Aesthetic appaearance after scleral buckle surgery
Posted , 29 users are following.
Hi all
I'm new here and had scleral buckle surgery for a retinal detachment 5 weeks ago now. I'm 20 and had a long standing retinal detachment in my eye for 2 years before it required surgery as it was getting worse. The operation was a success which I was relieved to hear and vision wise I am just suffering from a bit of double vision which I have been told is normal and should ease off over time.
However my main problem is with the appearance of the eye following this procedure. I went back to the hospital today as the bottom outer corner of my eye, where the buckle was fitted, has turned into a massive lump that is a greeny colour in appearance. Surrounding it is still very red and my eye is still not fully open. The doctor reassured me that this was normal, saying that the redness was due to a haematoma which would go down in time. This was a relief as I thought I had an infection. However the huge lump which is causing my bottom eyelid to bulge out and not be open properly, I was told, would remain that way. He said that the buckle was still visible but would become less visible as the white grows around it..however he said the lump would stay!
This has truly upset me as my eye is a completely different shape from the other and will remain like that as long as the lump is there. The doctor I saw was not a retinal specialist however he did ring a colleague who confirmed that this was not concerning. I am awaiting my 8 week check up where I will ask how much I can expect the lump to go down. But in the mean time im freaking out that my eye will never look normal again and am on here looking for others who can give me their own experiences of how their eye looked once it was fully healed. I would really appreciate this so I can get peace of mind/prepare for the permanent changes to my eye.
Thanks in advance
Abi 
1 like, 58 replies
abs3147
Posted
any questions please ask, i know i had loads when I was recovering!
patric94828 abs3147
Posted
hi thanks for the reply, yeah I have to let the eye heal awhile, but the main concern is I always feel the buckle, and my colored part of the eye , the iris, looks smaller than my other eye I assume fro. the buckle squeezing my eye, did your s ever look like that or return to normal, it's not very noticeable but I'm self conscious about it
janice58901 abs3147
Posted
hello all I've had 3 scleral buckle surgeries. Each time they changed the plombe/ cushion. not sure what it's called in English. my last surgery has been 3 weeks ago. Since then my vision is completely messed up. I have both
k horizontal and vertical double vision. My sight is crooked, like when I look at a painting there left side is 1cm lower than the right. I have visual deformation in my upper sight where lines look wonky. My surgeon claims it'll get better and If not I have to get the plombe removed. I can literally feel the buckle/plombe limiting my eye and pressing on it. I've never had this before and I've had 4 surgeries in total. This is supposed to be my good eye (my other eye is largely blind) and now my vision has gone to hell. Does it ever really get better ? anyone recovered from the double vision abs the crooked vision and the visual disturbances?
I'm really scared this will never go away and I'll never be able to see normally again
janice58901
Posted
and I'm just 31.. still so young and long to go 😦
rachel45336 janice58901
Posted
YES! it does get better! it took months for my double vision to go away and it still appears to be double, however, its because my eye with the buckle is extremely near-sighted now so its actually a glare. i have pressure points still where some of my vision will get blocked out by these dark circles especially when i tilt my head a certain way but my surgeon told me thats normal. i had the wonky line in my left peripheral but that went away after a few months. its been 7 months since my surgery and it still hurts sometimes and its slightly red still but overall im completely fine. also my surgeon said that when his patients get surgery on their dominant eye, recovery can be a lot longer. but i learned the recovery for this surgery is long and trust your surgeon!! be honest in telling them what you see and let them be the judge. 😃 do not worry!! i did and it was all for nothing! i wish you the best!
rachel45336
Posted
im also 23 so i totally understand!!
absjbs janice58901
Posted
I'm really sorry to hear that you've had three surgeries that must be so difficult. Everyone is different so it's really hard to say, but I did had double vision for 6 months or maybe more, and even now when I'm tired in the morning I have it. I hope things start to improve for you, I would definitely discuss your concerns with your doctor again
janice58901 absjbs
Posted
thank you for your reply. the first 2 surgeries were a walk in the park compared to my third. it's been 3 months and I still have severe double vision when looking to the right or up. it's so bad I can't work right now. still have a crooked line too and my retina isn't completely flat. they told me they can't solve my double vision with prisms because it's too severe. they told me the indentation of the buckle and plombe are causing my problems (double vision that's slightly slanted and the crooked line at the same spot). and they don't know if it'll get better without another surgery. Well discuss this in February. They told me my eye is still healing so it's too early. My sclera tends to start bleeding when I look to the right too. Looks very icky.
What was causing your double vision? was it the buckle? how did you fix it?
janice58901 abs3147
Posted
thank you Rachel I'm happy it went well for you. that gives some hope for the future. at times I get so upset and hopeless because it's so hard this time around and I still have so much pain due to the buckle and then there horrible vision. One of my stitches also hasn't dissolved yet and sticks though my sclera. it's terrible.
