Twenty One Months After my Right Retinal Detachment and One Year After Vitreous Detachment in my Left Eye

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice

Here's an update on my vision and my eye health one year after my latest blog post.  

The news is good.  My RD surgery eye, my right eye, has been stable since June of 2015, when I had the YAG laser procedure for the PCO membrane.  My central vision in that eye is good, probably 20/20.  My peripheral vision in that eye remains limited and so my field of view with that eye is mostly in the center 45 degrees or so of that eye's vision. That will be the final outcome of the treatment for my RD, and I can live with this outcome very well.

My vision in my left eye, the eye that had a vitreous detachment about a year ago, is also stable.  I'm left with a large, grayish floater in that eye, but there has been no retinal damage.  The floater is called a "Weiss Ring". It is part of what remains of the attachment of the vitreous gel to the retina after the vitreous pulls free of the retina.  My retina specialist watched the condition of my left eye closely for several months after the vitreous detachment took place.  He wanted to make sure that there was no further damage to the retina other than the small amount of bleeding that occurred at the time of the initial detachment.  He said that the vitreous detachment is a process and he wanted to monitor the eye throughout that process.  After a few weeks, he said that the process was complete and that the eye was now stable.  I still need cataract surgery in my left eye, so my vision in that eye is slowly getting more blurred.  The eye is now "ripe" for cataract surgery, as the doctors say.  But I'm a bit cautious about it.  Cataract surgery is associated with retinal damage, and with my history with my right eye, I have to make a decision whether to risk damage to my one remaining healthy retina in order to gain sharp vision in my left eye.  It's a tough decision since, with the combined vision in my two eyes, I'm managing very well.  I can read, I can drive, I can enjoy movies and performances and I can enjoy my family and my life.  But if I were ever to lose the remaining sharp central vision in my right eye, my left eye would be too blurry by itself to allow me to function well with just that eye.  If I have successful cataract surgery in the left eye, I would be able to function well with that eye alone.  I'm going to wait a while to decide what to do.

So that's my update.  I'm doing very well, and my combined vision is very good. I just turned 68 years old and I'm optimistic about my future health. 

I probably won't be updating this blog unless further changes occur, though I will check back occasionally to answer questions that might come up.  I'm very glad that I chose to write it.  From the comments, apparently the blog has been helpful to some readers who have found themselves in similar circumstances and are wondering about their symptoms.  That is the reason that I wanted to share my experiences, and I hope that the blog continues to be helpful to others.

My Retina Blog: Almost Ten Months Out from My Retina Surgery, A New Vitreous Detachment

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice

At almost ten months out from my sight-saving retina surgery in my right eye, my vision in that eye is stable and exactly as I reported it two months ago.  I'm able to read signs well with that eye and combined with the vision in my left eye, I'm doing very well, including being able to drive.

But one evening about three weeks ago, I noticed some major light flashes in my other eye, my healthy left eye.  At first I wasn't sure what I was seeing.  It looked like lightning, and since we had been having some unstable weather recently, I kept looking around in the sky and listening for thunder.  But I soon realized that there wasn't a storm that night.  I noticed that the flashes were around the edges of my vision and that they were more pronounced when I shifted my vision from one side to the other.  I started to realize that the flashes were coming from my eyes, and that it was my left eye specifically.

Within an hour, I noticed a new large, dark floater in my left eye, kind of like a dark spider web or insect leg.  Then I started seeing a bunch of new tiny dots floating in my vision in that eye.  I got very concerned and immediately called the doctor on call at my retina specialist's practice.  The doctor called back and told me that he understood my symptoms and my history, and that he thought that I wasn't in immediate danger, but that I should go in to see one of the retina doctors the next morning.  My symptoms settled down later that evening.  The large, dark floater faded to a much lighter grey.  There were no new floaters, but the shower of small dots remained the same.  Because of my previous experience with my other eye, I knew that the tiny dots were blood cells, and that there had been some bleeding.  I did some internet research, just to double check, and by the end of the evening, I was pretty sure that I had suffered at least a vitreous detachment in my left eye, and that some bleeding had occurred. The question was whether this was a simple vitreous detachment, or whether a retinal tear had occurred, and whether there had been any retinal detachment. I knew that if there was damage to the retina, that I could expect to have some kind of treatment, at least laser repair surgery, possibly a gas bubble, or perhaps something more invasive, like the vitrectomy surgery that I had ten months ago in my other eye.

