Macular Pucker surgery...to do or not to do?

[homecrafter]

Hello everyone, I'm needing some shared experiences PLEASE.
Last week I was diagnosed with rather severe Macular Pucker in one eye.  I noticed a decline in vision for several months prior, but thought I had an infection from eye makeup.  Saw a retina specialist yesterday , seeing a second opinion Friday but I am expecting the same news.
The pucker is pulling on the retina and nerves a bit and has made my vision in that one eye 20/200 and no corrective lenses will help at this point.  I can still see light, shapes etc. but just cannot make out letters.  I can live with it like this, but the specialist says the tugging my cause more severe damage so I have nothing to loose by doing the surgery right away for the best chance of any improvment.

That is where I'm having the problem ,,,I am 56 and still lead an active life on the lake with waterskiing etc.  I have never needed surgery or prescriptions and take care of myself with exercise and diet.    
I do not want to enter into a lifestyle of surgeries, infections, potential real dangers with retinal detachment or reoccurance of the pucker...etc etc.  Yes, I know every surgery has risks and I should just suck it up, but the fear of making the wrong decision is stressing me greatly.  The Dr. cannot tell if the pucker stabilized or will cause more damage...so do I just leave "well enough alone here"??

Does anyone out there have a similar experience with Macular Pucker surgery ?  I would appreciate any and all comments !

[rita67401]

Please keep us posted on your surgery outcome.  I was diagonsed with exactly the same thing just this week.  I too thought the problem was caused by getting makeup in my eye but found it is a severe macular pucker in my right eye.  My vision is now very blurry and distored.  The doctor asked me to wait six weeks because sometimes the membrane will disappear on its own. He did say the surgery will restore the vision but it will take 4to 6 months before it returns to normal. He went on to say that developing a catarac is guaranteed.  If this isn't better in six weeks,I'm going to opt for the surgery.

[Traveler5]

Jodie, I'm very curious about your macular pucker surgeries and the after surgery healing process.  I too have just been diagnosed with a macular pucker in both eyes and the retina specialist says that after surgery I would need to keep my head face down for 12 days....and even then he could not guarantee it would fix my problem.  My regular eye Dr. is now preparing me for gas permeable contact lenses in both eyes to correct the problem.  How long ago did you have surgery and how are you still doing?  

[JodieJ]

Macular pucker surgery does not involve face down posturing.  I'd strongly suggest that you get a second opinion about surgery from a different retinal specialist.  The distortion caused by a macular pucker cannot be corrected by gas permeable contacts.

As far as my own situation, I have 20/20 vision in my affected eye, with some very mild distortion.  I'm not aware of this distortion when using both eyes together.  The image size in my affected eye is larger in the foveal area than the image size in my other eye.  

[tinaeyes]

I was also diagnosed with macular pucker recently in my left eye.I can see how distorted my vision has become lately in that one eye. The right eye also has something such as a retinal hole although they consider that minor and haven't recommended anything for that eye.  If I considered surgery for the left eye, it wouldn't be for the vision, rather, I have a really bad pain behind my left eye. I have been to 2 retina specialists, and 3 Ophthalmologists, no one can tell me where my headache and pain is coming from.  After I get up in the morning, after a while, the pain starts and it feels really weird, as if the left eye is getting plunged into my face or something.  At first I thought the pain was in the middle behind my eyes, but it is actually coming from the left eye.  did any of you have pain/discomfort with your pucker?  I also have a foveal cyst in that left eye.  I am not sure what to do.  If  5 doctors don't know what is wrong with me, I am so scared and worried.  This discomfort and pain is really very very bad, I cannot live with this anymore.  Please someone help me.  where is this pain coming from?  I had a brain MRI pm 4/11/12, there was no tumor or anything at that time.  A tumor could not develop so quickly after the MRI, could it?  Someone please help me.  Tomorrow, I am going back to the Opth. I have had so many dialations and so many lights in my eye since this all began on 7/18/12.  My first visit with the doc was in Nov. 2011, when I had used strivectin cream on my face and my eyes had swelled.  And I had gone to him just to make sure everything was okay, which he said was okay, but apparently he had noticed the pucker, didn't say anything at that time, wanted to see me back in 6 months. he kept this to himself.  In 6 month visit, he sent me to a specialist who diagnosed me with the pucker and wanted to do surgery.  I was and am in shock.  Even then I had no pain.  but during these checkups the pain has developed.  Could it be the drops they have been putting into my eyes or the many many lights that each one has used on me?

