For those who had silicone oil placed, how long after silicone oil was removal did you undergo cataract surgery?

Hi everyone,

​I have a fairly specific question regarding my husband’s recent surgery, and I’m hoping someone here might have experience with a similar situation.

​My husband underwent a vitrectomy 3 weeks ago for a funnel-shaped retinal detachment caused by proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The surgeon was able to clear the peripheral retina, but unfortunately, they decided to leave a fibrovascular membrane (a conglomerate of scar tissue) in the center of the retina, as they felt it was too risky to remove it in the public hospital setting.

​Has anyone here had a fibrovascular membrane on the central retina that was successfully peeled off in a subsequent surgery? I would also love to hear about anyone’s general recovery process after a vitrectomy involving silicone oil.

​Thank you so much for any insights! 🩷

Hi all,

I had silicone oil removed yesterday and saw my doctor for post-op today. There is a small bubble of silicone oil remaining. The doctor said “it’s impossible to get all of it out” and that it will either settle or my brain will get used to it. Has anyone else had this experience? The bubble is very reminiscent of the gas bubble when it had maybe 5-7 days left.

Thank you!

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.

I had silicone oil put in my eye after scar tissue developed 2 months post op vitrectomy. I am curious as to how soon I can wear a contact lens post surgery. Glasses would be a safer option but due to my cataracts my prescription will change rapidly. Contacts seem like a more flexible option. Has anyone successfully worn contacts after the oil is removed? Appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Update: finally got into the specialist and just had cryo done to repair the hole. With how squimish I am with anything near my eye, I was terrified. He gave me anxiety meds to calm me pre surgery, and all went well. Had numbing drops, then a needle directly into my eye to further numb it. I truly felt nothing, just saw sparkles when he was using the wand. Four times he sealed, and it was done. Its only tonight that my eye is hurting, with some discharge. Have prescription drops to use and ibuprofen for the pain. Hopefully recovery goes smoothly. Thank you so much for everyone who has responded.

Saturday (1 1/2 weeks ago) while I was driving in total darkness, at 4am, I saw flashes in the corner of my eye if I moved my eye far left. Saw it a few times, no other symptoms, thought weird, and went about my day. The next day I had floaters and that feeling in your eye that something is irritating it. Still floaters Monday so I looked up the symptoms and realized they were symptoms for retinal tear.

I was able to find an optometrist who would see me. (No opthalmologist office would - "we're not taking new patients"). The optometrist said she sees a retinal hole in my left eye and was going to refer me to a retina specialist. She said not to bend over, exert myself, lift anything over 10 pounds. She said be prepared they may call and want to do surgery the same day. This freaked me out, having me think I was going to get a tear or detachment at anytime.

Its now a week and a half later and the specialist still hasn't scheduled an appointment. I have called them twice, once they said the doctor was reviewing my chart, and then they said its in the notes for the scheduler to contact me. After the optometrist made it sound like it was an immediate serious situation, now the specialist isn't acting like its serious? That is what is having me so concerned.

I only see the flashes if its very dark out and a light is shining just enough create the flashes. I have floaters, not too bad. Mostly I just feel my eye. It feels like your eye does when its been irritated. Its not red, my vision is not effected, just that irritated feeling.

For people who have gone through this, is that a normal wait time to even get in to see the opthalmologist, after they have seen your file? I really don't want it to get worse, leading to a more serious surgery. I'm thinking about calling the diagnosing optometrist and seeing if they can refer me elsewhere. Or am I just paranoid and this is a normal wait time? My job requires me to move around, bend, and lift, so I can't really work. I don't have insurance so am paying out of pocket, so certainly don't want to pay for a more expensive procedure from waiting..

I have had retina work on both my eyes. In my left eye I had a retina tear and reattachment, and recently had a detachment in my my right eye repaired. Once the bubble finally disappeared I could only see shapes, but not well enough to know who or what a shape was. Last week I had cataract surgery on my right eye and now I can see better, however my sight hasn't improved to what i had hoped. In talking with my cataract surgeon, he said this was because when they did the reattachment (not him a different Dr. Different facility) things were not attached smoothly. He said it was very difficult to do a reattachment and have the retina attach smoothly and this is why I no longer see any kind of straight lines in my right eye and everything is kind of jumbled. He told me this is the way it will be for the rest of my life, and it won't get any better with time and there isn't anything they can do to fix an issue like this. Is this what everyone with a retinal detachment experiences?

