Double vision after macular pucker vitrectomy

[tictactoe68]

I am a 43-year-old woman. I had a vitrectomy on January 18 to remove a macular pucker from my retina and for floaters left by a vitreous detachment. As my vision began to clear after surgery, I began seeing double.  I'm seeing separate images from each eye, but they are not "meshing" together when using both eyes. I do not have double vision when I cover either eye, it's only when I try to use my eyes together. Before surgery, my vision was distorted due to the macular pucker and I had an extremely large floater, but I was not seeing double.

My retina looks fine post-surgery and the retina specialist doesn't know why I have double vision. He sent me back to the optometrist who, after seeing me, said he believes my double vision is a processing problem. The optometrist said my vision was so compromised before the surgery that my brain can't put the images from each eye together. He prescribed prisms which I should be getting this week.

I'm trying to educate myself on what's happening and am finding little to none on "processing problems" such as mine. I'm also concerned there could be more at play here since I have Lyme disease and have a first degree relative with Grave's disease.

I'm not sure what to think. I'm trying learn more and figure out how I want to proceed. Any input is appreciated. Thank you.

[tictactoe68]

Well, it's nearly 6 months later and I'm still dealing with double vision. My vision in the affected eye is corrected to 20/25 and I still have the same distortion I had before my ERM surgery.

I've been through 4 sets of prisms since late March, none of which helped me. They only induced eye strain, eye pain and headaches so painful that I was prescribed pain medication. I ditched the prisms a few weeks ago and don't have pain to that extent anymore.

I've been to several different doctors, the latest at Johns Hopkins a few days ago. It was determined there that I have dragged fovea diplopia syndrome and that I might try scotch tape on my glasses.

(I sat there thinking "this is Johns Hopkins and with all the medical advances out there, scotch tape is the best you've got?")

So, I sit here with scotch tape on my glasses (GREAT look, BTW) and it helps a little, but doesn't completely eliminate the double vision, or the eye strain and constant dull headache I alway have.

If putting scotch tape to blur the image is supposed to help, couldn't putting the wrong prescription in that side of the glasses or a contact with the wrong Rx do the same thing? There are multi-focal contacts available; couldn't a contact be made with the central vision area blurred? (just thinking out loud here; there has GOT to be something better than scotch tape!))

I know cosmetics are secondary to function, but I'm still a fairly young woman and still want to look nice sometimes. Scotch tape around the house is fine, but I don't really want to wear it when I have a meeting or get dressed up for an event.

Anyways, I'm hoping I will adapt and the constant headache will go away. Has that been the experience of others? I feel like I could live with the double vision if only it didn't stress my eyes so much and cause constant headaches.

Also, curiously enough, I've found that if I tilt my glasses on my face to the right and then slightly tilt my head to the left so that my glasses are level again (though not level on my face), I can eliminate the double vision. I don't know what that might mean, but I told this to the doctor at JH,  but it seemed as though he just didn't want to hear it.

I guess I don't really have a question anymore than I just wanted to follow up here to my initial post. Any input after my reading my post is most welcome. :)

[TrapperV]

Prisms initially helped to fuse images for me in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, if the one eye both distorts/warps the image, causes a size differential AND moves the image to a different location (especially in the dominant eye) all hell breaks loose, and prisms no longer help. In addition, lately all of the letters in print or on the screen look italicized backwards to me. I have not had ERM surgery yet, but have finally decided to get it done (long story). I'm hoping it will help, but the retinal surgeon is not overly optimistic, as it has been there for a good amount of time now.

What drives me up a wall is the floaters in the other eye move constantly in and out of blocking the vision in that good eye. When that happens, the brain suddenly has to adjust to the different size, shape and location of thee image it is now receiving from the dominant eye, and back again - sometimes within a half second or so - very disturbing.

After an IOL implant and new glasses, the ERM eye now sees in the 20/25 range, clear most of the time, but the distortion and placement problems of course persist. I've almost cancelled the surgery, as the eye is now "livable", but I'm still on the fence. It's hard to know what direction to take.

JodieJ is a great resource. I thank her immensely for the much valued information she brings to this forum.

[Luvtoski]

Please keep us posted Ruth...we are all on the journey to educate ourselves and your research will be helpful to us !

[Ruth1246]

Thanks for the paper on "the dragged -fovea Diplopia syndrome" very  interesting also to let you know I sent an email to Dr De Wits site to see if they knew someone in New Zealand who was familiar with the aniseikonia inspector  they have given me the name of an optometrist  so I will try an contact him tomorrow and make inquires.  Cheers Ruth 1246

[JodieJ]

You need to use this site to send private messages.  Unfortunately, I need a real enail address to send an attachment, and that can't be posted publicly.

[Ruth1246]

Hi I tried to send a private email  with my email address but I don't think it went . Ruth solly