Stupid eye.
Since January time this year Ive noticed that my vision in my left eye has slowly become more and more distorted. Now Ive suffered a grand total of 4 corneal ulsars in my time (bloody painful bastards) so my cornea is scarred to hell and back, so distortion over the scarred areas is normal, but this seemed more than that... this seemed like actual twisted images like looking in a fun house mirror that morphed the entire left hand upper quarter of an image, into a twisted smudge.
Went to the opticians the other day to get some contact lenses fitted (on a new trial of some experimental thingies that feel bloody amazing... dk number of 140+ compared to my old ones of 89), so I mentioned that I had some vision problems with my left eye.
Optician first suspected a change in perscription, so tested my right eye (good eye) first, everything was crystal clear using my current perscription. Then left eye uncorrected. I was no longer able to see the tft screen displaying the opticians chart (posh opticians I go to :) everything is electronic). With corrective lenses at my current perscription I could identify either a D, E, F, P or B at the start of the first line. The rest of the screen was a smudge that went to the same colour as the wall.
Quick look through her slit lamp thing, she thought it was corneal scarring after that, yet saw nothing out of the ordinary, some eye drops and a dilated pupil and she examined my retina, whammo... Retinal Schisis/Adema. I have a pocket of fluid collecting directly behind my retina, its now deformed enough to start impinging on my macula (the area of the eye associated with detail, allows you to read text, and see lines).
She took a retinal image of it, and can safely say its a scary sight.
Dark area of macula, surrounded by what looks like "stretch marks" in my retina, and a huge white... well.. gash it looks like in the bottom right of the photo. Scary as hell. It covered more than half of my eye.
Needless to say, Ive googled, gotta say im rather perturbed with all the talk of "normally a precursor to retinal detatchment" on everything I read.
My uncorrected eyesight is normally around 6/6+ in my left eye its now 6/13+ with the added distortion thrown in to confuse things a little.
20/20 = I see at 20 feet, what a person "should" be able to see at 20 feet.
6/6+ = I see at 6 feet, what someone with normal eyesight sees at 6+ feet. So looking at something 6 feet away someone will appear with the same detail Id see if someone with normal vision was viewing them from 7ish feet.
6/13+ = I see at 6 feet, the level of detail a normal person would see at 13+ feet.
Heres actually a good thing.
I see this in my left eye:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Amslergrid_patientAMD.gif)
When everyone else sees:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Normalamslergrid.gif)
Eek. Hospital on Tuesday (as I have a final exam on monday afternoon) and then I get to find out exactly what on earth I have, what caused it, and what the heck I do about it.
:panic:
:shock:
On the other hand, you dont need nearly as much mescaline as the rest of us do now, and you have the potential for an awesome nickname. :D
people get detached retinas all the time, bit of laser and they are back on in no time
id not worry too much
its not actually hard work as such for them to re-attatcht he retina. Its a common injury in sailing due to the number of head impacts that happen (Helmets are for wimps).
Ive had it myself, apart from the eyepatch i wore for a couple of weeks afterwards it was no hassle.
cant they stick in a syringe and drain the damn thing.
a needle in the eye.. hardly a good idea, especially since the retina is fragile enough without poking holes in it
Good luck Rich, I hope it is sorted out painlessly for you.
sounds nasty, hope you get it sorted ok dude!
Quote from: Clockd 0NeGood luck Rich, I hope it is sorted out painlessly for you.
Ditto. :-)
Quote from: Binary Shadowa needle in the eye...
:panic:
But you get a pirate eye patch!
Quote from: Binary Shadowa needle in the eye.. hardly a good idea, especially since the retina is fragile enough without poking holes in it
Its done qute regularly for several problems, although they have to be *very* careful.
ass sticks.
"yeah its not a retinal schisis, theres no doubt about it, youve a detached retina and its been that way for quite some time"
Operation thursday afternoon. Rubber bands, general anaesthetic, and argh... scared.
Slap bang in the middle of my finals so no idea if I can even get to graduate this year! :cry:
Ass.
f**k!
excuse the use of the word but jesus cant you get some mitigation?
Theres definitely a process for this kind of thing - you can get extensions, delays on exams all sorts for mitigating circumstances. Go see your tutor/mentor or whoever is doing this role.
Its horrible that its happening (at all) but especially in the middle of your major year - I feel for you I really do. But detached retina as scary as it sounds is fairly common and easily rectified - Im sure youll be fine before you know it. Just keep telling yourself that once youve graduated you can brag that you graduated despite having eye surgery in the middle of it all. Save a damsel in distress and help overthrow a tyranical south american dictator as well and youll be an afternoon American tv hero!
