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Post scleral buckle surgery woes

I am a 27 year old lady from London. A few weeks ago my life was turned upside down. I was diagnosed with a detached retina and underwent emergency eye surgery. I had a cryotherapy scleral buckling and laser.

3 ½ weeks later my eye is healing well (thank God) vision wise, I can now open my eye and it is no longer weeping HOWEVER I have noticed that my eye lid is slightly droppy (prisms) and more upsettingly I now appear to be suffering from “crossed eye” “cockeye" "wall eye”.

I do not have an appointment with my eye Dr until Feb (!) so I was wondering if anyone else could provide me with a few answers.

My questions are:

Has the eyelid now suffered permanent damage or can the muscle in the lid gain strength over time?

Will my eye ever be aligned again?

This isn’t just a case of vanity but this is affecting my confidence. I understand that I only had the surgery a short time ago and I am unequivocally grateful that my sight was saved but I’m getting very anxious about this and feeling very depressed.

Sight is such a precious thing that we take for granted and I now feel like my life ahead of me is not worthwhile.

Any responses would be much appreciated.

A thousand thanks

Buckle_Blues :(

5 Responses
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284078 tn?1282616698
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I'm glad to see that some of your vision is returning.  I would say it is normal for the eyelid to droop some and get  puffy, partially from the localized swelling from the surgery and partially from constant squinting to protect the sore and tearing eye which also worsens the swelling.  Should be getting better.  Sleep with head up on a few pillows.  Try cool compressed to eyelids.  If not getting better within 4-6 weeks after surgery you might have to worry about possibly a stretched levator aponeurosis tendon which lifts lid.  Unlikely but can be easily repaired by eye plastic surgeon.
Now regarding the crossed eye - I don't like to hear that.  It is either because the eye is so blurry that it has lost its fixation and wanders in toward your nose - in this case it would totally resolve as the eye starts to see better.  If not for this reason - then it could be a sign of damage to one of ocular muscles or cranial nerves.  It is not clear to me which it is but I sincerely  hope it is just because the eye is so blurry that it can't fixate and maintain straight ahead position.  I wish I could help more.  With you being so young, I'm hoping it will all resolve on its own but you need to see your doctor soon regarding the turned in eye.

MJK MD
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
Dear Jean-Philippe,

Thank you for your lovely post - that is very kind of you.  Time is a great healer and I have had enough time to digest the shock of what happen.  Each day I feel a little better and see a little improvement. The vision in my post op eye is excellent, I impressed, I have two very small black spots where I have lost vision due to where the buckle has been inserted (so I’ve been told) but I only really notice them when I’m tired or firstly thing in the morning.

The eye lid looks much better but still a little drooper than the other eye - but I think this is mostly noticeable to me.

The front of the eye looks great considering 6 weeks ago it was bruised, very bloody and swollen shut so for anyone else out that please read my post and have heart!


I have my 6 week post op consultation tomorrow and I am armed with a list of questions regarding my prognosis so hopefully I will be reassured about my recovery.

I look forward to updating you tomorrow and thank you again Jean-Philippe from the bottom of my heart for being so kind.

Ps: I think forums like this are amazing and offer a huge amount of support to people like me who feel so alone sometimes - I hope the Dr’s who send individual replied realise how much good they are doing every day, across the world. Thank you! And god bless

xx



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Avatar universal
jp_rom     at      hotmail.com
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Avatar universal
Hi, my name is Jean-Philippe and I am 21

a year and a half ago I got the same surgery as you did (scleral buckle). And I completely feel you when you say it turns around your life. I had a kind of crossed eyes, but I could replace it. With time, I got better, and now when I focus on stuff I dont see double. Its touchy because I still see double sometimes, but it instantly replaces itself. When I look close up, its ok, but if i shift to a father direction, i see double for a quarter second, and it places itself.

With time, the problem seems to get better. The buckle is placed under the muscles and it causes a little trauma to them. Anyways, I am not a specialist, but I just wanted to tell you what happened in my case.

It helps to talk to people, well, in my case. I always feel as if I am the only one with this crappy situation. If ever you want to contact me by to talk or something, you can e-mail me at jp_rom***@****. I too have the buckle blues.
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Avatar universal
Thank you very much for your informative reply.  I will make an appointment with the Dr tomorrow.  Thank you, your advice is greatly appreciated.
Helpful - 0

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