retina detachment

[alex_gu]

I had a vitrectomy and gas bubble surgery for retina detachment 10 days ago - on July 16th, 2010
I first noticed  floaters in my left eye on Monday, July 12th. They were like big black dots flying on the periphery of my vision. They could be easily confused with flyes or carpenter ants. On Wendsday at 3 pm I saw my optometrist who told me that my retina has been detached and referred me to the hospital. My surgery was scheduled on Friday at 11am. My vision acuity that was examined by the optometrist was good.  It was 20/20 for both eyes in glasses. I have   ~ -6D - -7D vision in both eyes since I was 20 years old. Now i am 54.
Early Friday morning ( around 8am) when I was riding to the hospital my vision started to deteriorate rapidly. Vertical lines started to be zigzaglike, everything was becoming blurry and dark. The surgery was sucsessful and on the check up appointment on 23rd of July the doctor told me that the retina was flat. It was confirmed by an ultrosound examination. Starting yesterday July 25th I was able to see a little bit by my left eye but the picture is very blurry and objects are distorted, both horizontal and vertical lines are very wavy.I understand that it takes up  form 3 months to 1 year for vision to recover. At the postop check up the doctor told me that cataract has already started to develop on my left eye that can contribute to bluriness.
From reading the internet I concluded that degree of recovery depends very much on the fact if the macula was off or on. The vision acuity is very important for my job - IT consultant - because it requires to read and write a lot of small printed texts on computer screen. My left eye was better for working with computer texts, the right eye has an astigmatism and floaters that make it difficult to work with small prints especially after long hours which is usually the case.
Is it possible to say if macula was off or on in my case? It was apparantly "on" on the Wensday examination. My
surgent told me that he could not say it with certanty. Is significant wavyness indicates that the macula was off? Can any tests be done to find out if macula was off or on? For example OCT examination.  Will wavyness go away later? What vision acuity can I expect after the recovery period ( 3months- 1year)? Thank you very much in advance.

[alex_gu]

Dr O,
Thank you very much for your response. After reading archives on the subject of vision distortion after RD surgery I believe that my symptoms are not just waving lines but more precisly can be described as looking through a bottle of water and the picture is not static, the curves are changing even when I look  at an object steadily. Each rectangular becomes more narrow and vertical lines look like  changing wavy curves. This is especially noticable when i look at the computer screen filled with rectangulars. I can read the text but lines are very wavy - for one line 5-6 waves.The letters are tilted either to the left or right.
I remind that I had the vitrectomy with a gas bubble surgery 12 days ago and 2 days before surgery my vision  was good - no waving lines whatsoever.
My questions are:
1 Can edema or epiretinal membrane developed in a such short period of time - 12 days after surgery?
If it is neither edema nor epiretinal membrane then:
2. Are these distortion symptoms normal for RD surgery recovery or not and will they go away later or not ?

3. Could it be a sign that macula was involved in detachment before the surgery?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Every case is different.  Please discuss with your surgeon.  Wavyness means there is a problem with the macula such as edema or epiretinal membrane.  The macula was attached if you central vision was normal prior to the surgery unless you had other eye problems.  You surgeon would know what your preop vision was.

Dr. O.