In and Out and Why - UPDATE 01/17/12

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
As I posted previously, I had cataract surgery on both eyes in September. Having much clearer vision in my right eye made a condition more evident - to the point that it is very distracting. I was referred to a retina specialist for further tests on the eye in early December. An injection and some drops did not change the condition, so they ran additional tests today to confirm what they had seen before. The condition is described as an eccentric macular pucker.

The macula is pulled forward and skewed to the right. The resultant vision with my right eye is a combination of objects being compressed horizontally and twisted. The twist distortion can be described as something like a square becoming more of a parallelogram with vertical sides while the top and bottom rise from left to right. Fortunately, my left eye is dominant and vision with it is fine.

Corrective surgery is scheduled for January 15th. It involves insertion of two instruments in the eye to allow the surgeon to push the retina back into place. Then, he will insert a bubble of air inside the eye to help hold the retina in place. I'll be asleep for most of the procedure. Can't say I'd want to be awake while they jab sharp objects in my eye! The worst part of the recovery procedure will be having to keep my head facing down most of the time for three days so the air bubble keeps the retina in place.

The doctor said it could take days or weeks or several months for the vision to return entirely to normal. I sure can't leave it as is, though! I'll let you know how things turn out after surgery.
 
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Hey Bill,
Hope all works out well... my wife had a similar problem in her left eye before she had her cataract surgery... the doctors told her she had a "wrinkle" in her retina and that they needed to "peel" the retina off and let it regrow... I think they did the air bubble for her too... she hasn't complained lately, but for a short while after the retina surgery, her vision in that eye was less than perfect for a good while.
 
well make sure you get a book for the floor so you can stil read bill:)

Yep! I also thought about putting a flat screen TV on the floor! :rolleyes:


... Be sure to carry a jar with you as you move around. It is to hold all of the coins you will find while looking down.
Sorry about that. The devil made me do it.
...
JimB

Thanks for the pointer, Jim! I'll need a new hobby for a while. :)


Seriously, thanks to all of you for your support. :thumb:
 
Bill, I wish you total success and speedy recovery. I've had some retina surgery and done the bubble thing for a week. It took a little getting used to and it was tough sitting/laying still for that length of time, but it worked as advertised. You never realize how precious your sight is until something threatens it.
 
Wow .....Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers and hope for a successful operation and speedy recovery. Cant imagine being stuck face down for so long. Oh boy think you need to line up a massage lady.:D That will have the time pass and be pleasurable. Best of luck Bill, let us know how it goes.
 
... Cant imagine being stuck face down for so long. Oh boy think you need to line up a massage lady.:D That will have the time pass and be pleasurable. ...

Yeah, the first thing I thought about was a massage table and the blonde who did my treatments in Florida. Oh well.....:thumb:

On another vein, here's some video of an operation to remove macular pucker. When I watched it, I got a pucker alright!
eek.gif


macular pucker
 
Oh boy Bill i could not watch all that. I got pucker fright and i aint even having the op. I can handle blood and open wounds but this eye stuff freaks me out. Holding thumbs for you Bill.

BTW any idea what caused this condition. Did you get a bash on the head or something or is this just part of our ageing process. :(
 
Best of luck with that, and boy do we live in amazing times!

Maybe a book or a TV is not the best, as you must also rest your eyes, no? Sign up to audible.com and buy some good books to listen to while you heal. I did that for three days when I had my cancer operation, it was wonderful to get lost in a great story for hours on end, truly a great thing!
Cheers!
 
... BTW any idea what caused this condition. Did you get a bash on the head or something or is this just part of our ageing process. :(

There are two main causes and the doctor said it could have been either of the things you mentioned. I don't recall ever having great vision with my right eye, but the left has been so dominant it didn't really matter. I suffered a broken nose when I was about 12 (freak bike accident); the bone was pushed toward my right eye, which might haave contributed. Another factor can be the aging process in which the vitreous gel shrinks. Normally, it does no harm to the retina, but about one in ten thousand cases the gel pulls the retina with it. The doctor's office has done a ton of retina scans, including with dye, but he won't know for sure until he goes in to correct the problem.
 
Best of luck with that, and boy do we live in amazing times!

Maybe a book or a TV is not the best, as you must also rest your eyes, no? Sign up to audible.com and buy some good books to listen to while you heal. I did that for three days when I had my cancer operation, it was wonderful to get lost in a great story for hours on end, truly a great thing!
Cheers!

Thanks, Stu. I hadn't thought about the audio books, but that might be just the thing!
 
As others have said. The techniques for eye surgery have come a long way. Very sophisticated. And, we/you are fortunate the corrective surgery is available. Consider the alternative. Good luck.
 
UPDATE 01/17/12:
Had a follow-up visit with the doctor today. He said all is looking fine so far. The actual surgery on 01/15 took a lot longer than he had planned due to the macular pucker being attached firmly to the vitreous gel. He said he really had to work with it a lot but was satisfied with the result, so far. I'll go for another follow-up on 01/24.

From my viewpoint, the surgery process was interesting because they put you to sleep just long enough for the doctor to inject a paralyzing shot deep in the eye socket, then wake you up and keep you awake throughout surgery. If you're awake, you can keep still, whereas your body makes involuntary movements when sleeping that could create a problem. I was so relaxed that the doctor kept having to speak to me to keep me awake. I could hear him giving the assistants instructions throughout but couldn't feel anything, of course. As soon as they were finished, uncovered my left eye and finished bandaging my right eye, I felt fully awake.

After removing the bandage from my right eye Wednesday morning, seeing the effect of the air bubble in the eye was weird, for lack of a better term. It pretty much covered my full field of vision, so everything was blurry. Having to keep my head down most of the time while awake has been annoying, but it's necessary to allow the air bubble to keep the macula in place while healing. Today (day three of the process) I can see the full circumference of the bubble and it's like having a magnifying glass inside my eye. The bubble moves around much like a bubble on a spirit level does and is continuing to shrink a bit each day.

I'll post more as my "experience" continues!

As always, thanks for the support from the Family!
 
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