Carotid disease is a progressive disease. People who experience monocular blindness—or an inability to see out of one eye—due to carotid arteriosclerosis have already experienced some degree of arterial blockage in their arteries.

If your doctor suspects that carotid artery disease is causing your one-eyed vision loss, he will probably order an ultrasound examination of your head and neck, both to measure the degree of blockage and to determine the amount of blood that is reaching the brain. An angiogram, in which a harmless dye is injected into your arteries in order to get a clear picture of your blockage, may be done if the results of the sonogram are unclear or if your doctor believes the arteriosclerosis is severe.

Depending on the severity of the buildup on the walls of your carotid artery, your doctor will choose one of several treatment options. If the disease is still in its early stages, a daily dose of aspirin is usually all that’s needed. Aspirin has been found to have anticoagulant properties, which will help keep your blood thin and prevent it from forming clots. If the blockage is more severe, your doctor may prescribe either warfarin or heparin. Warfarin is an anticoagulant, but is more powerful than aspirin. Heparin is also an anticoagulant but is usually prescribed when arteriosclerosis is more pronounced.

Your doctor may suggest you undergo an endarterectomy, or the surgical removal of plaque from the walls of an artery, if he thinks a stroke seems imminent because of blockage and/or the presence of blood clots in your carotid artery. Though an endarterectomy presents a risk because the blood flow to the brain through the carotid artery is stopped during the operation, once you undergo the procedure, it is unlikely that plaque will develop on the walls of the artery again.

There are two carotid arteries, and sometimes both are clogged. The worst one would have the endarterectomy first, and the second one would be untouched now, and be performed at a later date.

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