Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Some good news (an update post) (self.Blind)
submitted by ZaiJ1an
$1, and I was finally able to be seen by a doctor this past Tuesday to confirm what if anything is actually wrong with me. For those who didn't see the post, I'm a monocular (cyclops?) 24 year old who had Retinopathy Prematurity, and for about a week believed my retina was detached and my sighted life would be over.
I showed up to the appointment fully believing that my retina was detaching at the periphery, that I'd need a vitrectomy and to go under the knife. At that point I still had my four year old glasses but scored well enough on the acuity test. My pressure was between 19 and 24 which isn't good but I hardly noticed, and I basically expected the worst.
After 2 hours of taking photos of the back of my retina with a tech and waiting in the lobby area - much shorter now I guess since they know me - I was led in to the doctor's office.. where I proceeded to wait another hour and a half. Anxiety is the mind killer.
Doctor walks in, takes a look at the photographs taken at multiple angles, and asks me about the intensity and duration of my floaters, what I am experiencing, etc. She shows my mom and myself the various photos, explaining what we're supposed to be seeing, and basically says "Look, your retina is definitely lifted, but it is not detached. At this point in time I am not recommending surgery, because scar tissue begets scar tissue. From what I can tell compared to last week, the eye looks basically identical. I do want to monitor you closely, however, so come back in 3 weeks." As it turns out, because of the cryogenic procedures preformed my vitreous is basically cut into different layers.. like a jelly cake.. and so complications are expected.
Since that visit, I have been trying to log all the various types of floaters I see in a digital journal so that I can remember them. The most annoying is this weird.. vibration(???) at the periphery of my vision that looks like a fan spinning or ripples of water but whenever I place an object like my hand in that same field of vision it looks totally normal. Otherwise I occassionally get flashes of light that travel from my top right to the lower right/left. Has anyone experienced something similar? I obtained new glasses recently which are circular, while I've only ever had rectangular glasses, could this be some kind of effect of the glass itself??
In any case, I am feeling better. Not liking the idea that my vitreous is tugging on my retina.. but I seem stable.
I showed up to the appointment fully believing that my retina was detaching at the periphery, that I'd need a vitrectomy and to go under the knife. At that point I still had my four year old glasses but scored well enough on the acuity test. My pressure was between 19 and 24 which isn't good but I hardly noticed, and I basically expected the worst.
After 2 hours of taking photos of the back of my retina with a tech and waiting in the lobby area - much shorter now I guess since they know me - I was led in to the doctor's office.. where I proceeded to wait another hour and a half. Anxiety is the mind killer.
Doctor walks in, takes a look at the photographs taken at multiple angles, and asks me about the intensity and duration of my floaters, what I am experiencing, etc. She shows my mom and myself the various photos, explaining what we're supposed to be seeing, and basically says "Look, your retina is definitely lifted, but it is not detached. At this point in time I am not recommending surgery, because scar tissue begets scar tissue. From what I can tell compared to last week, the eye looks basically identical. I do want to monitor you closely, however, so come back in 3 weeks." As it turns out, because of the cryogenic procedures preformed my vitreous is basically cut into different layers.. like a jelly cake.. and so complications are expected.
Since that visit, I have been trying to log all the various types of floaters I see in a digital journal so that I can remember them. The most annoying is this weird.. vibration(???) at the periphery of my vision that looks like a fan spinning or ripples of water but whenever I place an object like my hand in that same field of vision it looks totally normal. Otherwise I occassionally get flashes of light that travel from my top right to the lower right/left. Has anyone experienced something similar? I obtained new glasses recently which are circular, while I've only ever had rectangular glasses, could this be some kind of effect of the glass itself??
In any case, I am feeling better. Not liking the idea that my vitreous is tugging on my retina.. but I seem stable.
SiriuslyGranger 1 points 11m ago
Well that’s good. I am glad to here, be very grateful for what you have and don’t ever take it for granted.
codeplaysleep 1 points 11m ago
Glad to hear your retina is hanging in there.
I get the light that kind of travels across my field of vision sometime, usually when I'm tired. My doctor knows about it and isn't worried. I've had it off and on for probably 10 years.
Take it easy, keep an eye out for things like halos around lights and brow/cheek pain that could indicate the pressure going up more. I'd imagine that would not be good given the current state of your retina and us folks with ROP are at a higher risk for angle closure glaucoma at a younger age. Mine crept up on me at 30.
I get the light that kind of travels across my field of vision sometime, usually when I'm tired. My doctor knows about it and isn't worried. I've had it off and on for probably 10 years.
Take it easy, keep an eye out for things like halos around lights and brow/cheek pain that could indicate the pressure going up more. I'd imagine that would not be good given the current state of your retina and us folks with ROP are at a higher risk for angle closure glaucoma at a younger age. Mine crept up on me at 30.
ZaiJ1an [OP] 1 points 11m ago
> I'd imagine that would not be good given the current state of your retina and us folks with ROP are at a higher risk for angle closure glaucoma at a younger age. Mine crept up on me at 30.
Heh, funny you mention glaucoma. I supposedly already have glaucoma, and am taking drops for it. i'm going to see a glaucoma specialist at the same hospital just to be 1000% sure because my regular doctor just casually dropped the "you have chronic open angle glaucoma" on me at a visit without any other explanation.
I will definitely take note of brow and cheek pain, thank you!! Am I wrong in thinking that because my visual acuity improved over the years I had my old glasses, my retina is healthy-ish?.. or is there no correlation, and a tear can happen basically at any point?
Heh, funny you mention glaucoma. I supposedly already have glaucoma, and am taking drops for it. i'm going to see a glaucoma specialist at the same hospital just to be 1000% sure because my regular doctor just casually dropped the "you have chronic open angle glaucoma" on me at a visit without any other explanation.
I will definitely take note of brow and cheek pain, thank you!! Am I wrong in thinking that because my visual acuity improved over the years I had my old glasses, my retina is healthy-ish?.. or is there no correlation, and a tear can happen basically at any point?
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