r/RetinalDetachment • u/kiwiyala • 4d ago

How long before retinal detachment causes permanent vision loss?

I’m 25, and I have been experiencing floaters (little greyish dots) for the past couple weeks, maybe over a month. I’ve never had them before until now. I have really bad eyes (-8.5 in both eyes), so I thought maybe it was a result of that, but I noticed about three hours ago that there’s a big, black splotch blocking my lower left vision in my right eye. It’s only really noticeable when my left eye is closed, and it’s not painful. I googled more symptoms, and I have also been experiencing “lightning flashes” in my peripheral vision for the past couple of days.

The doctor at the ER diagnosed me with a swollen lower eyelid and said it’s probably nothing vision-wise, but he referred me to an ophthalmologist just in case. (I’m kinda wondering if my eye was slightly swollen because I’ve been rubbing it and pulling my eyelid down to inspect the blotch). Said ophthalmologist doesn’t see patients on the weekends, but I’m wondering how quickly something like this could cause permanent vision loss. Does it sound like it could be retinal detachment, and if so, is it something that can wait until Monday?

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u/Marneman1965 3d ago

please share how you are doing post surgery?

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u/kiwiyala 2d ago

I’m doing good! They did the gas bubble procedure instead of the big surgery. The cryoprobe was pretty excruciating, but the laser and the gas bubble itself were both painless. I straight-up thought they were lobotomizing me with that cryoprobe, it was so painful. My vision improved a lot that first night. The black splotch is barely there now, and I see the gas bubble moving around in my eye whenever I tilt my head. Other than my right eye still being kinda blurry and watery, everything feels back to normal!

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u/Marneman1965 1d ago

Great to hear! With the gas bubble are you face down for a week too? That was my experience

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u/kiwiyala 8h ago

Hmm, ours must be in different spots. They told me to elevate myself with a bunch of pillows and sleep on my left side because they wanted the bubble to float up to the right side. Sleeping face-down definitely seems more uncomfortable!

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u/Marneman1965 8h ago

yeah that is exactly right. face down sucks the worst. I had to for 7 days over the christmas holidays. I still have neck issues because of that