I've been dealing with retina problems in my left eye since last May. I've had a series of outpatient surgeries, and am currently feeling like my vision may be more cloudy/hazy than it should be in that eye, and am concerned about waiting until my next scheduled follow-up (October 19!) to have it looked at. My problem is I just had a follow up visit last Friday (Sept. 20 -- 4 days ago) and am concerned I may just be paranoid/over-reacting to the cloudiness/haze. My question is should I ask to have my eye checked immediately despite feeling like I may just be overreacting? Here's my history:
I had a tear that was repaired by Opthamologist in May (at 12:00 area of left eye). Two months later (Aug 27), I was diagnosed with a detached retina at about the 2:00 area of the eye) and was referred for treatment to a retina specialist (RS) 2 hours away. A pneumatic bubble injected injected by the RS Aug. 28th. On Sept. 6th, I had indirect laser surgery (90 bursts) to reinforce the reattached retina. Then about a week later I noticed what I thought was an increased level of cloudiness/haziness and large floaters and called the RS's office. His partner was scheduled to be at my local Eye Crae Clinic two days later so my RS scheduled me to be seen by him then (Sept 13). A tear was identified at about the 10:00 area of the eye and subsequent indirect laser treatment was performed the following Monday (Sept. 16) at his office (two hrs away). It turned out that there were 3 tears that were tacked/scarred with 587 laser bursts. So that was 8 days ago. I had a follow up visit with the original RS who was scheduled to be at my local Eye Clinic 4 days later -- this past Friday (Sept. 20). He said everything looked good and scheduled the next follow up for here in town on his next visit to the local clinic Oct. 18th -- 3.5 weeks away.
I am now feeling like I am seeing more cloudiness in that eye (which is what prompted me to contact my RS a week after the original laser to attach the retina and led to discovery and treatment of the 3 tears that were lasered 8 days ago). I'm concerned that some light walking and a little (what I believe was non-strenuous) light activity folding some tarps and picking up very light debris by stooping down/kneeling on one knee as opposed to bending over from a recent roofing project on my home yesterday may have caused new problems or rupture of recent laser welds; ergo, cloudy vision? My dilemma is maybe I'm just being paranoid in which case maybe I should wait till Oct 18. Or should I call my RS and request that my local Opthamologist take a look at my eye just to be sure? Some questions that come to mind:
Are large floaters, haziness, cloudiness typical this amount of time after my latest laser treatment (587 bursts Sept. 16th)?
If I wait a few more days to see whether the floaters/cloudiness/hazy vision improves, gets worse or stays the same, would I be taking reasonable risk in doing so or would that be unwise?
Is an RS who has treated me likely to agree to have a local Opthamologist do an intermediate follow-up now and so soon after his looking at me this past Friday (Sept. 20)? I'd really like to avoid the 2 hr drive to his Eye Center and back if possible.
Any advice from those who have been there or treated folks like me before would be greatly appreciated.
Dr. O.