Detached Retina
 

When I woke up last Thursday the vision in my right eye seemed slightly blocked at the very tiniest portion of the bottom of its field. It was so small that I figured it was just my eye lid blocking it slightly. Mildly annoying, but there was no pain. By the end of my shift a dark curtain had slowly moved up about halfway into my vision. Still no pain, but now I was scared.

I called the Ophthalmologist and they had me come in first thing the next morning. Diagnoses was detached retina and I was in surgery that night for Pneumatic retinopexy repair. Surgery was a success, and I passed the follow up exam the next day.

I spent most of the next 3 days and nights face down, as the doctor ordered. This is to keep the gas bubble at the back of the eye against the retina as it heals. It's been very hard on my neck and back! There's been minimal eye pain, I'm not even taking any meds for it. I am taking two prescribed eye drops 4 times a day.

My field of vision is blurry due to water and the gas bubble, but appears to be full. No dark curtain at all.

My doctor actually said I could return to work Monday (yesterday), :eek: but I'm taking more time off to really allow it to heal up. No strenuous exercise, heavy lifting, running or bike riding allowed for 4 weeks. I go back this Friday for another follow up evaluation.

Prior to Thursday morning I had virtually no symptoms. I did see a thin wavy light down at the lower edge of my eye for a couple weeks, but only when I first tuned out the light at bedtime, and only for a second or two at most. It really seemed like almost nothing at the time, but now I know. And you do too! Detached retina is considered a medical emergency, because if not reattached asap we will lose our vision.

If you or someone you know has been through this, please tell us your story. Thanks! ;) <---one eye! :D

Good outcome for you!
Basic retinal detachment info: https://nei.nih.gov/health/retinaldetach/retinaldetach

A few years ago I experienced a couple of brief episodes of flashes of light when outside in the dark. Didn't realize what that could mean until much later. Mentioned it at next vision exam - no evidence of problems in my eyes at that time. No flashes or other symptoms since then. :)

I had a torn retina, but the fix was the same. Luckily, my daughter just finished taping the all the stages of the Tour de France for me. I just put my laptop on the floor, and put my head, face down, with my forehead on the edge of my drafting table. I spent a lot of time in this position enjoying the Tour:)

I had this a few years ago, where a posterior vitreous detachment (not uncommon when you're old and nearsighted) tore the retina slightly. Fortunately, the tear was located where I just had to stay upright to keep the air bubble in place. They also installed a "scleral buckle" which is sort of a tie-wrap around the eyeball to squeeze it into shape and let the retina reattach more easily.

My wife has had a few tears, mostly noticeable for the bleeding inside the eyeball and causing 'floaters.' The eye doc has her going in every other week to monitor it. No remedial action needed so far.

I had noticed a distortion of vertical lines in the center of vision in my left eye (the Amsler grid is your friend). I'm thinking &quot;oh great, macular degeneration&quot;.

Well, the Opthalmologist sent me to a retinal specialist. I did not have a detachment but had a branch vein retinal occlussion which in english is a leaking blood vessel behind your retina causing swelling and distortion of the retina. He said if these occur out in your periphery they can go undetected and do much damage (lucky me). It took a couple years of regular retinal scans and injections to bring the swelling back to near normal.

I tore a retina almost 8 years ago. I had flashes and floaters Saturday afternoon and evening and caught an ophthalmologist friend between church services the next morning. He told me to see his vitreoretinology specialist friend the following morning. "Tell the office I sent you and that they need to squeeze you in somehow."

On Monday morning, after joking with me about "looking through my dirty fishbowl" of an eyeball, the VR doc. finally found a small tear in the outer fringe of the retina. Evidently, this sort of thing comes with the territory when one is myopic (-7 diopters in both eyes, in my case). I went to his other, larger office that afternoon and had cryotherapy to glue the retina down to the back of the eyeball, so that it would not detach. All the time he apologized for having to go this route, rather than laser repair, because the tear was so far out on the edge.

The floaters have not gone away, but I have no other visual impairments. My biggest problem was that my employer folded at about that same time, thrusting me abruptly into the private health insurance marketplace. (There is no COBRA when your employer goes bankrupt.) Blue Cross rejected me because of the recent retinal tear, but fortunately Blue Shield took me at standard rates -- they evidently understood there is a difference between a detached retina and a slightly torn one.

