oil bubbles after retinal surgery

[elizabeth3363]

I had a retinal tear, corrected with oil insertion.  I was supposed to have the oil out in April, but felt the eye was not ready as I was still having flickers of light when I overexerted or became emotionally strained.  Now, 2 months later, my eye surgeon says I have an oil bubble that NEEDS to come out this summer, or it will do corneal damage.
1.  How did this bubble come to be and is there anything I can do to get rid of it or prevent further ones?
2.  Should I get ALL the oil out instead of him doing this oil bubble and then going back in another time to take out the remaining oil?
3.  What is the recovery time to FULL ACTIVITIES after oil bubble removal?

thanks!

[elizabeth3363]

It is not causing damage to the cornea right now - he said it WOULD if not removed this summer.

He was going to remove ALL the oil in April - so is there a definite risk to doing it ALL now along with removing the oil bubble?  He has always quoted a risk of retinal detachment with each surgery - 1:1,000 of blindness and 5% chance of retinal detachment.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

The oil was put in at the time of surgery.  It usually needs to be removed.

I believe there must be a small oil bubble next to cornea.  This is causing damage to the cornea.  This can be removed in the office if it is small.

You need to discuss partial removal vs. complete removal with your surgeon.  He may feel there is a potential for the retinal to redetach if completely removed.

Dr. O.