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.
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