When I see a patient who needs a lot of prismatic correct to align the eyes, I like to demonstrate to my staff how the patient sees without it. Putting prism in front of a person whose eyes are not misaligned gives them the same symptoms of the patient. One time, I gave a clip to my optician with prism on it for her to look out of. She put it on and said, “Wow! This is great! I see so clear!”
This optician had always complained to me of not seeing clear enough. Of course, she didn’t: she had a ghost image. She described it as things always appearing “smeary” when trying to focus. Interestingly, she did not complain of headache or dizziness at all, but she did have vertical heterophoria (VH), a type of binocular vision disorder caused by a misalignment of the eyes. With the prism glasses, her world is so much easier. Aligning her eyes gave her the binocular vision and depth perception that she was missing!
Now, anytime a patient uses the word “smeary” or just isn’t seeing sharp enough, I immediately pull out my instruments and screen for VH. Sometimes a little prism is all you need.
Double Vision and BVD
Ghost images are a type of double vision that is a sign of a binocular vision dysfunction.
There are two different types of double vision (diplopia): monocular and binocular. While monocular double vision can be caused by corneal disease or cataracts, binocular double vision can be caused by serious neurologic conditions.
If you’ve recently started experiencing symptoms of double vision, there’s a quick way to determine which type you have. If you’re experiencing double vision, try closing one eye. If you see images as double out of one eye with the other eye closed, you have monocular double vision. If you have binocular double vision, the double vision will go away when you close either eye.
How Monocular Double Vision Causes Ghost Images
Monocular double vision in one eye often presents as a “ghost” image, a shadow that overlaps with the primary image. It can affect the left eye, the right eye or both eyes at once. Monocular double vision can be caused by dry eye syndrome. When your eyes dry out, the surface of your eye becomes rough and irregular as the tear film along the surface of your eyes dries out. People with dry eye syndrome often suffer from itching, scratching, and burning sensations in their eyes, or they may feel like something has become lodged in their eye. These symptoms can get markedly worse if the patient does a lot of reading or computer work, as we unconsciously blink less while focusing on reading. The first step of treatment for dry eye syndrome is typically the use of artificial tears.
Like VH, binocular double vision is caused by eyes that are misaligned. This condition can be caused by a variety of serious factors, so it’s very important to contact a neurovisual professional as soon as possible to determine the type and cause of your double vision, and to get treatment started right away. If you are being plagued by ghost images or other double vision symptoms, give the Neuro Visual Center of New York a call today at (516) 224-4888 to schedule your evaluation.
About 10 years ago I began having “ghosting”, which was a partial double image would appear rising above a line of print on a page. This began the day afer a chiropractor did a severe pop to my neck. I talked to him about this later, and he swore the pop could not have caused the ghosting. I later went to a neurologist, who said he had encountered this thing before, and said the neck pop had caused a mini sroke in my brain, which affected the vision. The probem has never gone away, but the brain is usually able to ignore it, except in especially stressful times. So never let anyone pop your neck!
So my neck popped and I have something double vision in both eyes and when a car goes by it’s like and tracing image. Did he say the brain can heal
From it?
Please see you eye doctor.
I see used to see double. Then in my 50’ I began additionally seeing double out of just one eye. Then after cataract surgery I began seeing triple out of the other eye.
My ability to read has been greatly reduced and impacted my ability to work.
Recently I’ve had debridement in both eyes for dot dystrophy, but it has no impact on seeing 5 of everything.
I’m miserable.
This sounds like a corneal problem and not binocular double vision.
We are so sorry that you are suffering.
All the best,
The Neuro Visual Center
This happen to me too did it go away yet
Hey! I have had a very slight double vision in both of my eyes and it is a slight shadow ontop of it and also my left eye is much blurrier than my right eye but just so you know my left eye has always been much blurrier than my right eye for years now so I doubt it’s anything very sudden and I don’t see my vision progressing getting worse but the double vision thing kind of goes up or down depending on how far or close I am and this never really bothered me but I can kind of curious on what’s going on.
Hi Ethan
This can be coming from a number of problems. Please schedule a routine eye exam with your doctor to start.