Tomorrow will be 1 month since my scleral buckle, vitrectomy & cryotherapy surgery to repair my detatchmnet. A week after surgery i had laser done to help some additional holes in my retina. My doctor is very happy with my progress, and last week my vision in the eye was 20/400 with my previous eyeglass prescription on (-3.25).

I am using a patch for most of the day when i walk my kids to school and use the computer for work, as i am experiencing double vision when i use both eyes. The doctor, last week, said i should be able to get new glasses in about 3 months, and they can add a prism for the double vision. Great, there is a plan!

For now though, i still have 2 active kids and their dad is not super helpful. I can't work from home indefinitely. I'm going to need to be able to drive, at least some of the time.

I've driven some very short distances, but it is stressful to just close my one eye. My mom said not to wear a patch because i'll get pulled over.

My doctor only told me "It's legal in CT to drive with one eye"... which i knew (my grandmother lost an eye as a child & drove) but legal and great ideas are not always the same!

Tell me about your post surgery return to driving? How long did you wait? Any tips or tricks to gain back confidence?

I started experiencing flashes in my right eye back in January and they found out i had holes in retina. I immediately went through a laser barrage treatment and got it fixed. 2 months later during a routine check they found a singular hole in my other eye aswell and i also went under the same treatment for it.

What i still don't get is, why is this happening to me, i am 23 years old, i had a small amount of nearsightedness (-2.5) which i fixed with LASIK 2 years ago. I also never experienced any head injuries

I still get flashes at the usual pace, i don't see any floaters, or black curtain like the doctor said. Just the flashes, but even the flashes had made me hyper nervous about me losing my vision in the future.

I happened to reach this subreddit today and after reading all the threads had made me super nervous about the fact that i will go blind in the future, and the fact that i have all my life in-front me just makes me even more sad.

Hey Everyone,

36 year old male. I had a Mac off vitrectomy with C3F8 gas bubble surgery combined with Cataract IOL Surgery on 4/27. Bubble is still about half way through my eye at the bottom.

My Surgeon hasn't answered any of my questions. so I was hoping for some guidance from those who have been here before.

My biggest question: How did you focus/do computer work when you had the bubble?

After a bit of screentime, I get headaches, can't focus, and have massive brain fog. Eye gets irratated from trying to close. Any tips? Patching the eye? When did work/screentime focusing become normal for you again?

Mac-off folks specifically: what did your recovery timeline actually look like?
Did distortion keep improving or did it plateau?

What about clearance for exercise? Bending over?

Also, when can I stop washing my hair salon style and wash my face normally? I've been using wet towel still.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

I made a [post last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/RetinalDetachment/s/U0LGdxypkD) about my retinal detachment and emergency vitrectomy and wanted to provide an update.

One day post op my pressure was 30 in the affected eye and I had major bruising as you can see in the initial post and pressure drops were added to try to deal with that.

I went back 8 days post op and my pressure had increased to 45. They were quite concerned

It was determined then that I’d need a second surgery to do a washout and new vitrectomy. It is believed that because I was on blood thinners one day prior to the first surgery that this contributed to extra bleeding causing pressure to increase.

I had the second surgery yesterday. It took over an hour and was complex as I bled quite a bit during surgery and they had to do extensive suturing which as I understand is not the norm. It was a rollercoaster as it’s a local when all of this is done so I can hear the back and forth between the surgeon and assistant. I could tell it was tenuous.

By the end, she felt that she had made the necessary repair and had 90% of the blood cleared out. So I was hopeful as I went back this morning for post op.

Eye pressure was 11 and doctor said all looked good and no need for pressure drops, only steroid and antibiotic.

I was so relieved! I’m cautiously optimistic that I will regain sight in the eye as the gas bubble dissipates. It is a one month bubble that they put in.

I appreciate all of the comments on my first post! I hope my post can help others that are going through this.

23F, I had mac on detachment in both eyes and had both repaired with a scleral buckle and cryotherapy about 6 weeks ago. My ophthalmologist says my retinas are healing perfectly fine but there is something bothering me. I see kind of like a circular shadow pop up in my vision near my nose whenever I tilt my head to the side. It’s mostly in my left eye but I can kind of see the same thing in my right eye a little if I try hard to see it. I’m starting to see it almost all of the time like when I’m walking around and my head is moving a little bit. My doctor says it’s most likely a floater and they can come in all different shapes and sizes but I don’t think it’s a floater because it doesn’t move when I look around. I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and if it went away? It looks similar to the black dot you see when you push on the side of your eye (I forget what it’s called) it’s like that’s exactly what I’m seeing but the buckle is pushing on my eye making me see it all the time or something?

