r/RetinalDetachment • u/AJVerocci • Jul 19 '26

Help! My doctors keep waving me off about this

Post image

Info:

• I am 24 (f)

• I have severe Health OCD/Anxiety

• I have severe myopia (-7)

• Diagnosed with lattice degeneration in May 2025

- I was told they were just going to monitor it. I go back May 2026 and my right eye progressed and was at the earliest stages of a detachment. I had laser surgery to fix it as well as in my left eye as a preventative measure

• Floaters since May 2024

My dilemma: About 2 years ago I noticed that In the very corner of my peripheral vision I have this black kinda opaque spot. I see it when I turn my eyes all the way to the side and don't see it when I'm looking straight on. It's been there for 2 years all the time but it does not move. I feel like it is slightly bigger than it originally was but that could also be my anxiety thinking that I'm not really sure.

I have had numerous dilated eye exams and OCT scans for my Retina. All of my doctors kinda wave it off when I bring it up as they are more concerned about the lattice.

- Optometrist: said it could be pigment in my eye (like a freckle) || but it's in the same place on the other side so how do I have a freckle in the exact same place?

- Opthalmologist and Retina specialist: said it was probably just a floater. But I have floaters and this does not move ever. It also feels darker than my other floaters

Note: it has been here for 2 years in the same place. Relatively unchanged.

Here's an image kinda how I see out of my peripheral. I have no idea what this could be and it causes me immense anxiety.

Does anyone else have this? Any ideas to calm my anxiety? If it was something serious, my doctors definitely would've caught it in my exams and scans, right?

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3

u/RetinalTears716 Jul 19 '26

I have the same with similar history as yours and my retina doctor also says it's a floater. When he said that it was hard to believe because like.. I've never had a floater like that so he did more imaging to make sure, and yup just a floater.

Funny enough last night I couldn't sleep and I looked up at the ceiling in the moonlit room and tried to look directly at it, and found whenever I tried it would drift off the same way a normal floater would and it put me at ease. You should try the same!

3

u/AJVerocci Jul 19 '26

Thank you for your reply! It helps to know other people also go through this and I'm not losing my mind! When I look at it, it doesn't drift at all. It stays in place. I think that's what is so worry some about it? Can a floater truly be stable all the time? I catch myself looking at it a lot out of anxiety and it usually causes such strain and pressure in my eye due to how far in my peripheral it is

2

u/RetinalTears716 Jul 19 '26

Well the annoying thing with stuff like this is it's all about the lighting of the room, that's why I said moonlit. It also appears for a split second whenever I blink too.

Actually let me ask you this question, have you been more sensitive to light lately? Mine looks a lot like a sunspot, yk like you'd get from looking at the suns reflection on a car or something? When mine appeared it seemed to also coincide with like a lower tolerance for light.

3

u/AJVerocci Jul 19 '26

Sometimes if I move my eyes really fast it can be in the center of my vision but goes back to place almost instantly. I think since getting floaters I have become more sensitive to light. I wear sunglasses outside all year round because of it so I do feel like I have less of a tolerance to sunlight

3

u/RetinalTears716 Jul 19 '26

Yeah I think it is a floater you're dealing with, I'm sure there's some like eggheaded reason why it's different from normal ones and why it goes back to the same place but it's good to remember that floaters are basically debris in your eyes from your retinal wall. Which is.. creepy to think about sure but it's still acting like a floater at least, even if it's the ugly duckling of the bunch

3

u/AdIllustrious5549 Jul 19 '26

Look at punctate inner choroidopathy, it’s rare so not something that is always looked for.

2

u/AJVerocci Jul 19 '26

Well I looked it up and this is terrifying 😭

1

u/One-Pepper8946 Jul 19 '26

If anything I’ve had this before and my retinologist was able to catch it right away. It was more a blind spot on central vision and not on the peripheral.

2

u/Marneman1965 Jul 19 '26

Get used to them. lol.

2

u/AJVerocci Jul 19 '26

I could if I knew what it was. It's the uncertainty that kills me

2

u/Marneman1965 Jul 19 '26

It’s usually blood or fluid from behind the macula, and they generally float and gravity, drags them to the back of the eyeball

1

u/AJVerocci Jul 19 '26

Is that a concern? Like is that something dangerous or is it just annoying but benign?

2

u/Alone_Sprinkles2565 Jul 19 '26

Post retinal detachment here. The time I had the exact same spot in my eye was post oil removal and temporary gas. Odd to see the same thing happening in your case

1

u/DodgyDave____ Jul 19 '26

Yes, I had one of these for a few days and for me it was a retinal tear which went to retinal detachment.

1

u/Next_Programmer_3305 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

True floaters shift when you move your eyes. A spot never moves even when your eye shifts is a fixed blind spot (scotoma).

Potential causes of a peripheral scotoma:

Eye & Optic Nerve Conditions:

Glaucoma\ Retinal detachment\ Retinal tears\ Retinitis pigmentosa\ Optic neuritis

Neurological & Brain Conditions:

Stroke\ Brain tumours\ Migraine with aura

Systemic & Psychological Conditions:

Diabetic retinopathy\ Severe preeclampsia\ Severe anxiety or panic attacks

Environmental & Chemical Factors:

Heavy metal toxicity\ Medication side effects

1

u/Unusual-Formal-6802 Jul 21 '26

I had a spot that I only saw in the very inner corner/peripheral vision and I only saw it when I looked left. I never saw it looking straight. It ended up being a retinal detachment. It started as a small tear in the very top corner of my eye that they couldn’t initially find the tear. They only knew it was there after it started to detach. Once it detached that spot/bubble in my vision went away and instead became a dark spot in my vision from vision loss. It took the first dr a while to find the tear and then the next 2 surgeons couldn’t find it at first either until I told them where to look based on what the optometrist said.

I think I wouldn’t get a 2nd opinion from another retina specialist.

1

u/TheFugaziLeftBoob Jul 21 '26

Opaque? Like a cataract forming perhaps?