All the best,
The Neuro Visual Center
Hello
I started to see ghost images recently
Letters with shadow
When I use optical glasses it comes to normal
What us the reason for that
And what are the treatment for it
You can see ghost images with uncorrected refractive error. We you put your glasses on the refractive error is corrected.
when i see an image or try to focus on a text , i see a shadow image , the shadow isn’t too much , just along the curvature of the image , its a bit uncomfortable to focus on the image /text . I am also using glasses to correct my farsightedness. With the glasses the shadow gets reduced but it does not completely goes away . Am having trouble in having a sharp image , i can read and see but its a bit uncomfortable with the shadow , also am having frontal , temporal and pain around and behind the eyes
Hi I have monocular diplopia, ghost images in both eyes (clear overlapping images with glasses), example of what I see: https://www.allaboutvision.com/en-in/conditions/double-vision/
One doctor mentioned it could be the thining retina membrane of my right eye, my right eye has myopic degeneration, for which I had shots of avastin.
My left eye has the same symptoms because my brain is trying to make my left eye see the same as my right.
Other possibilities mentioned were neurological or dry eyes.
We are sorry Jack. Prismatic correction does not work for monocular diplopia.
I just got new glasses on Friday and see ghost images with white words on a tv and stuff that lights up. I went to the dr yesterday they said to wait two weeks but didn’t check the physical glasses. I now have a headache and if I make a tiny hole with my thumb and pointer finger and bring it to my one eye with other closed while wearing glasses I don’t see the ghosting
Please return to your eye doctor.
I have shadowing with both eyes. Almost 2 years bow. Glasses dont help. My right eye does not keep up with my head movements, it lags. Quick dizzy sensation, slight quick nausea. Seen an optometrist, and opthalmologist. They see nothing. Neurologist says cervical dystonia and wants an mri of whole head. I think its cevical instability. Any thoughts?
Hi Teri,
Does the shadowing go away if you close one eye? If it does then there is a problem with the way the two eyes are working together. I would cover the right eye and see if that improves things.
All the best,
The Neuro Visual Center
Lauren I just went to the eye Dr had my eyes checked she made glasses for me when I got them I seen double she checked eyes again and said I need cataract surgery I then went to a eye specialist he said eyes were okay need surgery in 2 years I went back to the eye Dr she checked my eyes again and changed the left lense now I see shadows can you please tell what you did to get rid of the ghosts. Thank you
Please return to your doctor. This can be caused by many factors.
How common is it to develop ghosting after cataract surgery? Does getting a multi focal IOL greatly increase one’s chances of developing ghosting?
First it needs to be determined if your problem is monocular or binocular. Monocular means it is coming from one eye only. Prismatic correction only works for binocular ghosting.
I am not sure what kind of diplopia do I have. I have them in both eyes, which when I close one of the eyes, the other eye will still see the ghost image. I only see ghost images in low-light places. The ghost images will only appear when I open my eye wider. Is there a cure for this? D:
The ghost images are more blur than the actual object. And also whenever during the process i open my eyes from closed (like blinking), I sometimes see the ghost images rising like layers by layers D:
This could be many things. Please visit your eye doctor.
All the best.
Hi Hung, i have the exact same issue. Have you got it checked out ? If so, what did they tell you?
Thanks
Is your problem cured now and how
When my eyes don’t focus, the image separates into 3 copies slightly offset, 2 slightly distorted. Both eyes in turn, monocular. It’s like having astigmatism but in 3 axises. My accommodation range (lens in each eye) is reduced. So glasses correct the myopia but the astigmatism corrections are a compromise that never quite work. I pass the snellen chart in the room but clarity breaks up past about 8m. My visual span for detail like reading is 1char in focus, then the 2 on either side are half clear. So I read with a window of 3 or 4 characters scanning across the whole line. If I deliberately defocus my eyes I can see circles blur into 3 rings. It’s probably worse with dry eyes. Most Optometrists don’t seem to understand the extent for me or other rarer cases. They get frustrated when trying to work out the astigmatism corrections but I keep saying the difs are equally blurry & can’t find the right one per eye. It always takes a lot longer than scheduled but I think results are still not ideal. I don’t have Keratoconus, no major damage to surface of eyes so it must be more to do with the crystalline lense inside each eye. Which you can’t see (only specialist ophthalmologists have the equipment for full mapping of surface & optics, and I’m in Australia not USA). I did go through atleast 4yrs of school (11yo to 15yo) needing glasses after they tested me wrongly.
We are so sorry that you are still having difficulty. Please contact Dr. Andrew Taylor in Albany, Australia, he may be able to help you.
