retina detachment

[EDGAR620]

had retina detachemt appro. 4 weeks ago. The gas bubble is getting smaller day by day, but the vision although is a big improvement, it has a blur or maybe I should say a courtain if front of the eye that prevents the eye from seeing clear. Is this the normal procedure after surgery.

[corks100]

btw,,,in addition to my description above mhelen, i can see shadows and movement out of my right eye (one that had the PPV).  and the white film seem to be getting a little thinner (slowly) every other day.  I can see shadows, movement, hand and fingers, people, etc...but not from afar.  however, i cant identify what kind of objects is in front of me....

let me know...just worried that it had been almost 7 weeks after my PPV and still seems like there is a white film over my eye.  The doctor said it is the blood behind the retina....but i am worried.  i can actually see the blood spots coming off....but cant see farther....which as i said are just shadows that move right now....

Thanks mhelen.  can i join your RD clud?  we can all help each other out with prevention later on....you never know.....will be waiting for your answer....

[corks100]

Hi mhelen...

I just had Pars Plana Vitrectomy (PPV) over 6 weeks ago.  My bubble went away about a week and a half ago.  I still cant see through the right eye (one that had PPV).  I feel like it has a white covering through it...like a white membrane.

My doc took two ultrasounds of my eye already (one 9 days ago, the other almost three weeks prior).  He said both times that my retina looked good and that it is attached.  however, he did say that he is worried about the amount of blood still present behind the retina when looking at the ultrasound pics.  The blood did go down the second time he did took an ultrasound,  but he did say that there is still blood.  i asked him what was blocking my view and he said it was the blood.  

Again...i feel like there is a white layer covering my eye after overt 6 weeks and i still cant see out of the eye.  I am worried everyday.  However, I see a lot of dried blood coming off already...some days it feels like there is a dust storm happening in the eye or a black tiny snow falling down my eye.  Sometimes there are even bigger pieces of dried blood coming off (the doc said that the black spots are blood).  

Im starting to worry...im going on 7 weeks now and still cant see objects from that eye.  i do feel like the white veil is getting thinner or maybe I just want to think that.  However, there is more blood that comes off by the day.  Also, the part where I had the detachment---- i can actually see my fingers moving from it where a portion of it was black before.  This tells me that my retina attached properly.

What did your doctor finally say?  Can you see now from that eye?  I hope you do...even if it is just a little blurry and not a lot...that's still better?  Let me know please. I will see my doctor two days from now and am terrified.

Did you also have PPV done?

P.S.  Some of the doctors here say such scarry stuff like a diseased retina?!  

[mhelen]

Well, 9 weeks after my surgery and the gas bubble is finally gone!!!!  After being so large for so long it went from marble size to smaller than a pea in a couple days then over night it went away.  Of course, all is not perfect.  I still have a small floater that comes and goes and there is still black smoke that floats around which I assume is the remnants of the gas bubble.  I also still can't see out of that eye very well and am starting to worry that maybe it won't get better after all.  I don't go back to my doctor until July 9th so I am crossing my fingers that it will be better by then.

Kristin, I don't seem to have any balance issues so I can walk as fast as I used to before my surgery (I refuse to say how fast that actually is LOL) & yes I have to close my right eye to read, use the computer (which is what I do all day at work), drive ...... I have actually gotten so much into the habit of closing it I have to remind myself to open it when I am not doing those things.  Even now with the gas bubble gone the other things I described keep me from being able to keep it open when I'm working or driving.  Lately I have been having pains in my eye and I wonder if it is the eye muscles tiring.  I love to read but since I use my eyes all day I haven't gotten back to reading in the evenings, instead I rest my eye and try to keep it open.  On a more vain note I notice my right eye still doesn't open all the way (it always looks sleepy) and I wonder if it ever will.  Yet, another question for my doc when I go back.  But happily my eye lashes have almost totally grown back YEAH!!!

EDGAR60, I too was told I may have problems with cataracts in the future, though not sure why, sometimes its challanging to keep up with all the information thrown at me so I focus on the more immediate problems. Thanks for the warning about protecting my eye, I wear sunglasses most of the time but have to admit to occassionally tinkering around my garden without them, sometimes its just because I can't be in my yard without doing something but I definitely have enough to worry about so I am being more careful!!!

