Gas bubble vision

[sarahmay198]

I'm 27 and had my second vitrectomy almost 2 weeks ago because of retinal detaching.  About 3 weeks after my first surgery (scleral buckle, laser, vitrectomy, and gas bubble), I thought I saw a blind spot, but wasn't sure and decided to have an earlier check up with my surgeon.  It turned out that my retina was creating scar tissue and tore in another place, thus needing the second vitrectomy, laser, and gas bubble.  The bubble is diminishing now (3/5 full), but I'm afraid that the a shadowy hood on the top of my peripheral vision is another blind spot.  I saw this shadowy hood after the first surgery but I can't remember if that was the problem, or if it was normal.  

Is it normal to have this shadow on top?  I can only see emanating light sources and I can see a small sliver between the shadow and the bubble that looks like what I might normally see without contacts.

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear sarahmay198,

I would recommend that you call your eyeMD to determine the cause as you are unsure whether you experience a change in your vision.  He/she is familiar with your condition and will be able to advise you.  

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[berrywoo]

If the shadow gets worse that is a sign of redetachment.

Also, depending on the location of previous tears and laser it may just be vision that is missing due to damage of the retina.

However, I would get it checked out ASAP just to make sure that everything is ok. You should be able to be seen immediately by whoever is on call this weekend at your doc's office.

I hope that it is not another detachment. PVR can be complicated. Remember to protect your other eye. Good luck.

[berrywoo]

I know what you must be going through, after having been through mulitple surgeries myself on both eyes, but hang in there. Hopefully, things will get better. If you do need a retinectomy (sp?) it would most definitely help the rest of the retina lie flat, but you will lose that part of your peripheral vision. Again, good luck and thanks for the update.

[sarahmay198]

Thank you again for your previous comments, I thought I would update my post if anyone else is having the same problems.

My doctor had me in for a third surgery December 15th in which he did a vitrectomy, peel, laser, and silicone oil this time instead of gas.  I can see much better out of my eye immediately after the bandages were removed the day after the surgery, my vision was of course really myopic, but I could see a few feet further (instead of inches) which was nice, but the oil made those clear lines distorted instead of fuzzy.  But overall, much better than the gas bubble and I'm quite happy to have more of my left vision.

Unfortunately on January 1st I saw my blind spot reappear (Happy New Year!) which was my topmost peripheral vision (about the top 20% was gone).  So I called my doctor's partner (because he was on vacation until today) and he confirmed, that yes, there is some fluid under my retina at the bottom (because the image is flipped inside the eye).  He said that my doctor might want to wait a bit to see what my retina does before another surgery, or he might decide that my retina has a problematic edge (likely since it keeps detaching in the same place and at the peripheral) and my surgeon might decide its better to loose an edge than the entire eye.  Which frankly I'm okay with, he says now his mission is to "save the eye" rather than regain 100% of my vision.  

So, I'm seeing my doctor on Thursday to work out a plan.  I've had three surgeries, probably going to have another, and I'll need an additional one to remove the oil.  So sorry young people, this is something youth and vitality doesn't seem to help.

[sarahmay198]

Thank you for your advice.  I called my doctor's office and an on-call doctor had me come in this afternoon.  He said the edges of my retina were trying to come loose and that is why I would sometimes see the shadows and sometimes not.  So, I'm going to visit my surgeon tomorrow on his surgery day and I might need another surgery tomorrow, or maybe he wants me to position my head for a week and see what happens.  Thanks again, I'll post a follow up on what he says.