Thank you so much, Dr. Oyakawa, for this information.
Gwenaelle
Lasering the peripheral retina results in loss of retinal tissue. Usually, this is done in the far periphery and most patients do not notice. However, if you laser more toward the center you will have loss of more central visual field. The area lasered depends on the location of the retinal tear(s) that caused the retinal detachment. The area lasered does not function even though it was normal (except for the tear(s))prior to treatment. The laser is need to "weld" the retina to the wall of the eye.
Dr. O.
Hi Dr. Oyakawa,
Thank you very much for your answer.
I don't understand why the laser damaged the retina of my husband, whereas you said that in most patients it does not happen. We would like so much to understand. His eye was "healthy" before the detachment (no disease etc...), and the detachment was not small, but not huge neither.
Do you know maybe why in this case my husband needed more laser?
Thank you very much,
Gwenaelle
Hi Homecrafter,
Thank you very much for your email.
What you write is interesting and could be the explanation. We did not think of that. My husband noticed his loss of peripheral vision one year ago, just after the retinal surgery. Surprisingly, the silicone that his surgeon put in his eye during the vitrectomy allowed him to see relatively well during three months (until the silicone oil removal), and already at that time my husband had noticed that he had lost the peripheral loss, but at that time the most important thing was that the retina stayed reattached and we thought that his eye sight would improve later. We don't understand why the laser "killed the retina" according to his surgeon. Nobody ever mentioned that risk to us. It would not have changed anything because it was an emergency to reattach the retina, but we would like to understand what happened.
Thank you very much, Homecrafter, I hope everything is well with you,
Gwenaelle
I am not a Dr. but I want to put in my 2 cents. From what I've read, Cataract surgery following Vitrectomy surgery can be more difficult because of several reasons. I'm sure one of the forum Doctors will correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the reasons is that the thicker/supporting Vitreous fluid has been replaced with a thinner saline solution. I believe that this lack of support for the sac that the lens is in poses more of a surgical challenge for the Cataract surgeon.
So, I was just thinking that perhaps something went on with the Cataract surgery that was not typical since he was a previous Vitrectomy patient ???
May I ask what his retina swelling number on the center of the retina was just prior to Cataract surgery ? The OCT test would show that number. If the retina was still showing signs of swelling from the Vitrectomy (sometimes it always stays higher than normal) maybe the additional trauma to the retina from Cataract surgery re-inflamed the swelling... and is causing some problems ?
Just guessing here, but if you are like me I appreciate any and all feedback from anyone.
Let us know please.
Most patients do not notice the slight loss of peripheral vision. However, if more of the retina is lasered you can have more loss of peripheral vision.
There is no treatment for this.
Dr. O.