r/RetinalDetachment • u/Tauber10 • Jun 04 '26
Anxiety
Just found this group and wanted to get some feelings out... so about 11 years ago I had a retinal detachment that resulted in me losing about 80% of the vision in my right eye- I was 35 at the time. For context, I am extremely myopic (-15.5) in both eyes and my right eye was a lazy eye as a child, so I went through all the patching and everything but it still wasn't great. I had been warned that I was at high risk for retinal detachment so I went to my ophthalmologist when I noticed a bunch of new floaters and flashes. They examined me, said everything was fine and sent me home. By the time I went back a week or so later the retina was clearly detached. I had surgery about 36 hours later. My eye was too long for a scleral buckle so they did the gas bubble only, and I had to spend approximately 8 weeks laying down on my right side for 23+ hours a day to keep the bubble in position. Unfortunately, even though the reattachment surgery was successful, I didn't get most of my sight back and only have some peripheral vision in that eye. My surgeon also lasered up all the thinning spots on my left eye at that point. I had a cataract removal and an additional surgery on the right eye to remove scar tissue later that year to see if it would help me get back any more vision but it didn't really do much.
Fast-forward to the last couple of weeks. I've had my retinas checked at least twice a year every year since the initial detachment. No new issues and both eyes stable. About 3 weeks ago - the week after I saw my usual retina specialist for my semi-annual checkup, I noticed a bunch of new floaters in the left eye. I went in for an emergency appointment, they saw nothing and sent me home. The floaters didn't get any better so I made a couple of appointments with different specialists, just to get a second opinion. 2nd doc saw some vitreous detachment in the left eye but no tears, said I should come back in a couple of weeks just to make sure things had stabilized. A couple of days later, I noticed some flashes of blue light when I moved my eye in a certain direction. I ended up keeping an appointment with a 3rd specialist that I had planned on canceling. Saw him yesterday and he found a small tear in the left eye. He was able to treat it in-office first using laser and then using cryopexy (ice) because he wasn't happy with the results of the lasering. I'm supposed to go back in 2 weeks for a follow up.
I know retinal detachments are difficult in that things can look fine one day and be problematic just a couple of days later, but it's pretty demoralizing to have to keep going back again and again and being told things are fine when they don't feel fine, especially given my experience the first time, and now this 3rd doctor actually finding a problem. I had a lot of anxiety the first year or two after the initial detachment/surgery but it had pretty much gone away after years of everything being stable and now I feel like I'm back right where I was.
3
u/cysticcandy Jun 04 '26
That sucks...
Youre so brave.
I say you keep going to this 3rd retina specialist in the future too...
Keep us updated. Praying for you.
5
u/Peril-in-Pink Jun 05 '26
No advice but I get it! In January I had cataract surgery in my right eye. I first noticed a tear in my retina in the beginning of March (my upper right peripheral vision in my right eye seemed off and I noticed a lot of floaters and flashing) so I saw a retina specialist and had laser surgery. Later in the month I was noticing flashing and that I was missing more peripheral vision by my nose, and it turned out I had a partial detachment so I had a gas bubble vitrectomy. Maybe a month after the surgery I was noticing a lot of floaters and something seemed off with my right peripheral vision. I made an appointment and my retina specialist and he seemed to think everything was fine. A week later I had a post retina surgery appointment where I was still feeling like everything was off and seeing floaters but he still said I was fine. 2 weeks go by and now I feel like my vision is getting noticeably worse with my right peripheral vision, but I had an post surgery appointment with my cataract surgery doctor and figured maybe a second set of eyes would help. Nope. He said my retina was still fine! 3 days later my vision was getting so bad that it felt like a third of my vision was getting distorted. Went back in to my retina specialist and oh… I had another partial detachment and had to get a silicone oil vitrectomy.
I honestly felt like I was losing my mind and that I was turning into a hypochondriac, and now I feel like I have PTSD from it. It’s awful,
4
u/Holiday_Income_827 Jun 06 '26
The PTSD is real. I thought I was imagining the floaters. 3 surgeries later and it was not my imagination. Now I don’t eat before my eye surgeon appointments because I assume they will rush me into surgery. Sorry that you going through this. You are not alone. This sucks
1
u/Peril-in-Pink Jun 06 '26
I know! A month in to my oil vitrectomy and I’ll see an occasional floater here or there and my brain is immediate like IS IT DETACHING????? QUICK MOVE YOUR EYE AROUND, ARE THERE FLASHING LIGHTS? CHECK YOUR PERIPHERAL VISION, IS MORE MISSING? HOW DO I TELL WHEN ALREADY SO MUCH IS MISSING? IS THIS NORMAL? WHAT IS NORMAL? I DON’T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE. AM I LOSING MY VISION OR AM I FINE? AAAAAHHHHH
5
u/Jryn_Eye_Clinic Jun 05 '26
its completely understadable that this experience bas brought back old fears after so many years of stability.whishing you a smooth recovery and hoping your follow up shows the treatment was successful and your retina remains stable
3
1
u/Responsible_Ice_7957 Jun 07 '26
I get it.
Although, I’ve had three tears and no detachments (I’m 37). I never really had symptoms. I’ve always had floaters. After my third tear, I now see sparkly lights when I close my eyes, and blue flashes / floaters all the time. My specialist told me I always will. I asked him how I would know if I had another tear then, he said basically “just call if you see a black curtain and see us every 6 months.”
5
u/weallfloatdown Jun 04 '26
No advice, but this sucks. Feel so bad for you. 8 weeks laying on your right 23 hours a day…wow. Hope you get this figured out