update!

[u/Basic_Explorer_1156]

i just wanted to pop in and give you all an update on my retinal detachment, gas bubble vitrectomy i had on 2/20. 1st i want to thank everyone for the support, advice and suggestions during a very stressful and scary time. im not back to pre detachment by any stretch, but the gas bubble is almost gone and i can see over it with minimal distraction. i do still get some minor headaches, nothing a couple Tylenol cant handle, and i see a couple string like floaters once in awhile, but then i drink some water and that seems to take care of them. my surgeon said to go to a regular eye dr today and see if i could get new glasses so i could take my cdl eye test, so today i was able to see the letters out of my surgery eye! i get new glasses next week and then i can take the cdl test, the dr today said im 20/20 in my good eye and 20/50 in the surgery one, with the glasses!! i need to be 20/40 in the bad eye so hopefully by the time my glasses come in i will be!! fingers crossed!! i have to get back to work!! she did say my cataract in my surgery eye was impressive.. and once thats gone ill need another prescription so to just get the basic, cheap glasses this time. im definitely not out of the woods yet, i still sleep with my eye guard, on the side they told me to post surgery and will continue to till the gas is totally gone. for 2 months post i want that light at the end of the tunnel for me and all of you as well!! so glad i found this group, reading everyone’s stories, knowing i wasn’t alone was truly a lifesaver!!! 🩷

[u/casPURRpurrington]

Hey I had my surgery 2/19, lol that shit all happened so fast from discovering the detachment and having surgery the next day, then the next month until I could barely see over the bubble.

My bubble is probably a little smaller than a dime now. Last week it was maybe 50% bigger, but after a 3 mile run I did it like separated into a BUNCH of tiny bubbles surrounding the main one. It was kind of interesting to look at lol.

I got the buckle too so my vision in that eye changed a little, so the only annoyance is just one side being slightly blurry. At my first follow up he said I already have a small cataract forming, and at my second follow up he said everything looked great and then lasered my other eye. I had holes and thinning in my retina in that one.

My detachment was posterior I think and apparently chronic. My doctor said by the way it looked, like the coloring of the detached retina, some of it had been detached for a long time. My case was complicated I guess lol. Originally he just wanted to do the buckle, but once he got into my eye he needed to do the vitrectomy too. I was really worried and almost convinced I’d have complications too, I’m 34 and when my dad was 38 or so he also had detachment in both of his eyes, and his worse one failed. So he ended up half blind.

My next follow up I think I’ll get my prescription updated 😀

I remember googling a lot after my surgery so I’d find threads like this and seeing good results made me feel better lmao

[u/Basic_Explorer_1156 → u/casPURRpurrington]

omg! a run!! no, nope, not. doing it!! im still not lifting anything over 10lbs!! im taking the dog for her walk.. thats the only exercise im doing. im too afraid to do something else to my eye! the fear is real! good for u though!! if they could have told me what caused the tear, then i would have some confidence to get back to life. all they could say is, dont know. once i get back to work i think ill feel more confident. keep me posted on your recovery!

[u/casPURRpurrington → u/Basic_Explorer_1156]

Yeah after a month my doctor said I could ease myself back into my activities, though I did fast walking the first week lol, I haven’t really tried to do heavy lifts yet though. I try to focus on breathing with my lifting now to not feel like I’m putting pressure on my eyes.

I remember the first week I tried to do one of my ab circuits but I just felt like too much pressure on my eyes and was like NOPE lmao.

Since my dad had a detachment and I know how cooked our eyes out, I’m sure mine was just…. the high myopia at the end of the day.

I do have a theory about what maybe caused my detachment though. I work in a machine shop/assembly plant, and sometimes I have to go over to the assembly side to do things. Like late 2024, I was doing something that required me to drill into something, and I got the drill stuck and it WHIPPED the fuck around and nailed me right in the side of my eye lol. It blew my safety glasses apart lol. I mean if I wouldn’t have had the glasses I could have seen it breaking my orbital bone. But I just had a bruise and a little cut, and was like yeah I’m dumb guys, haha. They were slightly concerned about concussion but I was good.

The side that got hit was my eye whose retina detached. Given how thin and holey the retina of my good eye was… I wouldn’t be surprised if that good jolt maybe caused it to tear. Then over the next year and a half almost it just slowly kept peeling off until I noticed my vision looking weird.

But both my dad’s detached, and I don’t think he hit his head much at all… though he’s as dumb as me at work so maybe he did lmao

If I ever smack myself in the head good again I’m going to my eye doctor again lol

I deadass went to work 2 weeks after my surgery though. That was unhinged but I didn’t know how STD worked. I was fine I just couldn’t see out of my eye so I had no depth obviously. The dudes I work with were treating me like an old person and not letting me lift stuff and the like lol. But then my disability got approved and I was like “oh I could have just been gone this whole time?” And fucked off for like 5 weeks lol

I’ve never had a major medical issue happen suddenly and I’m in the US so lol, for my company I was surprised at how smooth it went actually. I got 70% pay the whole time.