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Post Scleral Buckle Eye Drifting Towards End of Work Day
So my mother went through a retinal detachment last year and had the gas bubble as the first step. That seemed to work but she redetached due to PVC which I suppose to scar tissue build up. She then had a Scleral buckle implanted and silicon oil used. This was about 6-7 months ago. About 8 weeks ago she had the silicon oil removed. She has developed a very dense cataract throughout this process and is due to have cataract surgery at the end of June. Once the oil was removed she said the double vision/distortion went away but her vision worsened she can only count fingers close up and everything is extremely blurry, we're hoping a lot of this is caused by the cataract which can be fixed.
Fast forward to today I heard from my mother that this week towards the end of the work day each day that her operated eye starts drifting up into the corner and she gets terrible double vision and headaches and has to wear a patch and I suppose eventually later on it subsides. She called her doctor who was away and they put her through another ophthalmologist that works in the same office and has seen her once before. He told her that its caused by the muscle in the eye and that she needs to come in Tuesday to make sure the retina is still attached and he mentioned possible surgery to remove the buckle... My mother is heartbroken she's been through so much. She works a very demanding retail job, she is on her feet for 9 hours at a time and does a lot of bending, she's also 58. I'm wondering if because she's been working so much/so hard lately that it could simply be muscle fatigue and by "taking it easy" this could fix itself.
Does anyone else have any experience with this or advice? This process has been so difficult I no longer hope for good news just an end to the bad news.
I'd like to also mention that she had a check up last Friday and no news came out of that though apparently her doctor had the nurses do an ultrasound to check her retina because of how dense the cataract was. So if her retina is still detached and that hasn't changed why all the sudden is her muscles in her operated eye "giving up"?
Thank you for any advice!!!
Fast forward to today I heard from my mother that this week towards the end of the work day each day that her operated eye starts drifting up into the corner and she gets terrible double vision and headaches and has to wear a patch and I suppose eventually later on it subsides. She called her doctor who was away and they put her through another ophthalmologist that works in the same office and has seen her once before. He told her that its caused by the muscle in the eye and that she needs to come in Tuesday to make sure the retina is still attached and he mentioned possible surgery to remove the buckle... My mother is heartbroken she's been through so much. She works a very demanding retail job, she is on her feet for 9 hours at a time and does a lot of bending, she's also 58. I'm wondering if because she's been working so much/so hard lately that it could simply be muscle fatigue and by "taking it easy" this could fix itself.
Does anyone else have any experience with this or advice? This process has been so difficult I no longer hope for good news just an end to the bad news.
I'd like to also mention that she had a check up last Friday and no news came out of that though apparently her doctor had the nurses do an ultrasound to check her retina because of how dense the cataract was. So if her retina is still detached and that hasn't changed why all the sudden is her muscles in her operated eye "giving up"?
Thank you for any advice!!!
Best Answer
I had a detached retina six months ago and had buckle surgery, my double vision has got a lot better but It does get a lot worse when tired and also after a couple of cans of beer, I think this is when the eye muscle is a bit more relaxed. My surgeon said the double vision could go altogether but could take up to two years for the eye to totally settle down, the hospital tested my eyes and a prism on my glasses does help! The reason for the double vision is that the buckle is just under on of the muscles of my eye and as I look right the buckleskes my eyeball drop a tiny bit which in turn makes the eye slightly out of line, it's so small an smount you can't see it but it's enough to cause double vision, I hope this helps, it's very on after surgery and six months down the lign it's a lot better than it was to the point I can live with it
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
No but its a favorable sign. She is doing extra work to keep the eyes aligned (fusion) it takes a certain amount of energy. If she is sick, tired, has used alcohol or medication, emotionall distraught, etc. that saps off the energy to keep the eyes pointed at the same thing.
Discuss with your physician team. Generally getting the cataract off helps in a situation like this (smaller % not help or make worse).
JCH MD
Discuss with your physician team. Generally getting the cataract off helps in a situation like this (smaller % not help or make worse).
JCH MD
Thank you for the response doc. Is it unusual that it seems to have only been happening towards the end of a long work day? She doesn't have double vision until her eye drifts and it only had been drifting towards the end of the work day and alleviating itself an hour or so later. On her days off it does not happen. Thank you for the reply!
Also, could her lack of vision be the culprit? She's been wearing a patch most of the day since this happened but after the Silicon oil removal she decided to stop wearing it at work (I think she's embarrassed and because the distortion/double vision seemed to go away I think she could 'tolerate' it) Could "lazy eye" or a drifting eye be because the brain is shutting down that eye because it hasn't been able to contribute visually? I could be completely off base but I could tell her to go back to wearing the patch more if that would make a difference
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Your mother's problem is not unsual. These are the possible causes: 1. a totally new problem like a stroke, this is unlikely but if she has other neurological symptoms she needs to go to ER 2. double vision after RD surgery especially buckles is quite common, sometimes permanent. It can occur immediately after surgery or "down the road" 3. your last comment is the most likely. Once an eye has poor vision it's like a boat without a rudder or car without a steering wheel. In kids when this happens the eye usually drifts in to nose, in adults out towards ear.
It is not a good idea to patch the bad eye a lot as it removes the stimulous for the eyes to track togeher. If the retina is okay and the retina Eye MD says okay getting the cataract off and better vision may help. NOTE: it is possible that when the cataract is removed the double vision will be WORSE and not go away. In that case she will need to be referred to an Eye MD that specializes in eye muscle problems (strabismus).
JCH MD