referral to retinal specialist

I am 58 years old (when did that happen??!) and have severe peripheral degeneration with floaters ( a new onslaught of floaters on 12/24/2007, originally started eralier in 2007) and occasional flashes of arc lighting when turnug eye(s). Opthalmologist, who I saw 12/27/2007 mentioned that ret. spec. would use lens to cover eye for testing, as he could only see 90% of eye (left, where most of damage is, right eye is "lazy" and useless with less floaters, etc.) He also mentioned that a less painful test is with a camera...would you possibley know where I could find a ret. spec. who uses this technique? and also takes Oxford coverage?

I am truly frightened and wuld like to know what to expect, and progression, etc. Any help would be immensely appreciated!

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

The test your ophthalmologist is talking about is called a peripheral retina exam with scleral depression. It can be a little uncomfortable but is not painful in the sense of a shot or pulling a tooth.

The peripheral retinal exam with scleral depression and indirect ophthalmoscopy is the gold standard and better than the wide field retina exam.

You will need to do some home work and through your customer service find a retina specialist that takes your insurance.

Because I have retinoschesis or a splitting of the peripheral retina I have a peripheral retina exam with scleral depression each 12 months and I don't dread it.

JCH III MD