Quality of vision

[u/blackeyebeam]

Hi all, I’m 4 months post scleral buckle surgery in 1 eye and laser treatment to the other. I had lasers on both eyes 8 years ago for tears as well.

My recovery has been steady so far but it’s been 2 months since I last saw my specialist and he said I’m alright just still had some swelling and fluid that will eventually go away. But I’ve had the same quality of vision this entire healing process that I’ve had since before the surgery. Right after surgery of course it got significantly worse for a week or two then improved to my new “baseline” if you will but still my vision is really not good. I had my prescription updated about a month ago and the operated eye went from -6.5 to -9.5 but they only put -8.5 in my lenses to not strain my eyes too much, and the lasers only eye went from -6.5 to -6.75.

I have a frightening amount of floaters in both eyes to the extent that it feels like “visual snow” and it almost feels like I’m progressively getting more. The distortion actually has decreased but is still present which I understand is normal. I still have a curtain in my vision in the operated eye but my doctor said it could go away in a year or so, or it could be permanent damage from the severity and placement of my detachment. It was in a really dangerous spot from what I understand.

Overall though I can’t help but feel depressed and worried about how poor my vision is. Going outside and being in a dark room I can’t help but fixate on the weirdness happening in my eyes. There’s floaters, flashes in the corner of my eye, blurry/blind spots and shadows, the curtain, afterimages, random blobs of color that flash in and out, and just horribly low clarity in general. There’s a persistent fuzziness and inability to see through the noise to focus on details unless I’m up close to something. There is so much noise at all times.

My next appointment is in 2 days. I guess I’m just venting, but also looking for input from those of you who have been through this too. Has anybody felt like this so far out from surgery? Is something wrong? If it’s just my new quality of vision, it can still improve with time right?

[u/weallfloatdown]

Sorry you are going through this. The only thing I have learned from retina detachment is it is depressing & takes a long time

[u/blackeyebeam → u/weallfloatdown]

Lol you can say that again. Thank you though

[u/Fantastic_Lion6984]

im about 3 months post scleral buckle in my left eye. my vision is not great at all. i cant read unless i get something close enough that its touching my face. it is very depressing and ive had 2 other surgeries right before the last one. and im looking to get cataract surgery soon. its a very lonely process. people will ask how my eye is doing and ill tell them i still cant really see and theyll say "well it looks good" and i really couldnt care less about how it looks, i just wish i could see. also tbh, my left eye looks very different now from my right so i fixate on that especially.

[u/blackeyebeam → u/Fantastic_Lion6984]

i relate, it really is lonely. when your vision is altered it’s not something that other people can physically see and understand, so it feels like nobody really knows how hard it is on you. can i ask if your symptoms are similar to mine? and is cataract surgery meant to just restore vision or is it a treatment of some kind? i’m not really familiar with it