HELP NEEDED QUICKLY !

[David774]

Within the last week or two I have suddenly developed a large dark spot within my vision ( not visible
externally )stretching from the inner corner of my left eye to the center, it  obscures my sight to quite a degree. I am sure it is not ' floaters ' as I already have a few specks of these and they are not a problem to me.  I am 75 years old and in otherwise fairly good health. Could someone please advise.

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

Hello David,  I was afraid it would be something like that. We have no good treatment for central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO). Even if it happened in the ophthalmologists office we are not able to give it "first aid".

You eye will need to be watched carefully as there are a number of delayed complications that might develop in that eye including vitreous hemorrhage and especially a severe type of gluucoma called neovascular glaucoma. Sometimes a laser treatment is needed to prevent this from happening.

Although recovery of vision is usally poor it can sometimes improve for several months although rarely does it recover fully.

The condition could affect your other eye. There are many causes of CRVO and an adequate work-up will involve you seeing an internal disease specialist or a very good family doctor to rule out problems in your eye that can cause this. Any underlying problem must be vigorously treated. Patients with CRVO have shorter life expectancies that those not having due to the high prevalance of under lying disease.

This is not an all inclusive list of possible causes of CRVO but it includes the most common: smoking and use of nicotine products, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, "thick blood" (blood dyscrasias), heart and lung disease, abnormalities of blood clotting, and inflammation of the blood vessels.

In the eye undiagnosed for treated glaucoma can cause CRVO.

While you are waiting to see the ophthalmologist line up an appointment with an internist or good family doctor.

Go on line and use Google to search CRVO and print out the list of possible causes and take it into the Internist or GP.

Also ask about low dose aspirin therapy as a preventatiave.

JCH III MD  Ophthalmologist

[David774]

Hello, Thank you so much for your response to my problem, however, as you have probably already anticipated.  My eye, it would seem, is beyond repair.  I took your advice and went to the doctor today,  he refered me to an optician  ( who had to appraise my eye before I could be seen by an opthalmologist)
The optician says that I have a  Central Vein Occlusion in the retina  of my left eye and that it is too late for repair.  He says that I will have to wait for an appointment with the opthalmologist for another two to three weeks.  I told him that I feared going totally blind by then, but he says that this is unlikely to spread to the other eye.  Can you confirm that this is unlikely to be repeated in my other eye  ?  also is there ANYTHING at all that can be done to restore the sight to the eye which is already affected  ?

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

Your condition is an emergency. Call ophthalmology a(eye MDs) offices and try and get in today or tomorrow at the latest. Ask your family doctor to arrange an emergency consult. There are some very, very serious things that can cause that including things that could affect the other eye.

Act immediately.

JCH III MD