Hope all goes well, guys. I just had a lens replacement. Yesterday . . . . .myopia at minus 23 . . . .!

I have had five eye surgeries for detachments and tears but they were back in the mid 1980s prior to the gas bubble. At that time they did a sclera buckling. I had great results and no long term issues other than that eye is much more myopic.

There were some scary times during recovery because the retina needed to flatten out... vertical lines looked more like a stack of z's. It took about 18 months to feel as if things were normal. They usually say things are as good as they will get in a year but that's never been the case for me. Every time they continued to get better well past one year.

Good luck with your recovery!

Thanks for your stories and thoughts, everyone!

I passed my one week post-op evaluation this morning. All is going well. The gas bubble is now almost halfway down my field of vision when standing, and I was able to zip through the eye chart. Since the gas bubble still interferes with roughly half of my vision, it can sometimes be quite a strain to focus. But it's improving every day. As long as things continue to improve, (as I expect they will) I won't see the doctor for another 4 weeks.

I am very thankful that my procedure worked out so well.

Great to hear! I found that I could have some fun with the air bubble, which acts like a built-in bubble-level when tilting your head side to side. :)

That is a scary feeling! I thought I had a detached retina - I was seeing ring flashes at the periphery of my vision. Luckily for me it was just posterior vitreous detachment, which is common I guess. Freaked me.

Let it heal up for longer than they suggest and good luck!

Last August I noticed the 'dark curtain' and some 'lightning' at the edge of my vision. Went to the eye doctor; next thing I know I am having needles stuck in my eye. Had to stay face down at first, for maybe an hour or so, then on my left side to keep the bubble where it needed to be.

Went back to the doc the next day and he patched most of the retina with a laser. Repeated staying on the left side another day and got the rest lasered into place. About a week later some laser to the other eye where the retina is thin (I have high myopia).

The second worst part of it all was that a friend of mine and his father were going to do a bike tour in Italy, but his father couldn't go due to illness. They asked me if I'd like to go. All I'd have to do is pay my own airfare. But no flying with the bubble!

[MENTION=7466]DougG[/MENTION] - I had some fun with the bubble. One day it split into two and I had a blast rearranging them. I actually missed it when it finally dissipated.

My experience
 

I had been noticing that vision in my right eye was not right, but I did not then know the symptoms of retinal detachment. I had a friend coming to town to ride the Mt. Washington Century, so I decided to put off seeing a doctor. We did the ride on Sunday, and then Iwent to see an ophthalmologist on Monday morning. I saw the surgeon that afternoon and had surgery the next day. My wife rented a bench on I could lie prone, looking through a hole at the floor, or at reading material. It also came with a periscope for watching TV. Recovery was good, but reattachment brings stimulates cataracts so I had a lens replacement ten months later. I learned that I was on the verge of right eye blindness, and delaying the visit to the doctor was not a good move. But I did enjoy the ride. :-)

Five years later the same retina came loose again, and I knew it right away. This time I did without the bench and just looked down.

A week, or so, before the century ride I had crashed when I encountered a hummock on the road very close to home, a hazard which I had always avoided previously. I was not gripping my bar, and my hands flew off the bar and since I was going downhill over 20 mph I lost control. My head did touch the pavement, but there was no noticeable impact and no helmet compression. My ophthalmologist at the time insisted that the crash could have contributed to the detachment.

The retina has been firmly attached for ten years now. There is glaucoma, unrelated to the detachment, says my current ophthalmologist. Its effect on my optic nerve has decreased my right side peripheral vision so I usually ask fellow club members if I'm clear to move back into line.

And that's my story.

Leland

Today's ride was the first ride of the year. Was on the sidelines for two months, due to gel vitreous detachment in the good eye. Had a retinal tear in the other eye when got hit by tennis ball twelve years ago. The tear was laser tack welded.

Being very nearsighted with contact lenses, I've always been aware of bright lights, flashes, dark shadows... symptoms of retinal issues.

If you see anything abnormal, including spider web large floaters, immediately call for assistance. Do everything if in your control to prevent a retinal detachment.

Good luck everyone.