Scleral Buckle

[stones518]

I had a scleral buckle with gas bubble done on September 20th. All seems to be going well with the healing process except I have an unrelenting headache. I wake up with it and go to bed with it.  Some days it is extremely bad other days it hurts just enough to let me know its there.  How long will these headaches last? I've asked my surgeon and the techs no ones seems to want to answer the question.

I had high eye pressure prior to the surgery 32 and the pressure is steadily coming down 14 at my last appointment.

I would appreciate any advice.

Thankyou

  

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

double vision is a well known and common problem after scleral buckle.  Could cause the headaches. Often gets better with time but in some is permanent and requires prism glasses or strabismus eye muscle surgery.

JCH III MD

[stones518]

Thanks for the info.  As for the drops I am off the drops which were all for reducing pressure in the eye.  although the pupil is still quite  dilated.  I do have quite a bit of double vision which could be a source of the headaches.

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

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[jms1182]

I had the buckle done in January (no bubble) and I got headaches as well.  They actually went away after I was taken off of the dilation drops (about 1 month after surgery).  Are you taking these drops?  I'm sure your eyes are extremely sensitive to light right now, so that could be it too.  Good luck - it's only been three weeks so you have a lot of healing time left.

[krecruiter]

I had a buckle and bubble on September 10th and experience terrible head aches for a while too.  Are you transitioning from using only one eye while patched to now using both eyes?  Are you getting extensive light reflection off of the bubble that is causing additional eye strain?  

I found that my head aches were a combination of strain on my surgical eye after being covered for most of two weeks and muscle strain from the position I had to hold my head in for 10 days to keep the bubble in place.  I was head to the left and slightly forward not directly face forward.   Once I worked out some to the kinks in my neck and adjusted the lighting in my office my head aches subsided.

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

It could be the eye surgery especially if there is increased pressure and/or inflammation. Your surgeon will need to tell you about those two conditions.

If there are normal then you should see your personal physician to check your sinus, blood pressure, etc.

JCH III MD