Hi everyone,
I’m 41, have had type 2 diabetes for many years (mostly uncontrolled until the past year), and recently experienced some serious eye problems. My right eye had a retinal detachment involving the macula back in August and has been recovering with silicone oil in place. Cataract surgery
35 years old here and I had scarring in both eyes, but my left eye went first with detachment. They initially did and injection into my right eye to help keep it stable as they thought they caught it early enough, but my left eye needed surgery. They ended up doing a vitrectomy on my left eye to remove scar tissue, reattach the retina, and put oil in the eye to help stabilize the retina to allow it to heal.
I had to do a bit over a week of face down recovery to allow the oil to keep the retina in place, my vision was horrible in my left eye, but it slowly started to get better. At the one month (I think) follow up, the scan showed the retina detaching more and upon examination, the doctor found a little more scar tissue that was missed and scheduled a second vitrectomy. Unfortunately that
Hang in there. I’m thinking good thoughts for you.
Can they do cataract surgery on the left eye for you?
Did the left eye start to re-detach while your oil was still in? Sorry just thinking of more questions
Yes, the way I understand it is the missed scar tissue from the first surgery tugged at the retina despite the oil and face down recovery enough to detach it again. The cataract surgery could be done, but it wouldn't do me any good since the retina is completely FUBAR at this point. Last year around this time, I did have some major discomfort issues which I now know to be from the cataract, but so far this year it hasn't returned, so that'd be the only benefit to having it removed.
Would you mind sharing a little bit about how you function day to day. Like how you read and respond to these posts? Are you independent, somewhat independent? I have my wife and her family to help and they are great, but I don’t want to be a burden anymore than possible. I feel very unprepared and am really worried about that.
I think there's a little misunderstanding or perhaps I worded things poorly initially, my right eye being stable is still 20/20 close up without glasses and varies between 20/20 and 20/30 with glasses farther away. I'm still fully independent yet, I drive, work, cook, etc. Obviously my peripheral vision on my left side is gone, so for driving my car has blind spot sensors that I rely on a little more now, I can still see when the light comes on out of the corner of my right eye. The worst part now is lack of depth perception, so sometimes I drop things thinking I reached out far enough for them, or I misclick on touchscreens.
Oh yes I see. Sorry I misunderstood.
Lived thru the exact same situation. When I was 43, I got a retinal bleed in my left eye. Went to a retina specialist who told me I had advanced retinopathy in both eyes. Immediately began avastin and laser photocoagulation. After a month or so, the left retina detached (macula off) and I had emergency vitrectomy with silicon oil put in for 6 months. During the removal there was some macular puckering and needed a epiretinal peel when oil was removed. Visual acuity in that eye has recovered to about 20/35 but there is still some waviness. Ended up doing a vitrectomy in the other eye too, but thankfully no complications.
I am 3 years out now and counting my blessings daily that it wasn't worse. It is imperative to control your blood sugars as the doctor will tell you the eyes are
Thank you so much for sharing that
I got the eye injections about a year and a half ago and it took about 6 months but I improved to the point I haven't needed them since.
I was at "moderate" but it's still a recovery you asked for. Lot less of one I was led to believe it was going to be. The vision problems were so bad I wasn't able to drive. I couldn't read the signs on the road. Now it's almost back to normal.
I’m really happy things worked out. Thanks for replying
I've had many clients get surgery for diabetic retinopathy. Some have recovered large amounts of vision, others less. It can be highly variable.
Is it the laser treatment you are getting? One common side effect is difficulty seeing in low light conditions. You may find that when it is darker, you have more difficulties seeing well. Inside, improved lighting can help.
Thanks for the reply.
So what initially happened was I had no idea my vision was threatened until my right retina began to detach in mid July. I hadn’t even had a basic eye exam in years. I had noticed my vision was getting worse gradually over the years but mainly just attributed it to age, not my diabetes.
My first appointment with my ophthalmologist/surgeon in mid July he dropped the news on what was happening and how serious it was. That first day he gave me an injection in the right eye and said we had to do surgery. Surgery did not happen until the end of August. I was scared for the delay but the surgeon said in my case it wouldn’t make a major difference for the outcome. He did the surgery (vitrectomy membrane peel) and put an oil bubble in place.
In my follow up appointments
I’m so sorry you are going through this. Its terrifying. To be doing all the right things and to receive treatment just to have your eye health deteriorate is unimaginable. All I can say is have hope for the future. Sometimes the journey can be hard, but in the end the outcome is good. So thats what I am believing for you, that you will have a favorable outcome. Do keep us posted on your recovery.
Thank you I’ll try