I had endovascular surgery January 14th to treat my 9mm ophthalmic ICA aneurysm. I had 3 coils and a flow diverter placed. Since the surgery I’ve had flashes in my vision. My surgeon said it was because the blood flow disrupted my optic nerve and should get better with time and healing. Today the flashes turned to floaters and I’m wondering if this is normal. I have my 6 mo. angiogram next month. I’m wondering if it’s worth mentioning or if i should just wait until my procedure to mention it.
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Hi @BDousa,
I am so sorry to hear that you are now experiencing floaters. How disconcerting that must be to you - and I am sure that is an understatement!
Like you, I have three coils and a pipeline flow diverter, but mine are elsewhere (PICA), so I have not had any impact to my vision. Separately, many years ago, I did have eye surgery to deal with an issue, so I can appreciate (remember) how nerve-wracking vision issues are!
That being said, I would reach out and message your doctor, just to be sure. If nothing else, it will be worth it for your peace of mind, so you don’t have to fret over this over the next month - it’s just not worth it.
Please let us know how you are doing!
Fin Whale Fan 
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Hi there!
I had surgery on my aneurysm which was in my anterior communicating artery back in February. They placed the seal it device into the aneurysm. I was surprised and curious to see this from you because I didn’t put two and two together but I also have been having odd vision changes the last few months.
I also had kaleidoscope vision in just my left eye and couldn’t see out of it for about a half hour back in March and was admitted. Nothing showed up and there were no answers as to why.
Keep me updated on this. I have an eye doc appt next week and am going to see if it’s something actually related to my eyes or if it’s maybe something caused from the surgery. I have my angiogram in August.
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I went to the eye doctor and did all the tests. There was nothing wrong with the retina or anything like that. So, thankfully it’s not that. I had the flashes since day one after my surgery. It’s only been recent that I’ve also had floaters. They are sporadic throughout the day but I get them consistently. I’m hoping eventually they’ll go away.
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I got a kind of flashing after my embolization procedure for a brain arteriovenous malformation (a different thing from an aneurysm but with similar risks; we have a separate support forum for AVMs here).
With mine, I got a small blur that appeared in my vision which grew into a wide C shape complete with teeth! Seriously. It would grow to fill my vision and then resolve in the space of about 20 minutes.
Subsequent to these experiences I read Oliver Sacks’ book Migraine which showed an exact representation of what I saw and it turned out that my issue was something called a “scintillating scotoma”. “Scintillating” means that there is some degree of flashing or colour discoloration within it and these things are more typical of migraine “aura” i.e. precursors or “prodromes” of migraine.
There are other scintillating effects that one can see, equally usually associated with migraine. So my question is how long do your bouts last? Are they something like 20 minutes or so? Because if they are, I’d question with the doc whether they’re effectively migraine aura of some kind.
I think such things are potentially driven by some kind of irritation in the brain. In my case, we posited that it was due to the contrast material used during the operation that was busy irritating something and the scotomas recurred when I had a review angiogram about 8 weeks post op, which reinforced this connection. However, it is great that you got your retina checked out because I think the other common driver for flashing can be disconnecting retina, so that is definitely important to rule out.
In Sacks’ book, he distinguishes between migraine, seizure and “migraine-like” symptoms, and to the untrained eye there is a whole bunch of overlap between those three. Sacks’ view of “migraine-like” symptoms was that true migraine tends to transgress the brain, the body, from one hemisphere to the other and any apparent migraine that doesn’t cross over in that way is to be regarded with some suspicion: that there may be some other factor at play. However, since you and I have both had a neurovascular anomaly and had it operated on, there’s every reason to simply suspect that difference, the disturbance from the abnormality or from the remnants of the operation to provoke something.
I’ll be fascinated if you get to a resolution as to what is going on.
My scotomas became less frequent over time as the contrast material was flushed out. I think they lasted a couple of months each time.
Hope this might be a possibility that helps you along the way.
Best wishes,
Richard
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Thought no 2. Two of the other presentations of scotomas is something called a “negative scotoma” or a “positive scotoma”. I understand these less but I think basically they appear as dark patches. They may grow in a similar way to my scintillating ones, I don’t know, but it suddenly struck me that if your flashing has suddenly turned into dark patches, they might still be scotomas, with the same provocations.
Hope that anything I’ve thought of might just be useful ideas.
Best wishes,
Richard
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Your eyes are so sensitive and having someone poke around them in surgery can bruise or upset then. After my brain surgery I saw double for a while. My eyes couldn’t focus together. Then I woke up one day and I had single focus again. But I do still have partial blindness due to the aneurysm, to which I have adapted.
As you continue your healing your body and eyes may go through other changes and adaptations in reaction. I do recommend you keep your doctor informed—which you did.
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I have 3 aneurysms located near my optic nerve. After my stent diverter procedure in Jan 2025, I experienced white flashes (small streaks), floaters and dizziness. It has subsided a lot. My doctor recommended a CAT scan to make sure everything was okay. The results of my CAT scan showed stents were okay. The only thing I have noticed is that my vision is blurrier, requiring a stronger prescription for my glasses.
I have experienced those migraines since my mid 20s. I usually have them 2-3 times a year. It was very scary when I first experienced them.