I had the new catarac surgery with adjustable lenses. I see great but after close work or just “whenever” I see shadows above and below letters, musical notes road signs, etc etc. This comes and goes a a whim and it’s very disturbing because I am a pianist. My eye surgeon and eye doctor who did the adjustments have done every test on my eyes to determine if there are serious problems and said it’s got to be dry eye so recommended Ristasis the RX. My regular doctor and daughter-in-law, Doctor suggested not taking it because it is a Steroid. I’ve used Teradrops and Soothe and other off the counter drops but they don’t seem to do the trick for very long in the day. Eye Surgeon claims Ristasis is NOT a steroid..also it’s VERY expensive and I’ve already spent $7000 on these special lenses. Glasses do NOT help….HELP PLEASE
Restasis is not a steroid, your eye doctor is correct. I am sorry that you are having such problems. If your ghost images go away with one eye covered, then you have a binocular problem that we could help. If the symptoms do not go away when one eye is covered, then you have monocular diplopia. Prismatic correction will not help monocular diplopia.
All the best.
The Neuro Visual Center
I had high myopia(left eye power was -15 at the time of surgery) since childhood and decided to go for surgery. Surgeon performed phaco and put alcon iol.. after surgery my vision got really better but the problem is i started seeing larger image in one eye which causes ghost images and sometimes i feel burning sensations and pain around my eyes.. Please help.
This can happen after cataract surgery with a patient who had a high refractive error. Please visit the Vision Specialist of Michigan website to find a doctor closest to you for an evaluation.
All the best.
I had a concussion two weeks ago. Ever since then I have been having burred images mainly when I look at screens. It looks like the letters are popping of the screen sometimes and everything looks fake. Is it something I should get checked out or just ride it out?
Hi Allan,
You should contact your eye doctor.
All the best,
The Neuro Visual Center
I see ghost images on things that light up, in the left eye , when wearing glasses but not when wearing contact lenses or with the naked eye. My optician can’t tell me why.
There maybe something wrong with your prescription or the material yours lenses are made from.
Can this cause damage to cornea or lens i wore glassess with such error for 4 months from that time ghost image is still present but lesser degree i want to know what happened and the secondaly lasik would still be an option for me or should i take any consideration
We cannot comment on individual cases. Please call your doctor.
All the best.
Thank you for this article! I have always had this ghosting, and not a single optometrist has asked me whether I have it when getting glasses for nearsightedness.
When they ask “which is better A or B?” the ghost images sometimes rotate, but never pull in to a single image. When I report that the images are the same just rotated, they have never said anything. Once I asked what the shadow images come from and was told that’s my astigmatism.
I will bring it up next time. It’s extremely annoying when working on the computer.
Have you checked for nerve palsies?
I am an hour north of Pittsburgh. PA. I went to 4 eye specialist for this and finally googled my symptoms. Ghost vision. The fifth dr fitted me with glasses that helped. I am concerned that it can be a serious condition. Where are you located please?
We are located outside of New York City in Garden City, New York.
Please call the office at 516-244-4888 for more information.
I cannot find much of anything on my issue. I see double/ghosting both monocular and binocular, with glasses and without. In other words, I see it with both eyes, when I cover just my right eye, and when I cover just my left eye. I watched a video from an neuro-opthalmologist out of Houston who explained it as “bilateral monocular cerebral polyopia,” but I can’t find very much information on this.
I have seen an Optometrist twice who expressed confusion by my vision and an Opthalmologist who said my eyes are healthy and it’s my brain. He referred me to a Neurologist. I am waiting for my appointment, but it’s far out.
I have ghosting/double vision of illuminated objects like the moon, lights, reflecting street signs at night, and subtitles on the tv, to name a few examples. The second image appears hazy, overlapping below the true object. It is constant, not transient. It’s more obvious at night. Some signs have multiple images. Like while most street signs appear as described above, these little vertical yellow rectangular signs reflect and create three images not touching the true object in the center. The ghosted images appear one below, one to the right, and one to the left of it.
What could this be? Is it really neurological? Could astigmatism do this? And if so, could the opthalmologist really have missed that? Why is he so certain it’s my brain?
In addition, I failed the field of vision test three times since February. I cannot complete the test because my vision immediately goes black from the outside in, to a pinpoint, to whatever object is in the very middle of the screen.