It has definitely been surprising to me that this was and continues to be such a big deal.  You hear so much about in and out, painless, no fuss, lasik surgery, that I never would have expected that this would be such a major deal.  Oh well, still appreciating that I can see and will get better one day, so I just keep repeating the one day at a time mantra while trying not to think about things like redetachment or detachment of the fellow-eye!!!!

Hope you both continue to do well with your recovery  :-) Mary

[EDGAR620]

went to the Doc and he likes what he sees. Retina is flat and the famous gas bubble down to less than 23%. I can amost go back to all my acitvities except boating. He doesn't like the pounding up and down of a boat.

the pin hole check was not so good, but he explained that is too premature for me to see clearly, however is a  big improvement from day one. The reading and computer has also improved.

There is a good chance in the near future for a cataract operation,, hope that your bubble is doing better. Make sure that you protect your eyes while you are doing your yard work.

[eyebubble]

I'm usually a runner so have had to back slide to walking.  I am happy to hear you have been walking and it is okay.  Are you walking slowly or at a good pace?  I had retina freeze and laser 8 days ago and now the bubble is the only tough part.  It seems to cause a bit of off balance so I am walking slowly.  But I am walking.  It is good to have all this info as I was getting frustrated today but mine seems to be pretty normal from what I'm reading.  Do you have to close your eye with the bubble a lot to see?

Thank you to all. Kristin

[mhelen]

Yes we should form a club.  Every day my husband asks ... so what does the bubble look like today? My eye doctor told me I was over looking the entertainment value of the bubble :-) (mine BTW is totally black so I'm thinking I am stuck with it a bit longer, I don't walk as much as I should so I am going to try and fit in some more walking and get back to my excersising maybe that will help).  When you said looking down at the ants and lizards it made me think about my gardening experiences lately.  I am a big gardener and don't really mind the bugs but last week-end it was a trip gardening because I couldn't tell which bugs were real and which were the gas specks floating around in my eye.  I kept jumping thinking a bug was flying at me LOL.  You are right, I remind myself if I needed to get some random disease at least this is not going to kill me and according to the doctor I will actually be "normal" again.  I wasn't really normal to begin with but I think he means my vision :-).  Good Luck with the doctor.

[EDGAR620]

Thanks for your response. We should have the bubble club!!!. My bubble is down to a very small circle and appears to be very thin. I can almost see fairly clear thru the bubble. My next doctor's appt is next Monday and I'll keep you posted.

If he helps you any, this is my 5th week after the detached retina, not to mention that prior to the surgery I had repair hole in the macula and possibly caused the detachement. Who knows, but it has been 28 days of hell-looking down at the ants and lizards.

I'm strong believer in excersise and I walk 4 to 5 miles per day, can wait to hit the gym. Maybe the excercise causes the famous bubble to be absorb quicky??? The haze is still there, but it looks like it will be dissolve with the bubble.
I'll ask the doctor about the pin holes.

Anyway I'll keep you posted,  think positve and  remember that it is not a terminal disease, It can be fixed.

[mhelen]

Just wanted to comment that I had/have a haziness similar to what you described.   My surgery was April 13th but I had a very large gas bubble (my retina wanted to detach again so I had one gas bubble post surgery and a week later the doctor made it even bigger to try and keep it from re detaching).  It is now 8 weeks after my surgery and I still have the gas bubble (though it continues to get smaller - looks like a rather large marble now but a week ago it was a large cluster  of 23 bubbles) and though the haziness is better it's still there.  Up until a couple weeks ago mine was kinda like bevealed glass ad radiated up from the bubble. Did your eye doctor do the pin hole vision check?  When I read the charts without the pin holes I can't see much but with the pin holes I can see great.  I don't know but my doctor tells me that is a sign that my vision will be great once the bubble is gone.  Hope he is right and I wish you good luck with your recovery.

[EDGAR620]

Thank your respnse Doctor. .

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

It is probably nothing, but I would get checked.

Dr. O.

[EDGAR620]

thanks for your response Dr.O, maybe I didn't explained right. I have a thin haze that appears to be attached to the bubble. I can see the thin haze, whien I look into a light. Is this part of the bubble working out of the body. I have no pain, just finished the fourth week after surgery. Any clues???

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

You need to see your surgeon.  The curtain is not a good sign.  The bubble can block your vision.  This should be blurry inferiorly.

Dr. O.