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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
Myopia and retinal tears
Our Ask A Doctor Ophthalmology Forum is where you can post your question and receive a personal answer from physicians affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Myopia and retinal tears
by bbburdie, Mar 28, 2006 12:00AM
I have a 21 year old son, -11 in both eyes. He does not drive, the doctors say he could pass an eye exam for driving but he does not feel he can because things appear too small to see in time, like signs. He was prescribed contact lenses by a low vision specialist but he could not wear them because he felt they were floating around on his eye..while he could see much better, the floating around often produced very blurred vision till it settled back in place. He would really like to be able to drive, the low vision specialist said those were the tightest fitting contacts available for his prescription and any tighter wouldn't be good for his eyes. He is now having the same problem that he had a few years back. He has a very small spot in his vision field, non-moving, the doctors could barely see it upon examination. He had a CT scan which was normal. The specialist did additional testing in which they took a series of pictures of his eye. His conclusion was "small retinal hemorrhage in the right eye with a Fuch's spot.....these usually spontaneously resolve with return of vision close to what it was before they happen...probably caused by small breaks in the Bruch's membrane and the retinal pigment epithelium". It healed on it's own in a few months as he said so I am not sure whether to be concerned about it or not. My question is dual, is there a way, short of those binocular-type glasses for him to drive and is this spot something we should be concerned about since it is the second time he's had it. The opthamologists we've seen have not been real helpful. Thank-you.
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Mar 28, 2006 12:00AM
"is there a way, short of those binocular-type glasses for him to drive"
yes. contacts. i know he already tried them, but -11.00 glasses are usually not condusive to driving b/c of minification. "short of telescopes" the only way i can see him driving is with contacts. no glasses rx will make him any better than he is now. if he wants to drive, he's got to find someone who can fit him in a contact lens that he can tolerate. or a lens implant (google "phakic iol")
"is this spot something we should be concerned about since it is the second time he's had it."
well i guess it depends on what you mean by "concern". you cant really do much to prevent them. its pretty much either going to happen again or its not going to happen again, not much you can do about it. i mean barring head/eye INJURY...there is no real effective prevention. no medications, no dietary supplements, and no preventative surgeries. you just have to get frequent dilationsa nd photos and try to catch them early. but you might as well not be "concerned" b/c it'll likely be needless worry. IMO its kind of out of your control.
yes. contacts. i know he already tried them, but -11.00 glasses are usually not condusive to driving b/c of minification. "short of telescopes" the only way i can see him driving is with contacts. no glasses rx will make him any better than he is now. if he wants to drive, he's got to find someone who can fit him in a contact lens that he can tolerate. or a lens implant (google "phakic iol")
"is this spot something we should be concerned about since it is the second time he's had it."
well i guess it depends on what you mean by "concern". you cant really do much to prevent them. its pretty much either going to happen again or its not going to happen again, not much you can do about it. i mean barring head/eye INJURY...there is no real effective prevention. no medications, no dietary supplements, and no preventative surgeries. you just have to get frequent dilationsa nd photos and try to catch them early. but you might as well not be "concerned" b/c it'll likely be needless worry. IMO its kind of out of your control.
I do have the tears in my retina, took some pictures 10 years ago and go to retina specialist regularly. Everything seems to be ok so far. I like to be in contact lens all day almost 14 hours a day. My prescription has been change in 10 years, i used have astigmatism which i don't have any more over the years it kind of reduced.
I do driving since i was 19 years old. I think contact lens provide me better vision than glasses too.
Hope i helped. I know being parents for such as patient is almost same painful as being patient. My mom worries about me all the time. Over the years, I have developed an attitude to take care of my self and my eye. It is tough but this is life................
I have become engineer and work in a reputed company.