Was your double vision also caused by a muscle that couldn't move properly for a while? or because of the swelling?
rachel45336 janice58901
Posted
i believe mine was more from the swelling, which didnt go down for a few months actually. i also had the same issue with one of my stitches. it was right in the far corner too so when i moved my eye around it actually hurt and started irritating my eyelid. i was convinced the stitch had popped. that didnt fully dissolve until week 6 i think. the double vision can also take up to 3 months from my experience. and i still see double without my glasses. ive gotten used to it but i try to wear my glasses as much as possible so i dont get headaches. if you have any light sensitivity, that will also decrease over time. i totally understand what youre going through. my surgeon constantly reminds me that this is a very intensive surgery and puts a lot of strain on your eye which is a very sensitive organ. so pain and anything related to dizziness, headaches, nausea, etc. are very likely. but i pray that everything gets better for you!!
janice58901 rachel45336
Posted
Was the wonky line wavy for you? I'm starting to see wavy lines in n.y upper right vision, upper vision and all the way in n.y left it's wieird too. I'm scared there's something wrong with my retina or my macula. I wish I'd never got those past 2 surgeries it feels like my eye is ruined and I didn't even have problems in April only flashes.. but things were stable for 4 years. doc said some fluid still didn't disappear so needed surgery but that didn't work. new surgerey and now my vision is so messed up. I'm scared this won't go away. I tried to go to the store yesterday but it drove me insane because my. upper vision and up-right and right vision is double and at times wavy. and still crooked. I just wish there was some positive progression..
mishka09175 abs3147
Posted
hi everyone! thank thank you so much for your stories. I had a buckle four weeks ago. The doctor said it did not work and I now in need a vitrectomy . i was wondering If anyone else had this experience how long you waited before getting a second surgery? And if you developed cataracts?? He doesn’t seem in a rush to do my second surgery.
a part of me wants to push to get the surgery right away so I can start healing again but I’m also very scared to lose the vision I have. I am also finally not in pain and can leave the house on my own . also right now my eye is only 60% open. I found this forum when searching to see if my I would return to normal sized or it will always be like this 😦 It’s also hard to see out of the corner of my eye straight lines become wonky - It’s hard to describe to the doctor and he doesn’t seem to care he said I was very sensitive but the straight lines in my bathroom shower look like spiderwebs out of the corner of my eye does anyone else experienced this? Did it go away? thank you so much!!!
harriet93327 abs3147
Posted
Hi there - Im a 28 year old who recently had their scleral buckle removed - this is a long and winding tale as many of these are - what a saga!
but my original retinal detachment surgery was over 2 years ago, the retinal tear was diagnosed with no symptoms and before surgery I had perfect 20/20 vision, doctors assured me that recovery prognosis was good based off this and I felt encouraged, however after surgery I experienced a severe decline in my vision with terrible short sightedness, can only see blurry colours - glasses give me double vision because of the difference in distance, and contact lense doesnt fit properly over lump of scar tissue - i found this very distressing because one blurry eye paired with one good eye disorienting and clumsy - i also experienced discomfort in that eye with some physical movement, exercise or lifting heavy objects to cause pressure in that eye, as well as often experiencing headaches and migraines.
doctors kept telling me to wait and see if it would improve but two years later nothing, so feeling very frustrated I went to a specialist outside of our public health care system for a second opinion who was far more understanding!
we decided to remove the scleral buckle from first surgery, with some extra laser to reinforce original procedure. this was super easy, relatively non invasive day surgery. a day after the surgery i could remove the patch and already felt much more comfortable in that eye socket - less restricted and more mobile. headaches have been less frequent. however - i experienced an allergic reaction to the anti inflammatory eye drops that i had been self administering for two weeks, i didn't realise they aren't meant to dilate your pupils and was informed of this when i went in for my check up two weeks later - and now two weeks later than that (one month on from surgery) - my pupil in that eye is still massive?! im worried that i might have done permanent damage being exposed to sunlight etc like that for so long, and it also means that i can't actually tell whether quality of vision has improved, but will phone doctor next week to get update!
long story short, i recommend always getting a second opinion!
and if you are young and otherwise healthy, then i think the option of scleral buckle REMOVAL is worth exploring!
carenap harriet93327
Posted
im sorry you had such a rough experience with your buckle. I hope you're healing well from your removal. has your pupil size returned to size now?
Kk07041982 carenap
Posted
Great question. I was wondering the exact same thing.
Kk07041982 harriet93327
Posted
Hi there! I went to my retinal specialist 2 days ago. My doc had his assistant to input another round of dilating drops to open my pupil more and this right pupil two days later is still dilated. I'm going back to his office tomorrow.
Just wondering if this could be permanent. Did your pupil go back to normal?
carenap Kk07041982
Posted
it's likely not permanent all those drops just seemed to take way longer then usually to leave your system when using them so frequently during healing.
oh and if your interested in a little more active forums to ask questions and get responses some from actual opthamologist you should try reddit.