Retinal Tear Laser Surgery

hm when you say flashes, are they little burts of light in your peripheral now and then or is it a constant flash? i hope your appoitnment went well. i know its 3 months later. i ahvent been on here in a while because Ive been dealing with other health issues 

Sorry! I havent been on here in awhile dealing with other health issues! No one told me this was a possible side effect from the laser. I think because the laser cars the retina, the light receptors in that part of the retina are all messed up and light scatters in that area in a different way because of the scarring. I know it was because of the laser because I didnt have this beore the laser and its in the area I was lasered. I was so worreid as well right after the laser about any little thing I saw. I was so paranoid I was having a detachment, but I went back multiple times and thankfully all was ok: no new tears or detachments. but I agree about the glasses thing. Its a little less noticeable when I wear my galsses because the frame covers some of my peripheral vision. I like to wear sunglasses now while driving so I dont see some of it. It really has gotten better, but like I said above, its still there and I notice it everyday and its still annoying many times moreso when I have to focus my eyes (it doesnt bother me so much when moving around) but it doesnt take up as much of my vision (less static) and its not as bright as it was in the beginning so I am hopeful it will continue to improve to teh point I dont see it anymore. I definilty get the anxiety. I think one of the worst things to go through is losing vision or a defect in vision that cant be fixed and it has cuased me a lot of anxiety and depression too. Im only 25 so its really frustrating dealing with this (ive also been dealing with sinus facial presure that never goes away which also contributes to the depression and anxiety) but I guess i have to be thankful that I can see with that eye even if I have this defect in my peripheral. I hope the person you are seeing to talk about your anxiety is helpful 

Hi. I know you weren't asking me specifcally but I also had the same problem with the vision loss when standing up after my retinal detachment. It has gone away. Not sure if it's a coincidence or not but it did stop around the same time I was put on meds to reduce the pressure in my eye because one of the drops I was on gave me high pressure as a side effect.

Oh thank you so much for responding! My retinal surgeon acted as if I had five heads when I told him. He sent me to neurologist for numerous tests . I was getting 20 to 30 episodes per day! Very draining! One of the tests he administered in his office was injecting a dye into my vein to see the blood flow to my retina. He was baffled because it was slower than a woman my age (51 - otherwise extremely healthy). My ophthalmologist came up with the idea of starting baby aspirin therapy and also put me on combigan drops for the high-pressure in Eye as well. Since I started that the last couple days I've only had a few episodes. I'm so thankful the blackout episodes mostly stopped,but after searching the Internet I did not find anyone else that experience that! So glad yours stopped! I'm happy for you! I wonder if it is the drops or the aspirin or both? Thx again for responding!! This experience has been so difficult overall. I just found this forum and is helpful to hear other people that understand what we've been through .

I'm also on combigan but I'm hoping my doctor will take me off it tomorrow since my pressures have been good. Maybe it is both! When I was a teenager I had the vision loss in both eyes when I stood up and went to see a neurologist who told me it was because I had low blood pressure so that makes sense to me. I didn't mention it to my doctor this time around, he averages about five minutes per patient and I forgot to ask him. By the time I saw him again it had stopped. But I definately didn't have the episodes as often as you. I don't think I was standing up often enough to, so kudos to you for getting up and moving around so much after only two weeks. Ha ha ha.

This definately is the hardest experience I've had so far and I'm certainly glad to have other people's experiences to read too. My doctor told me it was possible that my blind spot might get better over the next year but unlikely. But he also said I'd never see the way I used to and the rest of my vision is nearly exactly the same so I'm trying to stay positive. Good luck on your recovery! Did you get a bubble? If so I hope you're bubble free day comes soon!! :-)

Hi! This whole process started November 29. I was at work and saw a bunch of black squiggly lines like oil paint was thrownin my eye. I went to my doctor and he told me I had a tear and hemorrhaged. He set me up for the laser surgery the next morning. The laser surgery was very painful and nothing like I expected. He sent me home on bed rest and said I could Resume normal activity after a week. But my gut was saying that didn't sound right because I didn't have any change in vision. He told me I could go back to work and driving and weight training exercise etc. Then two weeks later I experience the flashing lights and curtain. I had detached retina surgery with gas bubble and scleral buckle on December 14 I was in the face down position for five days ( omg that was horrendous!!) I am a firm believer in God and the power of prayer and believe that my next appointment I was going to get out of that position and thank God I was allowed to be up right by day 6!! The recovery was not easy because I got a terrible sinus infection, then after that cleared up experienced migraines daily. Again my doctor said that was uncommon and nothing to do with him. About four weeks after surgery is when I started experiencing the transient vision loss. I called his office and they said they had no idea what I was talking about told me to go to ER. I spent eight hours there. They were treating me like I might have a brain issue had a CAT scan bloodwork etc. Thank God it all came back fine but said to follow up with Neurologist. Next day I spent time at the neurologist and she sent me for extensive M RI, MRA . Now that was another horrible experience because the tests were almost 2 hours long!! I can thank the Lord those came back positive. However no answers to the headaches and the transient vision loss. At that time I still had my bubble so I did not see the blind spot yet. My ophthalmologist gave me contacts a few weeks ago and helped diminish headaches. I think probably because the two eyes working together better. A week ago my gas bubble completely disappeared and that's when I noticed the blind spot. I always thought it had to do with the bubble and didn't pay attention to it. But now it is disturbing. I went to a second opinion retina specialist. He thought "could "be the buckle is too tight I thinkn causing the vision change from sitting to standing . I've also been checked for orthostatic blood pressure. That would make sense, I do have low blood pressure but no changes when I change my position. Actually saw a second opinion with the neurologist and confirmed it is something to do with the eye surgery no brain issues thank you God. However brings me back to my symptomsStill have blind spot. However my ophthalmologist came up with the idea that Eye drop and taking aspirin to thin my blood to see if that works and thank you Jesus I feel that has diminished those episodes considerably! So like you said not sure if it is one or the other or a combination. I tried to go back to work full-time but just too exhausted emotionally and physically. Even though it's been months I'm just not myself. I am praying and believing that that blind spot will decrease! Through all of this I realized God can do all things! I drew on his strength because I could never have done any of it on my own strength! I am praying for all the people that have gone through this. No one can understand unless they've been through it. I'm keeping faithful that all of this will end and see more normally again! Lmk how your appointment goes!!

