed)
The doctor said my eyes were "reacting normally to light" and so it shouldn't be a neurological problem.
Do you think that this makes sense? Should I take the doc's words for it, or should I still go to the ER and pay (a lot of money...) for brain scans?
She told me that she was sure, but is it normal that sometimes the left eye is bigger and sometimes the right eye is bigger? And can they be equal at times?
I hope the doctor's right. I don't want a tumor...
Professional answers only, plz
Answers: went to the doctor with fears of possibly having brain tumor due to frequent headaches and the fact that my pupils were differently dilated, but I learned that I have physiological aniscoria and I am slightly nearsighted and am getting glasses.
What concerns me is that the doctor said I had physiological aniscoria. I am concerned because she says I must have been born with it, however I do not recall ever having different pupils in the past (although I may have just not noticed)
The doctor said my eyes were "reacting normally to light" and so it shouldn't be a neurological problem.
Do you think that this makes sense? Should I take the doc's words for it, or should I still go to the ER and pay (a lot of money...) for brain scans?
She told me that she was sure, but is it normal that sometimes the left eye is bigger and sometimes the right eye is bigger? And can they be equal at times?
I hope the doctor's right. I don't want a tumor...
Professional answers only, plz
Some degree of anisocoria is very common, and it frequently goes unnoticed for years and years.
(once noticed, people see it every time they look in a mirror.)
Occasionally old photographs can help with this.
Once it's been established that the pupil reactions are normal, and other signs have been looked for (no field defect, no loss of accommodation, normal optic disc appearance...) then it's physiological, not pathological, and a scan would be over the top.
If the headaches remain unresolved or worsen, or other symptoms develop, a scan might be indicated on *those* grounds, but a pupil difference with normal reactions wouldn't be much of a factor in deciding that.
Optometrist, retired.