Lattice Degeneration

[Tiffany522]

Let me begin by saying that I am currently blind in my left eye, which occurred from a detached and torn retina, in January of 1990 at the age of 15.  I have undergone a total of 13 eye surgeries.  The first surgery repaired the tear along with the detachment, but 2 weeks later the retina detached again, and after that it was surgeries after surgeries.  They tried the scleral buckle, they tired the silicone bubble, in which nothing worked for me.  I was then told that my retina was like jelly, when trying to fix it in one area it would detach and tear from another area.  In December of 1993, the eye was removed and I now have an artificial eye.  I am very nearsighted (-11.275) in my right eye.  Since I only have vision in my right eye, I have my eyes examined yearly, dilated and having the retina check as well.  Last week I was diagnosis with Lattice Degeneration in my right eye.  I was told that the degeneration is completely around the retina/eye, it is not in just one spot.  Being that I am blind in my right eye due to retinal detachment and tears, which were caused from me being so nearsighted, what are the odds of saving the site in my right eye?  How serious is Lattice degeneration in reference to my current vision of a (-11.275) and being blind in my left eye?  I do have an appointment with a specialist, but in the meantime the unknown is getting the best of me.  Any information or explanation you have would be greatly appreciated.  
Thanks,
Tiffany  

[paulm999]

Hi Tiff. I too have lattice degeneration. It's heredity for my family. It introduced itself by a tear leading to a partial retina detachment in my right eye in June 2007. During the next few months, while I had 2 vitrectomies on my right eye (one to out the silicone in, one to get it out) my floaters in the left eye started becoming worse. Thankfully my retina surgeon fixed a tear in the left eye before it led to a detachment in that eye , too. As far as my right eye, it was lasered twice all around, during and then after the first vitrectomy, and my sight is mostly restored. I still have another surgery scheduled to peal away the epi-retinal membrane so I can finally have reading vision in that eye. The left eye also has stabilized, too, because the vitreous has completely detached during the last year making a tear a lot less likely in the future. I still have a retina exam in both eyes every 4 months. And I'm very protective of both eyes, since a direct hit in the eyes by any object or person has the possibilty of making either retina start falling apart. I understand your fear with only one good eye. I recommend a retina exam evry 4 months, and if you notice any new floater to treat it as an emergency.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

When you see the retinal specialist he or she can tell you how bad the lattice is.  Sometimes they may even recommend a protective laser treatment if the lattice is bad, and you are high risk for a detachment.  My best advise is to find the very best retinal specialist in your area. I would recommend you see one at least yearly regardless in the future.  Being a high myope and losing the other the other eye from a detachmment already puts you in a high risk situation in your good eye, so I'm not sure that having lattice degeneration really puts you at "higher" risk.  As long as any weak areas in the retina are identified early on,  that is the key and of course to avoid getting hit in the eye - so remember eye protection.  I'm being kind of vague because you really need to talk about these things with your own personal doctor.

MJK MD