[Luvtoski]

's Hello Tina,  

I share your "shock" with the surprise diagnosis of Macular Pucker.  I am only 57, never had any health issues, always 20/20 vision until mid 40's where I needed reading glasses.  Last year out of no where on my annual eye exam the Opth. said I had a Macular Pucker and should go see a Retina Sp.

I went to 4 Retina Specialists and had become 20/200 in that eye BUT NO PAIN.  All 4 said I needed Vitrectomy/Membrane peel to stand a chance of any reasonable vision again.  I never had surgery in my life, gave this careful thought and research and had the surgery May 2011. They hope to gain about 1/2 of your vision back post surgery=20/100.  I went to 20/60 first week post surgery but developed a cataract the first 3 months so declined again fast.  

I had cataract surgery March 2012 and am now 20/40 in that eye, but with some retina damage to the macular area=a blank spot which will be permanent. Still MUCH better than before surgeries and glad I had them.

Back to your question,    Did  I feel any Pain in my eye before or after surgery ?  Not really...but I do feel that the stress of all of this and also all the eye drops (although necessary for the Retina spec. to diagnose) contributes to heightened awareness of the affected area.
Please keep in mind that I am not a Doctor, just someone who has gone thru the surgery and researched it extensively.

I also learned thru this process that the Doctors are sometimes reluctant to give a diagnosis or admit that their drops or lights might cause a problem, and honestly they probably don't really know because they never take the time to connect the dots when patients complain.

Are you reviewing your OCT tests with these Doctors ?

[mossymil]

I had detached retina surgery 3 months ago, now have a large cataract in that eye and macular pucker. My vision is distorted and fuzzy. I have contacts in now and need readers for close vision. But main problem is I am so dizzy all the time and am wondering if its from this macular wrinkle and my contacts not being perfect in my left eye.

[JohnHaganMD]

Either can be a cause of the problem. Blurred vision in the eye, the eye having a markedly different refractive error than the other eye and distortion (metamorphopsia) due to the macular pucker.  Cataract is relatively easy to treat.  Discuss with your retina surgeon

[tinaeyes]

Luvtoski, thanks so much for your reply to my post.  I really appreciate it.  I have just come back from the Opth. and all he said was that at my last visit he had found that I had dry eyes but today he said, there was hardly any dry eyes.  He told me to use a gel at night, and gave me Refresh which he said is the best. He said my vision with my new progressive lens is 20/20, although before the glasses, it was around 20/50.  He said to me that dry eyes does give a headache.  He said he can usually tell if the pain is due to a tumor but in my case it is not, he said.  At the last visit, he asked me whether I used a CPAP machine for sleep disorder.  I said yes.  He said to continue using it, as him being a glaucoma specialist, he said he said definitely noticed that when patients don't use their CPAP machine, they develop glaucoma.  I am so thankful to have found this young 36 yr. old bright doctor.  I wasn't using the CPAP due to inconvenience but now I will every night, as glaucoma would be a death sentence for me.  He told me to wear my progressive lens and try to get used to it.  And also to use the gel so that my eyes don't dry out.  He will use a punctal plug next time, if things don't improve.  I hope he is right about my diagnosis.  He used the numbing drops to check the eye pressure, which numbs out the eyes.  Right now I have lots of pain and discomfort due to the drops he used. It wasn't dialated though.  I will try to lubricate every 4 hours from now on, which I wasn't doing exactly.  He also wants me to take 5 minutes away from computer screen and seriously blink so as to lubricate my eyes.  He said I should not be considering surgery as I have good vision with the glasses, and he said macular pucker sometimes resolves on its own.  The one thing which is scaring, freaking me out is that he says, that I maybe a glaucoma "suspect".  In Feb. next year, he plans to check with a machine ($45,000 new top of the art, new technology) machine he has in his new office.  I will get it checked next year for glocauma.  I will take another look at my OCT test, I have given my entire chart to the new Opth. and each one of them have all my chart and notes, and the OCT.  Is there anything that I can understand on the OCT? I am so sorry that you developed a cataract after having 20/60 vision, but am so very happy to hear that you now have 20/40 vision.  That should be almost normal.  Having that blank spot must be irritating, but we all have to live with something, unfortunately.  I have distortions from the pucker, and the retina sp. will see me again and test my vision in Nov. 2012.  We will see then whether my vision is improving or going worse.  Thanks so much again and wishing you much luck with your situation.