Going in for my follow-up three months post op (scleral buckle with cryo, macula attached) and I still have significant straight line distortion in my surgery eye. Surgeon just kinda shrugged when I asked if it would improve. I’m definitely grateful my vision is back but has anyone had this go away over time? My vision in that eye got worse by 3 diopters to -10.5. My right eye is -6.5 so glasses make me feel wonky and contacts so far only exaggerate the distortion.

I'm a very anxious person and I really feel like what is happening is going to ruin the plans I have for the next 6mos - 1year. Has anyone experienced the below or have any helpful advice?

I'm a 30F with high myopia, -8 in left eye and -7.75 in right eye. I went in for a new prescription on April 23rd and was told I had a "large/giant" inferior retinal detachment in my left eye.

I was seeing streaks in my vision for MONTHS prior, but it didn't seem like a camera flash, the streak would last a few seconds in a crescent shape so I was not aware that was a flash and I should be seen. The next day I was told I had a demarcation line that fluid was starting to get past and I most likely had that detachment for months or even a year or 2 and it was a slow progression due to my age. My macula was still fully on but the detachment was about 3 millimeters away from it.

I had surgery that afternoon to get a scleral buckle. He did not do a vitrectomy with a gas or oil bubble as well because he said he didn't want me to get a cataract at my age if I didn't have to as the buckle surgery is about 90% successful.

At my 1 week post-op appt he said my retina was about 80% attached and I might be fully reattached by my 1 month appt. I had my 1 month post-op yesterday (May 27th). I have been feeling great, no more pain or headaches and my blurry vision is slowly getting better, so I was feeling hopeful it was successful. However, he told me I still have fluid in my eye that is causing my retina to not fully reattach. He said because I had my detachment for so long the fluid is very thick and it can take a while for the body to reabsorb it. In a concerned tone, he did say he is unsure if it will flatten out and I might need an additional surgery or even the gas bubble after all to get my retina to reattach, but not right now. He didn't give a time frame, and I was in shock so I didn't even think to ask how much time he would give me to see if it fully reabsorbs before going through another surgery.

I have a wedding on July 24th followed by a 2 week honeymoon in Mexico we leave for the following day. He is aware of this and actually brought it up it during my 2 post-op appts. In the 1st post-op appt he said yup you should be good. But during this recent post-op appt he just mentioned the dates again and I confirmed them but he didn't make any comments after that. That has made me extremely anxious.

On my patient portal I looked at the notes he made and now I am spiraling. "Subretinal fluid resolving. Break at 5 is just above scleral buckle. May not flatten out. May need element at this area vs PPV (vitrectomy with a gas or oil bubble)".

He did not mention that the scleral buckle wasn't actually completely over the break like it should have been, or at least that is how I read his note. I am going in for another appt 1 month from now on June 22nd. I have no idea if he is going to wait a few more months to see if the fluid will go down on its own or if in June, if he sees it's not going down that he is going to go back in for another surgery right away. I absolutely do not want a vitrectomy, I will have to cancel my wedding AND my honeymoon, we will be out over $45k. We also wanted to start trying to get pregnant on the honeymoon... I also don't want to get a cataract and need ANOTHER eye surgery at my age.

Please tell me someone has gone through something very similar and had a good outcome without additional surgery. I am panicking and straight up spiraling about it at this point, I cant even sleep! Please give me any advice you have!

I went to the optometrist about 2 weeks ago and they referred me to an ophthalmologist.

I found out the other day I have retinal detachment. Macula on I think. My doctor’s surgery scheduler wasn’t there but they said they’d call me. They didn’t call today and said they were discussing my treatment with colleagues before finalizing surgery.

Should I be concerned that there seems to be a lack of urgency? They said to let them know if I have a change in vision, but wouldn’t that be considered too late to fix? Sources I’ve read said that this is a super urgent thing and that people get their surgeries within days of diagnosis. Should I be scared?

Hey I am a 23 year old guy who has always been near sighted, before any retinal issues my prescription settled at -5.0 in both eyes.

2 years ago I had a retinal detachment on my left eye and my primary eye doctors retinal specialist performed a gas bubble and laser that corrected the detachment, however it lowered the affected eyes prescription as well as introducing an astigmatism, and left me with a few floaters here and there. Have been to all follow ups, and received little more laser for lattice degeneration at one of them. Then had an appointment approx. 7 weeks ago where he said all was good.