When I saw the doctor the next morning, I was relieved to find that it was just a posterior vitreous detachment with some bleeding from a blood vessel, but that there was no tear in the retina or any other damage to the retina, and no treatment was necessary.  I have seen my regular retina specialist twice since then, and I have another appointment in a week.  The doctors are watching my retina closely because of my history of retinal detachment in my right eye.

At this point in time, the small floaters that were blood cells have cleared from my vision.  The large, blurred floaters are still there, and probably will be there for a while.  The doctor says that the detachment of the vitreous is essentially a one-time event in each eye, but that the vitreous hasn't completely detached yet.  So they'll be watching my eye closely.  I'm feeling quite lucky, since my right eye suffered a retinal tear when the vitreous detached in that eye.  And that event led to an eventual retinal detachment in that eye.  If my left eye continues to progress normally, I'm hoping that I can expect to keep my essentially normal vision in my left eye.

My Retina Blog: Eight Months Out from my Retina Surgery

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice


I'm now almost eight months out from my retina reattachment surgery last December.  I'm happy to say that my vision is much improved.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was referred to an ophthalmologist for the YAG laser procedure to clear the PCO, a cloudy capsule membrane behind the lens.  Before the YAG procedure, my vision in my right eye, the surgery eye, was slowly getting increasingly cloudy.  

I had the YAG laser procedure in late June, a bit more than six months after my retina reattachment surgery.  It was a very quick, painless procedure.  The doctor just had me look into the ophthalmic microscope, similar to the scope that I'm used to seeing in every ophthalmologist's office.  He had me hold on to two hand grips and my head was strapped into place so that I wouldn't move during the procedure.  The doctor also applied a lens to the surface of my eye because of some special characteristics of my particular capsule.  Again, there was no pain or discomfort.  With a few clicks of the laser in a five minute span of time, the doctor cut away the cloudy capsule membrane, and I was done.

It took a few hours for my vision to clear because the doctor had used some kind of gel compound along with the contact lens to assist with the laser procedure.  But when the gunk washed itself out of my eye, my vision in my surgery eye improved quite a bit.  At this point I made an appointment with my optometrist and he ordered a new eyeglass prescription.

I'm quite happy with the outcome.  My vision in my surgery (right) eye is about 20/20 for distance reading.  Because of the cataract in my left eye, my vision in that eye is not as good, only about 20/40.  But with the combination of the two eyes, my overall vision is pretty good.

The interesting thing is that I'm now coming to understand that despite my corrected 20/20 vision in my surgery eye, I've lost quite a bit of peripheral vision in that eye.  Even after the YAG laser procedure, I still have what I perceive as cloudy vision of the world in my right eye.  I can read signs very well, but the world in general is foggy and not as detailed or bright as with my left eye.  The peripheral vision test at my optometrist's office showed quite a lot of blank spots in my peripheral vision in that eye.  I assume that I've lost some vision at several spots in that retina due to the laser "welding" that my surgeon did to re-attach my retina.  This appears to be the final outcome of the vision in my repaired eye.  If so, I find this a very fair bargain.  My vision in my right eye would have been completely lost without the sight-saving surgery that I had back in December,  The loss of some peripheral vision in various spots in that eye appears to be the cost of that incredible surgery.  I'll take that bargain any day.

My Retina Journey: Six Months Out From Retina Detachment Surgery

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice


I had my six month follow-up visit with my retina surgeon and he says that my retina is looking good and there is no sign of a re-detachment.  He recommended that I make an appointment with my ophthalmologist to have a YAG laser procedure to clear the PCO (posterior capsule opacification) that is causing some cloudy vision in that eye.  My general vision in that eye is like looking through a dirty window.  I can watch television with that eye and read the wording on the screen about as well as with my left eye, sometimes better.  But the world in general looks clouded and less detailed than with my left eye.

At this point in time, my right eye, the one that had the detachment, has better vision, as measured by eye chart reading, than my other eye.  My right eye reads at about 20/30 while my left eye reads at about 20/50.  Of course, my left eye still needs cataract surgery to replace its clouded lens.

I've been able to drive since about the 12th week after surgery, and I haven't had any issues with driving safely in that stretch of time.  But I have difficulty reading street signs, so I am more comfortable driving in areas where I am familiar.

