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Worried about Retinal Detachment from Pillow
Hi,
I am a 23 year old male from India. Right eye -2.75 myopic. Left eye -1.75 myopic. Cylindrical number 0.75.I have been fearful of a retinal detachment since I have seen floaters since a young age. (Always got them checked yearly by opthalmologist, everything is fine)
For the last 5 days, while going to sleep, I have been thrusting my head into my pillow before going to sleep, eye first. This has happened 7-8 times each night for 5 nights. Each time, I have made the thrust eye first into the pillow. A few important things:
1. The pillow is soft. Made of cotton. The thrust is made on flat surface of the pillow and the pillow always become squished. No corners involved.
2. There has never been any redness, wateriness, or vision blurring. I have never felt pain, but felt heaviness in eye one or two times when the thrust has been slightly forceful.
The thrust intensity has been like gravity - eye first freefall on pillow from say, 4 inches above the pillow.
Only once did I exert force myself, but then also no pain, no blurry, no redness, no watery.
3. I know this may be indicative of a psychiatric problem for which I have started therapy today. That part is taken care of.
4. I got really scared since traumatic retinal detachments can occur from blunt trauma, so I went to two different opthals on successive days. Both said this type of pillow thrust cannot cause RD because 1. It is a soft surface. 2. Difference between external object hitting you and you hitting an external object, and 3. Even if there is some pressure it will be absorbed by orbital bones first since flat surface of pillow is being talked about.
I can assure you that I will not do it again. These 2 docs checked my eye with dilated eye exams and said everything is OK.
Some other info - I have no retinal thinning or lattice. Absolutely normal retina.
My questions are - RD from trauma can have delayed onset.
1. Does this classify as trauma?
2. Do I need to get checked monthly\weekly?
3. Can such a thrust cause my eyeball to compress,it's diameter to increase, and retina to stretch, vitreous to liquify and cause tear?
4. Can the shockwaves or vibrations of my eyelids hitting the pillow surface be strong enough to shake the retina internally and cause it stretch by compression?
I have read everything about traumatic RD on the internet and hence I'm worried.I know a friend who had RD because he got hit in the eye directly with a steel dart. His RD happened 5 months after the accident. Do I need to be worried for 5 months?
Please help me and give detailed response.I will be grateful. Thanks.
I am a 23 year old male from India. Right eye -2.75 myopic. Left eye -1.75 myopic. Cylindrical number 0.75.I have been fearful of a retinal detachment since I have seen floaters since a young age. (Always got them checked yearly by opthalmologist, everything is fine)
For the last 5 days, while going to sleep, I have been thrusting my head into my pillow before going to sleep, eye first. This has happened 7-8 times each night for 5 nights. Each time, I have made the thrust eye first into the pillow. A few important things:
1. The pillow is soft. Made of cotton. The thrust is made on flat surface of the pillow and the pillow always become squished. No corners involved.
2. There has never been any redness, wateriness, or vision blurring. I have never felt pain, but felt heaviness in eye one or two times when the thrust has been slightly forceful.
The thrust intensity has been like gravity - eye first freefall on pillow from say, 4 inches above the pillow.
Only once did I exert force myself, but then also no pain, no blurry, no redness, no watery.
3. I know this may be indicative of a psychiatric problem for which I have started therapy today. That part is taken care of.
4. I got really scared since traumatic retinal detachments can occur from blunt trauma, so I went to two different opthals on successive days. Both said this type of pillow thrust cannot cause RD because 1. It is a soft surface. 2. Difference between external object hitting you and you hitting an external object, and 3. Even if there is some pressure it will be absorbed by orbital bones first since flat surface of pillow is being talked about.
I can assure you that I will not do it again. These 2 docs checked my eye with dilated eye exams and said everything is OK.
Some other info - I have no retinal thinning or lattice. Absolutely normal retina.
My questions are - RD from trauma can have delayed onset.
1. Does this classify as trauma?
2. Do I need to get checked monthly\weekly?
3. Can such a thrust cause my eyeball to compress,it's diameter to increase, and retina to stretch, vitreous to liquify and cause tear?
4. Can the shockwaves or vibrations of my eyelids hitting the pillow surface be strong enough to shake the retina internally and cause it stretch by compression?
I have read everything about traumatic RD on the internet and hence I'm worried.I know a friend who had RD because he got hit in the eye directly with a steel dart. His RD happened 5 months after the accident. Do I need to be worried for 5 months?
Please help me and give detailed response.I will be grateful. Thanks.
Thank you doctor, your answer is comforting and I will work on this with my psychotherapist.
1 Comments
Best of luck.