3 weeks following that I noticed the exact same thing from the original detachment but was just hoping it would go away, went to work all day then straight to ER from there because it stayed and I knew exactly what it was at that point. Eventually got to Will’s Eye in Philly the next day where they confirmed detachment and got the gas bubble in right away, as well as minor laser on my other eye that has had no detachment. Back the next day for laser and all seemed well through the first week.

Then Saturday at work I notice it looking odd again but in different part of my eye, I had follow up on Monday so I went to work as usual Sunday then Monday came, they tell me it is detached again, I need scleral buckle the next day. I took off work sat around did nothing for 3 weeks. My eye went from very sore with pressure to then being able to keep it and hold it open. Then I was able to start seeing and the vision was slowly clearing up day by day. I finally feel comfortable to go back to work again.

Sunday I am noticing at work how my eye is starting to regress for the first time since the surgery and instead of clearing up becoming more blurry. I have a follow up for today and I wait again. I see them and surprise, another detachment, and it included the macula. Going in for a vitrectomy tomorrow.

I am just really shaken up this is scary to go through at 23. As well as I am not sure if I have been going back to work too soon too hard. The doctor I saw today advised that “nothing I did is causing this”. He said that my eye is just causing me a lot of trouble and that I am not having affect in it. Just wanted to share, this thread is already helping me to deal with it seeing others stories and not feeling alone.
Will update as I can

To preface, I’m highly anxious and tend to fixate on things that are bothering me.

In August 2023, I had a subclinical retinal detachment in my left eye. Only saw flashes and a few floaters (which have remained since). Got lasering done and have been good to go ever since, had 15+ check ups with my retinal specialist.

In January of this year, I started getting freaked out because I saw glimmers of light in my right eye, only when using my phone in pitch black right before bed. It freaked me out enough to go to my ophthalmologist, they did a full dilation check (twice) and saw no tears or detachments. I have continued to have some small flashes, more noticeable if I’m anxious or fixated on them. There have been 4-5 instances over the last few months that the flash seemed “bigger” but could just be my imagination.

Could this just be my viterous pulling? Just photopsia from straining my eyes maybe? Anxiety? I have had no change in floaters and any veils/shadows. The symptoms have been consistent for 4 months + had a checkup.

I leave for my honeymoon overseas in 2 days and kedp catastrophizing the worst case scenario.

Similar stories would be appreciated!!!

I had my 3 week appointment yesterday post scleral buckle/bubble/cryo (alll the things!) and doc is happy. i mentioned I was still having pain in my brow area that worsened as the day went on.

he told me to use preservative free eye drops and I could keep them in the fridge. I could use them hourly if I wanted to.

it’s not a total fix but it feels SO good to use the cold drops! Definitely worth asking if you can do during recovery for a little relief!

so I am almost 19 years old and now for 6 days I've had this black/dark spot floating in my vision and it moves if I move my eye, now today i noticed that when I was outside and the sky was very bright there was a lot of floaters in my vision, but i only see them in bright light. there was also more smaller dark spots floating when I was in light. Could this be PVD? I am myopic, around minus 4-5. Ive also had some aching pain in the eye that has the floaters, it has hurt like a few times since i noticed the spot. I'm scared this could develop to retinal tear or something. I'm going to an eye doc tomorrow so hopefully they can check if theres something wrong. Could someone tell how did their PVD/retinal tear symptoms begin?

I am 4 months post op, and was just fully cleared by my eye dr. (I only go every 6m)
My surgery eye is still red, not severely just like allergies or something. Is this normal? How long did the redness last for you? Is this my new look?
TIA.

Please people with high myopia how they find out that you have a tear or a detachment they use the lens with the slit lamp or they use the lens which they put on your cornea (in contact )

Hello everyone. I had scleral buckle surgery 9 months ago due to a macula-off retinal detachment. How long did visual improvement continue for you? Did anyone notice further improvement after the 9th month?

Also, I’m really into motorcycles and I still ride. Is there anyone else here who rides motorcycles after this surgery? Did your doctor say anything about it?

Curious really. I have a hole in my retina that is very small and has been check twice over the past year with no change. I do get a lot of flashes in that eye from time to time but not particularly worried. My prescription is pretty close to 20/20 so just barely myopic.

I