I've requested a referral to my ophthalmologist for the PCO laser procedure.  I'll update this blog after I see my ophthalmologist.

My Retina Journey: Twelve Weeks Out From Surgery

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice. 

Twelve weeks out from my retina reattachment surgery, and all is going well.  My doctor tells me that the retina in my right eye is well reattached.  My vision according to the eye chart is similar in both eyes, between 20/40 and 20/50.  That is pretty blurry distance vision, but good enough to drive.  Luckily, I can read quite well with my left eye.  But my right eye vision still looks like I'm looking through frosted glass or wax paper.  That is because of a cloudy membrane behind my lens, called a PCO, a posterior capsule opacification.  I'll need a YAG laser procedure to clear a hole in that membrane.  I'm hoping that procedure will return my vision in my right eye to what it was before my detachment.  My doctor and I decided to wait three more months, which will be six months after my surgery, to have the YAG laser procedure, to allow time for my retina to stabilize.  My doctor thinks that six months of healing without a re-detachment will signify a stable point of healing, stable enough to minimize risk to my retina from the disturbance that the laser would cause.

Twelve weeks after surgery, my "eight week C3F8 bubble" disappeared.  It had slowly shrunk over the weeks to a smaller and smaller bubble, and I woke up from a nap on a Saturday afternoon, twelve weeks after my retina surgery, and the bubble was gone.  There are still some remaining visual effects in the eye that I attribute to residual C3F8 chemical left in the eye.  These effects seem to be related to phosphorescence because they are only visible in low light after lights are turned out.  I see sparkling dots immediately after the lights go out, which diminish after a minute or two.  I also see what appears to be a pattern that looks like checkered fabric that undulates.  This effect also goes away a few minutes after the lights are turned off, but it can be distracting when I walk  into a movie theater and need to find a seat.  I'm hoping that these effects will disappear as well over the next few weeks.

Ten Weeks After Retina Surgery, Vision and a Cloudy Membrane

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice. 

After the bubble shrank to the point where the dividing line dropped to half way through my visual field, I was able to see around and over the bubble and get an idea of what my vision would be like after my recovery.  And for me, I'm very thankful to say, the news is good.  My doctor says that my retina has healed into place well and my macula is flat and normal.  From about week 6 to the current time, week 10, my vision has been slowly improving.  I can read the 4th line on an eye chart, good for 20/50 or so vision.  I have a complete field of vision in my surgery eye except for a small shadow that sometimes shows in the upper left of my vision but then clears rapidly.  My doctor says that shadow is from the blood and scar tissue at the place in my retina where the detachment originally occurred.  There is some blur and shimmer, especially when I try to read newsprint, but I think that is from the remaining chemical from the small gas bubble that's still in my eye (though my C3F8 bubble is predicted to last about 8 weeks, I still have a small bubble after 10 weeks). I am able to read the TV screen quite well.  In fact, sometimes better than with my "good eye' because my good left eye still needs cataract surgery.  

My biggest remaining problems are cloudiness in my vision in my surgery eye, and waiting to make sure that my retina doesn't re-detach.  My doctor says that the cloudiness comes from a clouded membrane behind the lens of my eye.  This is called a PCO or Posterior Capsule Opacification, and it's often called an "after cataract".  Many people get this cloudiness a year or two after their cataract surgery.  In those cases, it is caused by a reaction in cellular debris left over after their original natural lens was liquified and removed.  In my case, my vitrectomy surgery apparently caused the PCO to happen rapidly.  The treatment for PCO is to have an ophthalmologist burn a hole for me to see through the clouded membrane with a laser called a YAG laser.  My doctor says that I need to wait at least three months after the original surgery, which will be a few weeks from now.  Though there is said to be some risk of retinal detachment from the YAG laser procedure, my doctor says that because my vitreous has been removed, there is less risk to my retina from the YAG procedure.  I'm optimistic that I'll get back very good vision after I have the YAG procedure.

The other concern is whether the retina will detach a second time.  My doctor has said a couple of times that he's concerned that the scar tissue and residual blood under my retina from the original detachment could cause pulling on the retina and cause it to detach a second time.  He said that there are key time points past which there is less concern about re-detachment.  The milestones are three months and six months. I'm encouraged that I've now almost made it to the three month milestone.  Of course, I hope I have no further problems with the retina in this eye.