Also, I have episodes of transient vision disturbances lasting in 1 second bursts over and over again for up to a couple of hours, maybe more.
No headaches.
And last, but not least, two weeks ago I had an episode where I lost the entire left field of vision in both eyes. I was unable to read words because the left side of each word was missing. It was extremely bizarre. It lasted 45 minutes.
My eyes also have trouble reading or focusing in on text or on a lot of visual stimuli, such as many cereals in the cereal aisle at the grocery store or words on a page of many words or one store aisle in a sea of store aisles.
Please visit the Vision Specialist of Michigan website to find a doctor near you. There are a few doctors in Texas who may be able to help you.
The Neuro Visual Center
I have double vision and droopy eyelid. When I close one of my eyes, my double vision is gone. Same with the other eye. I really don’t know what I have.
You should see your eye doctor asap!
All the best
Check for myasthenia gravis, and thyroid eye disease.
I had cataract surgery in July on left eye , around 12 days after I started noticing halos at night on ceiling lights, lights on heater, tv, quite a few floaters, then when I looked at my cellphone or I pad it was like it had a halo/glare all around it, if I watch tv or go to a movie, when screen gets darker I see multiple halos. I have to have screen brightness up high, then this problem goes. Also I have an area in the left eye where it looks like something is in my vision, a whiteish/ghostlike , I have mono lenses and my faraway vision is great, I need glasses for reading.
The left eye has never felt right from the get go, and still feels on some days uncomfortable like a hair in eye or similar.
I did have my right eye done 4 weeks later, my specialist assured me that left eye will get better and lense was in correct position. The right eye felt quite different to left eye after op, far-away vision good as in left eye, I do get slight halo effects etc in this eye but nothing that really bothers me and can’t live with, although I do have quite a few floaters in both eyes.
The left eye does not feel ‘right’ not with vision, but the haloes, ghosting? Etc
Vision is fine during the day, these issues occur when starts to get darker, or if I walk into wardrobe during day, I notice odd area in my left eye, to the right.
They tell me it can take longer for people to get accustomed to these things after cataract surgery, but it does not feel right to me, it has been over 3 months. I feel I have more issues now than when I had the cataracts, and it should not really be this way. Looking forward to reply with any helpful information.
You should ask your doctor if you can try a drop to constrict your pupil. This may help with your symptoms.
All the best
Dr. Berger Israeloff,
I had the oddest symptoms today and I am kind of concerned. Today is October 31st, 2023, and this afternoon I was preparing for the trick or treaters that would be coming later on this evening. I was getting ready to carve a pumpkin to set out near our front door. I printed out the pattern and taped it to the Pumpkin. The image I printed consisted of two very bright orange eyes that were outlined in black. When I was ready to sit down and carve the pumpkin, one of the bright orange eyes I had been looking was now in my field of vision, no matter where I looked. The image that was on the piece of paper that I printred out was now floating around in front of my left eye. I could see it perfectly, it was the left eye from the pumpkin carving pattern, but much, much smaller. This tiny bright orange eye outlined in black floated a round in front of my left eye all afternoon. Finally, I thought that I would try toI lay down and rest for a little bit to see if it would go away.
About two hours later, I decided that I need to get up and continue with my preparations for Halloween. This is when I realized that my floating tiny orange eye “image” had changed into another image that I had been looking at just a few minutes earlier. This time it was piece of black thread that was all knotted up as I had just been working on a piece jewelry that I weaving together using a KumiHimo disc and the thread somehow got had gotten all tangled up into a knot. The same thing was occurring only this time I was seeing the black knotted thread float around in front of my left eye. This has been going on all day and night and it is now 1:00 AM in the morning and I am getting ready to head to bed.
I just had my eyes examined 2 months ago and I was told my eyes looked really good and healthy. I will be 66 years old in 9 days. I have worn glasses since 4th grade and I am very near sighted and my vision prescription requires that prism be built into to my prescription glassess.
I am concerned because this has never happened before, at least, not for 10 straight hours in row. Do you know I may have been experiencing
Hi Julie,
I am not sure but it sounds like you were having a persistent afterimage or possibly a vitreal detachment. I would return to your eye doctor and them look at your retina.
All the best,
The Neuro Visual Center
Thank you. FYI – The image is still there in my field of vision. I don’t know if Medicare covers eye problems or not, but I guess I need to find out. Thank you again.