eye damage from eye exam?

[knoname]

Two months ago I had an episode of PVD and began to see flashes of light. It was in the evening and my opthamologist (or at least one in his office) asked me to meet him in the office to be certain there were no issues with a retinal tear. I was given drops for my eye and he looked closely at it through both the machinery and a lense that he placed into my eye. While the lens was placed against my eye, he gradually turned it around while he looked. Since my eye was numb I didnt feel anything except the pressure. The next day and for the next 48 hours my eye remained blurry  and dialted in the same manner as the drops had produced. I have had exams before with dialation and the blurryness/dialation goes away in a few hours. I called for an appoinment and was told that the Dr. must have used something different to dialate my eyes more quickly (he did put the drops in twice). I also had 4 dry spots in my eye now that were reflecting light and causing me additional blurriness> The dialation eventually went away. The blurriness and the dry spots did not. I did not have those dry spots, nor the blurriness during the flashing episode, or anytime prior to the eye exam. All that I can assume is that the lens that was used against my eye caused some type of irritation/rubbing that caused these spots to occur. My own Dr even attempted a temp. punctul (tear duct ) plug and it did immediately provide some relief as does sun glasses and artificial tears. (for a short time) Now Im stuck with these spots and constant visual problems that make me squint, tear up, and blink to clear my eye. Could these dry spots have been caused by the examination?

[knoname]

Dr. Oyakawa
You misunderstood my description of the exam. It wasnt a contact lense that was inserted against my eyeball. It was a cylindrical lens about an inch in diameter and 5 inches long. The Dr. placed the one end of the lens against my eyeball and looked through his machinery into this lens. He turned it on occassion while it was pressed against my eye. He said it made it easier to gain the view he wanted. I was asking if the pressure of turrning this cylinder (I dont know if it was metal, hard rubber or plastic..it was black in color) against my eye could have caused the irritation that led to the 4 dry spots on my eye..that were not there before this episode.
There is a long term problem, blurryness from the dry spots..and it is constant. Any ideas? knoname

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

I have never seen such a thing as you describe and have a used a contact lens for the probably over 10,000 times.  You may have had a reaction to the ointment used on the contact lens or a scratch on the cornea from the procedure.

The long dilations is probably due to a longer acting dilating drops used by accident.  There will  be NO LONG term problem.

Dr. O.