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12830253 tn?1427417996

Optic Nerve Damage

Hello whoever may have the answer or give me a closure. I am 18 years old, a little over 2 years ago I was hit by a drunk driver while studying in Thailand. The accident had shattered the middle area of my face and I was told that the pieces bones had gone and damaged my optic nerve by scraping the back of my eye ball. Therefor, I lost vision to my left eye from the accident and later caused unbearable pressure pain. My retina also later on detached. I was told that the pressure pain is from the slowly dying eye that's trying to stay alive by growing veins in the back of it. Almost a year after my accident, I was told that it was best that I had my eye enucleated and that it will lessen my pain but will not go away completely, so I agreed to have my eye enucleated and I now wear a prosthetic eye. Until today I am not sure if I had made the right decision, whether if I would've kept it somebody could've fix? My questions are:

Now that my eye is enucleated and I wear a prosthetic, Is there still a way I'd be able to see from two/both eyes again?
I find this to be very physically and emotionally draining. Apart from the torment, It is really hard for me to deal with and I need some answers. My other question is how should I go about this?or cope with it? I have no clue where to look for answers, who to talk to, where to start.

Thank you for taking time to read this. It is really, greatly appreciated.
-Abbey
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Avatar universal
You really should have been assigned a counselor when all this happened to you.  It would have made it all more understandable.  Maybe not nicer, but more understandable.

Make an appointment with an eye surgeon near you to work out the problems and discomfort with your prosthetic.  There are adjustments that can be made.

Perhaps one day there will be some advancements similar to, let's say, a cochlear implant that sort of lets the profoundly deaf hear some sounds.  That would be along the lines of the bionic eye operation you are thinking of.

Theoretically, something like that might one day be possible, even though it would not give us 'sight' as we know it.  And hope is not a bad thing--unless it keeps us from living in the present.

Please talk to an eye professional about your questions.  You are long overdue for answers, but you will have to make the first moves, which will include calling an eye surgeon and making an appointment.
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12830253 tn?1427417996
Thank you so much for taking your time to respond to this post. The prosthetic eye is definitely working for what I have to work with, but I still have problems and discomfort. I was told it is just common problems in wearing prosthetic eye, which I understand. But you don't think at all though that maybe one day things would be advance enough to do such thing? And I have not done much research but I heard of a bionic eye operation? would that require for to have all parts of my eye?

Again your time is Kindly appreciated.
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Avatar universal
I am so sorry that you had this awful experience.

As I understand it, the doctors made the right choice at the time. The general thought is that when the eye is actually blinded (it sees nothing, as seems to have been true in your case), *and* there is pain, then the eye cannot be saved and the correct thing to do is to remove it altogether.  

There are two reasons for this:  One is that removal will take away much of the pain.  The other is that sometimes, for reasons not fully understood, the other eye--the good one--will become dangerously inflamed, and the patient can lose sight in it also and become completely blind.  This is called 'sympathetic ophthalmia,' which you can google.

Did you make the right decision?  From what I have read, it appears that you did.  After all, your pain is mostly gone now, and your prosthetic eye seems to be comfortable enough, in that you do not mention problems with it.  Plus, you are not going to lose the other eye to sympathetic ophthalmia.

However, my understanding of the surgery is that everything that makes an eye work was removed during the procedure, and that sight will never be possible again.  I am sorry to say that, but I have read nothing different.

Obviously, this was traumatic for you.  It would be for anyone, plus you were in a foreign country with no support.

Now, you are back in the U.S., and if I were you, I would have a consultation with an eye surgeon to discuss all this and ask all your questions, even though it is much later now.  You should tell him about your distress, and he will probably be able to direct you to a support group or to a psychologist who deals with this awful experience.


Good luck to you.
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