No, not a feeling of detachment… a retinal detachment.

Some of you already know that I experienced a retinal detachment in my left eye late last week. To cut to the chase, the results of the medical procedure look good, and I’m very optimistic about the eventual outcome. Now that I’m recovering I thought I’d reply to all of the messages, questions, and support here in one place… and express gratitude for everyone’s concern and sympathy. Thank you!

So, what happened?

I’ve had the usual “floaters” in my eyes for a long time, so I didn’t pay much attention when I started seeing more of them in my left eye a while back — I figured it was just part of the typical process for aging eyes. However, late last week I noticed a dark “shadow” in the lower peripheral vision of my left eye, and it gradually expanded to become a significant dark area where I could not see. Since I helped my mother through an episode like this some years ago, I had a pretty good idea that  I was experiencing a retinal detachment, and I got to the doctor fairly quickly.

Retinal detachment is not uncommon, especially when the vitreous in our eyes detaches as we age, sometimes creating small tears in the retina. Fluid can then get beneath the retina, pushing it up from the structures underneath and cutting off blood flow, and then “turning out the lights” in that portion of the eye.

The first ophthalmologist quickly confirmed what I suspected and referred me to a senior ophthalmologist — who, it turned out, was the same doctor who had treated my mother many years ago. His exam confirmed the bad news that I did have a retinal detachment, but against that background there was quite a bit of relatively good news: the detachment was in the periphery of my vision and not beneath the macula, there appeared to be only a single tear in the retina, the detachment was in the upper half of my eye (things that appear “low” in our vision are projected on the upper part of the retina), we had likely caught it quickly enough, and I don’t have risk factors such as diabetes or previous eye surgery.He outlined some treatment options ranging from a surgery that would have put me out of commission for several weeks to an outpatient procedure that could be done within the hour. Several factors in my case made the latter option possible — the single tear, the location of the detachment, and the lack of other complications. It was clear to me that he felt the outpatient procedure was the best option, and his reasoning made a lot of sense to me, so we decided to move on to the next step.

Within about a half hour or so I was in a treatment room having a pneumatic retinopexy. The details of the procedure might seem unsettling and the experience is not pleasant, but it is a quick and far, far better than losing your sight! Basically, after anesthetizing the eye, the tear is sealed using cryotherapy — the application of extreme cold. (I think that this was done with a probe on the exterior of the eye. I know that it wasn’t pleasant — I’d rather experience my next “brain freeze” by eating too much ice cream too fast! On the other hand, it produced a quite amazing light show… ;-) Next a small gas bubble is injected into the eye. This is not fun, but it is not as horrifying as it may sound. Then the eye was medicated and a patch placed over it, and I was told to keep my head in a position that would keep the bubble against the detachment area for the next day or two — basically I’ve mostly had to be on my left side, though now I can be up and about more.

Today the vision in the left eye is still far from perfect, but it is improving in very encouraging ways. One of the most encouraging is that the dark “curtain” in the lower left area of my vision is gone. The procedure left my vision in that eye very blurry, but that is also beginning to improve. I still have a large gas bubble in my eye — sort of like having my own built-in bubble level. That is annoying, but it will naturally dissipate before too long.

In summary, this wasn’t a pleasant thing, but I’m now doing well, and I am very encouraged by, uh, what I’m seeing.

A few people asked question about the onset of the condition. What follows represents some stuff that I’ve learned — but I’m no doctor and I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If you have any concerns, I urge you to get in touch with your eye doctor right away!

I understand that some early symptoms may indicate this is going to happen, and if caught early the treatments are easier than what I had done and way easier than the surgery that I didn’t have. If you get to the point where you have a detachment, time is critical since blood flow is cut off to part of your retina, and you want that restored as soon as possible to minimize the harm to your vision.

From what I understand, some of the early signs that can precede an actual detachment include an increase in floaters, the “stuff” that we may see floating around inside our eyes — and any sudden increase is a clear sign to go in right away. (I understand that if a tear is detected at this point and before a detachment occurs, a simpler laser treatment may be used.) Another symptom that can precede a detachment is the appearance of “flashing lights” in the eyes, often seen at night or even when your eyes are closed. In retrospect, I had seen this along the edges of the area of the eventual detachment. And, of course, if you lose partial vision in your eye and experience the enlarging dark area as I did, see a doctor right away!

Again, thanks to all of you who offered messages of concern and support on social media and elsewhere. I look forward to continued recovery and getting back out there with my camera very soon!