Central Serous Retinopathy Recovery = going on 10 months

[Jpens66]

I started to notice blurred vision from my right eye in Sept. of 2010.  I was referred to a retina specialist who diagnosed me with CSR.  I researched the condition at that time and found that vision usually returns within 6 months.  It is now June and I still can't read anything out of my right eye (regardless of distance).  I can see objects and such, but forget being able to read even the license plate of the car in front of me at a red light.

Thankfully my left eye is dominant so I've been able to get by these past months with just a bit of blur when both eyes are open.  I have since been back to the doc and they say there is no fluid behind the retina (they also told me this in January) and that there is nothing they can do. The actually said I had a small tear in the left eye (the good one!) and performed laser surgery to prevent it from causing issues.....yes it has been quite the ordeal.

From my reading on this condition, it is possible to see permanent vision damage from CSR but all the reports I've seen deal with patients with several recurrences.  So I just my question(s) is this:

Is it possible that my eye is just taking a long time to heal and I may get my vision back to normal or is it possible that I have some other eye condition that could be playing a role?  I guess what are my odds of having permanent vision problems from one diagnosed case of CSR?  It just makes me think that something else is going on.  And since CSR has a common rate of coming back (possibly in my good eye as scary as that would be) I may be in for a long road of blurred vision.

Any advice or feedback on my situation would be appreciated.

[paulvg]

I've been dealing with CSR for almost two years now and it seems to have finally been resolved. I had probably 9 Avastin injections which did not work. I then had yellow or cool laser treatment (not sure of the technical term) which worked a little, but did not resolve it. What finally did it was laser treatment combined with a chemical called Visudyne. It's a chemical that reacts with the laser to seal up leakage. Unfortunately, it makes you hyper photo sensitive and you can't even go NEAR the sun for about 4 days afterwards. They won't even let you leave the doctor's office without wearing complete body coverage. Visudyne is not typically covered by insurance and it is expensive-something like $4,000 per use. My retina doctor (who is awesome-Dr. Pieroni in NYC) appealed that and actually got my insurance to cover it. Now that the fluid has gone away, I'm struggling with residual distortion and blurriness. It's not terrible, but it's noticeable. The cause seems to be the fact that my retina was elevated above where it should have been for so long, that when it finally settled back down, not all of the connections are being made the way they were before. Some of them are dead. So, it's something I may have to just live with. I've been taking lutein supplements to see if that will help in the long term.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Thank you for posting your experience.  Many CSR patients have some distortion of vision (metamorphosia) even after the fluid leaves.

[flossy93]

I'd also be interested in other patients' updates about their CSR cases and results.  

I had what one retina doc called a 'proto-CSR' event, which was basically CSR symptoms (sudden distortion, blurring and dimming).  However, by the time I got to a retina specialist and had an OCT he couldn't see the typical 'bubble' of fluid under the inner retinal layer.  No current bleeding at that time, either, so it wasn't clear what had caused the sudden visual change in that eye.

It's been 3 months and the distortion (vertical line bending) has improved about 80%, but not the blurriness and distortion.  Since two different retina specialists couldn't identify the exact cause of these symptoms, I don't know whether to have hope that the remaining issues will resolve.

Any experiences from other CSR patients would be helpful.  Thanks!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[tauras6]

Hi Rosh, did it improve.. i too have similar problem now and doctos tell the same thing to wait n watch. its been 5 months already. Althout i have improvement in my vision and i can still read but it a bit blurry and slightly dim

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[rosh168]

I have experienced the same problem since Mar 2012. Two weeks ago, I was told that there is no fluid behind the retina but my vision not going back. Any update on yours? My Doc asked me to wait for couple more months to see if my central vision coming back to normal.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

you would have to discuss that with your 2nd consultant. Only an in person exam and a look at the OCT and FA could tell.

JCH MD

[Jpens66]

Thanks for the feedback doc.  Assuming that this is the best improvement that I can expect to see, is there any procedure I can look into to regain the lost vision?  Or is this truly a permanent thing with no surgical or other alternative to attempt to restore some sight?

Also, I am already seeing a 2nd retina specialist as I didn't care for the first one at all.  I have a follow-up appointment in a week and a half but I think that's mainly to check the results of the laser procedure on my good left eye (which is thankfully fine).  I'm just hoping that something can be done, especially if I have an episode of CSR in my remaining "good eye".

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Most but not all cases of CSR do resolve without RX. Some do not and laser is sometimes used to seal the leaking areas. Also some treatment has been done with Avastin or Lucentis injection. You should have gotten better by now if you are going to and your problem suggests a bad prognossis. I would suggest seeing a different retina ophthalmologist for a second opinion.  Find an Eye MD near you at www.aao.org

JCH MD