All the best though mate hope it goes ok.
dont people get detatched retinas all the time, from like going on rollercoasters and other such high g force activities?
car accidents, falling over, just randomly.. all the time
Apparently bungie jumping is a common way to get it.....
..........have you been secretly bungie jumping? :?:
yeah its quite common, just when they occur they are normally treated quite fast. What the doc was saying is because its been left so long that the retina is now "atrophied"?? and gone all thin and shrivelled, and so its a bit more difficult, that and there are two tears not just one.
Its also at the base of my eye not the top, meaning the traditional methods of a viterectomy and a gas or oil bubble wont work unless I walk around on my hands for weeks, so hes trying the rubber band method.
Also non-trauma ones are quite rare in young adults.
heres a page explaining a bit more: http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_rnib003661.hcsp
Quote from: RivkidTheres definitely a process for this kind of thing - you can get extensions, delays on exams all sorts for mitigating circumstances. Go see your tutor/mentor or whoever is doing this role.
M3ta7h3ad, take evidence as this will back up what you are saying.
Hopefullt you will be OK in a few weeks
Get well soon !!!
Had the operation on Thursday.
Today has really been the only day Ive felt well enough to stay awake all day.
It is a procedure I hope never to have to suffer again. Turned up at the hospital on time, given eye drops for preventing any infections, and taken down to theatre at 4pm.
Had a panic moment, watching my heart rate on the monitors around me before they anaesthetised me thinking that a resting heart rate of 62bpm was bloody good with a oxygen level of 98% spesh considering I was nervous as hell, and not a fit person... then my eyes drifted across the IV line they had just fixed to my arm and I noticed some air bubbles.
62...64...71...76...85...92... "are you alright?" said one of the docs, at which point I asked "are there meant to be air bubbles in the tube? or have I watched too much casualty" :D cue a laugh from the anaesthetist and a comforting "aye... dont worry about them, theyre fine." 93...84....71...68...65...62 :D found it amusing how my heart just started racing at the slightest stimuli. :D
They started to anaesthetise me and asked me to count down from ten, I remember saying "Te.." and then I woke up feeling crap.
PAIN... oh dear god pain... my eye felt like it was being ripped from my skull with a log. Then the realisation that I couldnt breathe because of the tightness of my throat, I wanted to throw up so much but I was forcing myself to keep it down and my throat just clamped down and wouldnt let me breathe, only when the nurse forced my shoulders down on the bed did all of a sudden it open up and I could breathe, in amongst the urges to throw up everywhere.
My girlfriend had turned up at around 4pm (the time I went to theatre, thinking Id been in theatre at around 1pm), and stayed there and eventually by my side from the time I came out (quarter to 8 ) until visiting hours were over. Managed to get across to her after 15minutes that I couldnt talk because I wanted to throw up, and that her stroking my arm was making me feel nauseous, and hearing people talk around me was also making me feel nauseous. Then just as im calming down and having a slow bitty conversation with her mostly consisting of the words "I feel like crap, this royally sucks ass, i feel so sick" my parents turn up, with my mum refusing to shut up despite my girlfriends gentle persuasion, and the nurse explaining I was feeling bad. If she wasnt asking me questions, she was bleating on to my dad about how "out of it" I was (wasnt out of it at all.... was just trying not to throw up). They went home at 9pm. and I slept until about well what I guess to be 4am, at which point I was wide awake, and struggling to pour water into an invisible glass with only one eye working, and the lights on the ward turned off.
Got sent home on friday, and have been here since either writhing in pain, or trying to make it through the day. Went out on saturday night for a meal to celebrate my birthday and found myself unable to kiss my girlfriend without stabbing pains going through my eyes as they tried to focus on her while our heads approached. Then spent the rest of the evening just with my eyes closed mainly trying to rest.
That sounds terrible, is that normal after such an operation? :(
I really do wish you a speedy recovery, to have that over your birthday too... you have my best wishes, Rich.
its the anaesthetic that makes you feel like that... I felt like crap after my operation too... kept closing my eyes for 30sec then opening them thinking id been asleep for hours (only know this because of the people who were there telling me about it after)
get well soon metalhead.... Im sure youll be feeling much better once its all behind you and sorted !
iv never had such a bad reaction to the anaesthesia, guess im just lucky
hope your feeling better soon, sucks to be unwell
Some people can react like that. I had an operation a few years back where because of my size (which is a big factor apparently) they told me I would be very ill when I woke up - even when I said I hadnt had that from any previous operations. I happened to be fine when I woke up but they were really surprised! I guess its just person to person.
Hope you feel better mate and hope everythings A1 when its all better.