I'm sorry to hear all you have went through. i just had a tear, no detachment, but I did have a black blind spot for a while (about 2 months that was noticeable if I looked up fast or looked a certain way) I'm not sure if my brain just got used to it or it was replaced by the flickering. the flickering has gotten a little better, still there and still annoying but I can only hope for continued improvement. i do feel like my vision in that eye will never be the same though and Im sure I have a blind spot in my far peripheral but I guess i have to be thankful for the vision I do have. I hope you are doing better. I agree. no one can understand dealing with loss of vision/vision defects that cant be corrected unless they've went through it. its horrible

Rose

Hope all is well. Do you feel like your vision in eye with laser is slightly worse than before the laser surgery? I am 3 months out and I feel that my vision is slightly poorer (streaky, blurry). Could be from pupil still being slightly dilated 3 months later

Wow did they tell you why your pupils are still slightly dilated? I was told my one ophthalmologist that my pupils were larger than normal and I don't know why. It might be because I have minor subcapsular cataracts so not as much light gets to the back of my eye due to the clouding of the back of the lens. Not sure. But my vision did get a little worse in that eye but I already wear contacts so I just used one prescription up and that solved the problem. But with the new prescription it's not blurry. Just the annoying area that was lasered. The doctor didn't give you an explanation ?

He just told me that it could take up to a year for pupil to return to normal size with laser surgery. I've gotten used to it, just need my sun glasses more often. It seems that my right eye is weaker up close, thinking due to pupil. I keep testing 20/20 when I wear my contacts and visit retina specialist.

I've never heard of that before from laser but I'm assuming it must be a possible side effect. that's awful. I hope for you it does go down within the year or sooner. Did your doctor say why that happened ?

Hi Rose

Question: So I had three small tears in the right corner of my right eye, there was the start of a partial detachment...the retina specialist performed photocoagulation surgery on March 4.  I am three months out and I am wondering if what I am expereincing is similar to what you have? being that the tears are on the right side of my eye...I get a static, shimmering, wavelike, clear/almost like looking through the bottom of a glass "spot" near the left protion of my right eye/near my nose.  I believe it started out as a black spot and now is clear, shimmering, adn static...it bothers the daylights out of me.  Whenver I come inside from outdoors, I can see the shimmering almost wavelike even worse.  It stincts beause I think I preferered the dark spot that was there intially.  I fell that over the last two weeks the shimmering has slightly moved out past my original "spot".  I was able to call the retina specialist and see him the next day...he said the laser looked find and that I may be volunatarily noticing it more.  Long story short...am I correct in thinking that this is similar to what you are experiencing?

Another issue is that if I look quicly from side to side I can actually see a quick crescent shaped edge that he said is probably the edge of the laser..have you experiecned this?  

The specialist did tell me that the laser shoudl hold up for the very long term and the concern as i age, im 41, will be other spots in my eye and not the laser fence...

hi doug! that is pretty much exactly what i have experienced since getting the laser and it bothers me so much too! I went back multiple times and they said everything looked good. a lot of times I really regret doing the laser since supposedly the tear healed on its own but stil "had the risk for detachment" I agree the blind spot wouldnt have been so bad because I was only seeing it when I would look a certain way, but I always see the flickering when I have to focus my eyes so it is very distracting. I wish they told me about more of the side effects. they acted like it as no big deal when they did it. 

Just had my 2nd laser treatment horseshoe tear in retina. This time in R eye, last time 3 mos ago 2 years L eye.

A couple of people have talked about years "healing." They don't heal. They may scar over which would make them less likely to tear further, but your best protection against retinal detachment is laser surgery. So Rose (and others), I hope you can be assured that you did the best thing.

As for floaters - small ones might resorb/dissolve, but large ones won't necessarily and you won't necessarily get used to them. And I don't think laser surgery has any effect on the floaters whatsoever.

Best of luck to everyone! Now I'm going to go rest my eyes.

Sorry for typos!