retinal detachment - scleral buckle

[maebelllee]

hi, my name is Sam and I am 26 year old female.
Last Monday (14th) I had emergency surgery on my right eye as my retina had began to detach.

this eye problem had been ongoing for just over a month. I initially began experiencing floaters and flashes in my right eye and was told I had vitruous detachment, but then when I was back for a check up they realised that my retina had detached and booked me in for surgery there and then.

I have a history of problems with this eye:

I was born with a cataract in it, which was removed along with my lens when I was a few months old. the lens was never replaced.

I also had an operation to correct a squint in the same eye when I was about 4.

I have had very little sight in that eye since birth and mostly only see colours and shapes. I cannot read with that eye at all.

However, they still seemed determined to operate to fix my retina and did so very quickly.

It is now a week and 3 days since my procedure was carried out - where they fitted a scleral buckle to hopefully reattach my retina.

since the bloodiness has started to disperse, I am very upset to find that my eye looks somewhat squint again. and my eye lid is still swollen and droopy.

am I hoping for too much too soon? or are these things normal at this stage? I really don't know what to expect and feel so alone. I have cried nearly all of today because I feel like I had this operation without really knowing what was involved and I feel that for what little sight I had in that eye anyway - possibly ending up with another squint and droopy eyelids, certainly was not worth it.

please can someone help? has anyone had this procedure and been through the same? any medical advice you be greatly appreciated?

I don't even know if - due to having this buckle - would they be able to operate to fix a squint like I had done before?

thank you.
Sam

[maebelllee]

thank you so much for your response. it was comforting just to hear some reassurance that there is even a possibility that this will improve.

can I just ask - would I still be able to have the squint fixed as normal even although I have the buckle institu?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

It is too early.  The lid drooping will probably go away and there is a good chance the squint will get better with some improvement in vision.

Dr. O.