recovery from retinal detachment surgery

[kathy1942]

I had retinal detachment surgery in March and am still experiencing problems with blurred vision and swelling in the eye area along with discoloration of dark circle.  I sometimes see a slight dark shadow on side of eye and am wondering if anyone else had had these problems.   The surgeon says I am healing nicely, but I wonder how long it takes to get a normal feeling in the eye.


This discussion is related to Dilated Pupil after Retinal Detachment Surgery.

[berrywoo]

There is nothing that can be done to improve vision after a detachment. Sometimes the vision may come back a little after many months. If the macula was damaged good vision is less likely.

[VIJAY_SAVAJANI]

IS IS POSSIBLE TO IMPROVE VISION /REPLACEMENT /IMPLANT IN RATINA AFTER DITACHMENT

[berrywoo]

The next step is NOT a lawyer. If you really feel that your husband's current doctor is not giving you sufficient information...The next step is to switch to a different doctor!

If your husband's surgery was relatively recent, less than six months ago, I would expect him to have some eye redness and maybe a bit of discomfort. Depending on what exact procedures where done and how damaged his retina was both pre- and post- op will determine how much vision he regains.

[ebarb]

I am really worried since my daughter is having surgery on both eyes at the same time.  Should I get a third opinion.  I'm scared that by having both eyes done, if there are problems she could lose vision in both eyes.

[ebarb]

My daughter is 23 years old and was having blurred vision and went to the retinal specialist.  He said she had optical neuritis and did some test.  She came back for  the test results 10 days later and he said all of the tests came back negative.  After another eye exam it was determine she had a partially detached retina in her left eye.  He said she has lattice degeneration in both eyes.  We got a second opinion and we were told she would need a buckle and drain part of the vitreous to her left eye.  He is going to laser her right eye since the membrane is thin and could cause a detachment on the right also.  We are scared.  When she recovers from this surgery she needs to see an ophthalmologist neurologist to find the cause of the optical neuritis.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

1.  Retinal detachment surgery is major surgery. Even if the retina is re-attached (and it can't always be) the eye may not recover full and normal central (reading) or peripheral vision. This is especially true if the macula was detached.
2.The eye is often repaired by putting a band around the eye (scleral buckle) plus stitches in the outer layer (sclera). This "hardware" can often bee seen on the outside of the white of the eye.
3.THere is often marked swelling of the lids post surgery and this can take months to go away.
4. The eye is often redder and more sensitive to wind, light, dust after this type of surgery.

JCH MD

[Mamatracy2004]

I would like to know if anybody else has an answer to this question.  My husband is actually experiencing this right now and we cannot get a straight answer from his doctor.  Thinking a lawyer is the next step.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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