Dear doctor,
I am not going to ask any further questions beyond this, but my existing floaters have become more prominent - is that simply a case of me noticing them more because of thinking about them?
Also, please confirm if I can continue running activities (I dont lift weights)
Will this cause any delayed onset problems? (I have read on this forum that tears etc. Can happen months and years after trauma) why is this not classified as trauma?
This is my final set of questions, no more. Thanks a lot doctor.
I am not going to ask any further questions beyond this, but my existing floaters have become more prominent - is that simply a case of me noticing them more because of thinking about them?
Also, please confirm if I can continue running activities (I dont lift weights)
Will this cause any delayed onset problems? (I have read on this forum that tears etc. Can happen months and years after trauma) why is this not classified as trauma?
This is my final set of questions, no more. Thanks a lot doctor.
1 Comments
Yes, floaters are always more noticeable when under stress and thinking about them. I have a huge Weiss Ring in my right eye. I never notice it until I'm speaking or posting about it when I become aware of it.
Running/jogging is not a problem for retinal tears. There are even studies on it. One study found that retina surgeons did not object to patients that have had a RD returning to running after RD surgery was healed.
Your pillow fixation is not called trauma for the same reason walking is not called trauma to the foot or clapping your hands called trauma to the hand. There is not enough force generated to cause a problem. Foot Trauma: think heavy weight falling on foot, hand trauma think getting hit with hammer. So continue working on your mental health and other harmful mental traits. Most people that have your problem once they are satisfied that their current concern is not a problem (your pillow talk) move on to a different health fixation.
Running/jogging is not a problem for retinal tears. There are even studies on it. One study found that retina surgeons did not object to patients that have had a RD returning to running after RD surgery was healed.
Your pillow fixation is not called trauma for the same reason walking is not called trauma to the foot or clapping your hands called trauma to the hand. There is not enough force generated to cause a problem. Foot Trauma: think heavy weight falling on foot, hand trauma think getting hit with hammer. So continue working on your mental health and other harmful mental traits. Most people that have your problem once they are satisfied that their current concern is not a problem (your pillow talk) move on to a different health fixation.
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No
Mellow out. See your psychiatrist or psychologists and deal with your anxiety, OCD and hypocondriasis.
2. No
3. No
4. No
Mellow out. See your psychiatrist or psychologists and deal with your anxiety, OCD and hypocondriasis.
4 Comments
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your prompt reply. I understand that I have these issues and I am taking appropriate steps to deal with them.
I would be immensely grateful to you if you could shed some brief light on the scientific aspects of the question so that I can get a good understanding. i.e. the medical basis on which you said NO to the questions. It would help me to move on with life.
I just don't want the medical aspect of my question to be trivialized because of the psychiatric aspect of it.
Is there no risk of RD at all? On a spectrum of 0 to high risk, where would the situation lie?
I humbly request you to explain my questions little further so I can move on from this situation permanently.
The opthals I visited, while rated very well, were very busy and they did not spend much time explaining. They did not even tell me why this was not an eye trauma that could lead to ocular contusion.
There is not much literature on medhelp forums related to this, so I kindly request you to help me.
I am immensely grateful to you for your assistance in this matter and I guarantee you that I don't intend to waste your time.
Thanks and regards
Thank you for your prompt reply. I understand that I have these issues and I am taking appropriate steps to deal with them.
I would be immensely grateful to you if you could shed some brief light on the scientific aspects of the question so that I can get a good understanding. i.e. the medical basis on which you said NO to the questions. It would help me to move on with life.
I just don't want the medical aspect of my question to be trivialized because of the psychiatric aspect of it.
Is there no risk of RD at all? On a spectrum of 0 to high risk, where would the situation lie?
I humbly request you to explain my questions little further so I can move on from this situation permanently.
The opthals I visited, while rated very well, were very busy and they did not spend much time explaining. They did not even tell me why this was not an eye trauma that could lead to ocular contusion.
There is not much literature on medhelp forums related to this, so I kindly request you to help me.
I am immensely grateful to you for your assistance in this matter and I guarantee you that I don't intend to waste your time.
Thanks and regards
One correction - once, the thrust into the pillow was from ~6-7 inches and not 3-4 inches.
I am most concerned about the delayed onset bit of RD - that it can happen anytime now for the rest of my life. if I could get some insight into that question as well, I would be highly obliged.
I have never read about a RD from a pillow, never seen one in 40 years of practice, can't image the dynamics of how a pillow could cause a RD. You are obsessing. Look into cognitive behavior therapy.
Also, last part of the question - I read an article about RD in atopic dermatitis patients who tap their eyes for relief and get RD. Is this situation comparable to that? Please advise. thank you.
1 Comments
5. No
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