Historical Detached Retina
Posted , 3 users are following.
I just wondered if anyone else has been diagnosed with a historical detached retina?
Back in 2011 I was referred by my optician to see an ophthalmologist as I was getting flashes of white light in my left eye. I was told I had Posterior Vitreous Detachment and also a schisis by 2 different specialists, one of them from BUPA and the other from the community clinic run by Moorfields. I still have the letters from them both saying I didn't have a detached retina.
However in the past 6mths or so I had started to notice some flickering in my peripheral vision so went to the optician. She was concerned that I had lost some of my peripheral vision and gave me an urgent referral to the eye unit at my local hospital.
I was seen by 2 different ophthalmologists and asked to come back the next day to see a retina specialist. When I saw him he was concerned that I might have a historical detached retina and referred me to a retina surgeon at Moorfields.
So today I went to see him and was really shocked when he told me that not only did I have a historical detached retina, but the scarring looked so old that it had probably detached way before 2011!
He doesn't think it's a good idea to perform surgery on the eye as he thinks the risks of losing my central vision is too high and he'd rather just keep an eye on things to see if things get worse. I guess he is hoping that as it's not progressed that much over the years that it will stay like that.
However I still can't get my head around the fact that not only was this missed by previous ophthalmologists but I was always under the impression that when a retina detached that you lost the vision from that eye.
Makes no sense at all to me.
1 like, 2 replies
DoDahDee lyn37881
Posted
So sorry. That must have been a shock for you. I'm not an expert so perhaps this might not be relevant for you, but is it possible you had a partial detachment originally? I also have been told that sometimes you don't lose all your vision in the eye - sometimes it is a partial loss.
It seems a bit poor to say the least that yours was missed by several different opthalmologists. This probably doesn't help you, but I've found the level of care, concern, and expertise in various eye specialisms to be completely mixed - and this goes for both private and NHS opthalmologists (including Moorfields).
The good thing (and I know that might not be much comfort to you) is that you will now be monitored (hopefully very carefully).
lyn37881 DoDahDee
Posted
Thanks for your reply DoDahDee, I didn't think to ask if was a partial detachment originally, but that does make more sense to me. Apart from the loss of peripheral vision I can see very well, when I did the eye chart at the hospital I could read right down to the bottom line with both eyes.
I just can't believe how many people I have seen that haven't picked up on anything. When I was referred to my local hospital back in April I saw 2 ophthalmologists and a retina specialist before the referral to the retina surgeon, so that's 4 so called experts that didn't pick up on anything which seems quite a lot of specialists.
The surgeon I saw today seems to be pretty highly qualified, I did look him up online before I went to see him. I don't go back to see him for 6mths, so I hope nothing changes in that time.