My Vision Progression and the Bubble After Vitrectomy Retinal Detachment Surgery

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice. 

I'm going to change the way I write these posts from now going forward.  Instead of reporting the details of my surgery recovery experience each week, I'm going to focus (pun!) on the reason why I'm really writing this blog: To give fellow patients an idea of the changes in my vision as the weeks after surgery went by. 

First of all, I found out that I had been given the longer acting of the various gases that are used in vitrectomy surgery.  The gas is called perfluoropropane or C3F8.  My doctor told me that it would take about eight weeks for the bubble to disappear.  As I said before, there is no way that a person can see anything but light and dark with a big gas bubble in the eye (except that I was able to see things held directly below the eye a few inches away).  But as the bubble gets smaller over time, we are supposed to be able to begin to see again.  But since the shrinking of the bubble is such a slow process, especially with C3F8, I think it is natural to be impatient and to wonder what we should be seeing and what we should look for and where in our field of vision we should look for it.

As the bubble shrank, the edge of the bubble showed up as a dark line in my vision, near the top of my visual field.  Strangely, even though the bubble sits at the top of the eye, it looks to the patient like the bubble is in the bottom of the eye.  That's hard to get used to at first.  When you start to see the dividing line near the top of your vision, it looks like a bubble is floating on the surface of liquid in your eye.  But what looks like a bubble at the top of your vision is really the liquid in your eye.  And the blur that you're still seeing in most of your vision is because you are still looking through a gas bubble.

My doctor told me that I should look above the line to see my returning vision.  He said that I would see a sliver of good vision and that sliver would get larger and larger as the bubble shrinks.  Web sites I read said much the same thing.  The problem was that when the line first appeared for me, I still couldn't see anything over the line.  I just saw a blur.  Nothing I was told and nothing I could find online explained this adequately.  So I worried if the blur that I saw above the line was an indication that the vision that I'd get after my recovery would be poor.  This wasn't the case, but I didn't understand what was really going on.  With my slow-acting bubble, this uncertainty took about two weeks, between the third and fourth weeks after surgery.  The dividing line between the bubble and the liquid in my eye slowly got lower, but when I looked above the line, I still only saw a blur.  Eventually, as the bubble shrank further and the line got lower, I was able to start to see some detail above the line.

Here's what I finally concluded.  When the bubble was still fairly large, like still taking up about 70% of my vision or so, when I looked upward above the bubble line I was forced to look up at too high an angle to be able to see any detail.  The dividing line was still above my macula, the part of the retina that sees detail, so I was forced to look upward to see around the bubble.  And though the bubble looked to me like it was at the bottom of my vision, in reality it was still up there.  So I think that I was still looking up through the gas bubble.  So I still couldn't see anything.  But by the fourth week after surgery, the bubble line had dropped lower, about half way down through my visual field and opposite the macula, I was excited to be able to see some detail.  I was able to see the tops of words on a movie screen.  I was able to see the tops of the picture frames on our walls. Everything still looked like I was looking through a whitewashed window, but I could actually start to see some detail.  I was very relieved and excited.  As more time went on, the lower on TV and movie screens I could see detail, until by the sixth week, I was able to see the entire screens.  My vision wasn't, and still isn't clear by seven weeks after surgery.  It is blurred and small details shimmer so that small letters are hard to read, but at least I'm seeing almost an entire visual field above the shrinking bubble line. 

So one of my main messages to other recovering patients is not to get too concerned when you start to see the bubble line get lower in your vision, but you still can't see anything above the line.  If your recovery is similar to mine, as time goes along and the bubble line drops lower, you may be able to start to see some detail.  Of course, there is no guarantee and each patient's visual progress will be different.

At this time, seven weeks after surgery, I can read the second or third line of an eye chart.  The bubble sits as a sphere at the bottom of my vision so I get some peripheral vision and I can merge the vision from both eyes, with some difficulty and some double vision.  I can't read newspaper print easily, mostly because we usually read by looking downward, and the bubble is still in the way of my downward vision.  But I seem to be seeing slow improvement in my detail vision as the days and weeks go by.  

I've read and I've been told not to expect to be able to know my eventual vision improvement until at least six months after surgery. But I'm encouraged at this point that I have a full field of vision and I can see the detail that I can see at this early stage.