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This page last edited on 01 August, 2008 |
About the Zookeeper
Detached Retina
My signs and symptoms of the impending left eye detachment were:
On July 19, 2006 I had the detached retina in my left eye repaired. The procedure I had done was called a scleral buckle. Basically the retinal surgeon sews a silicone band around the eye to force the retina to become attached to the eyeball. When the retina detaches you can go blind because the connection to the brain is lost. The retina is responsible for letting the brain know what the eye sees. Retinal detachments can occur as a result of trauma, like a blow to the head or eye, a traffic accident or some other type of trauma. In my case it was caused by my extreme nearsightedness. A normal eyeball shape is round with the retina attached to the back. People who have extreme nearsightedness have oval shaped eyeballs which causes the retina to be stretched. Over the span of many years, the retina can become weak and detach. This is what the eye surgeons told me is the reason for my particular detachment.
I woke up on Monday morning, July 10, 2006 with what I can only describe as a yellow thumbprint covering the majority of my vision in the left eye. I had no idea what it was. I thought it was odd but like so many body aches and pains thought it was one of those things that would go away. It looked like a literal thumbprint but the color was yellow. It had the black lines in it. I also had a lot of flashes and floaters. We had been experiencing a lot of rain and I thought it was the humidity causing the problem. It was kind of like seeing lights from a migraine headache but without the headache. It continued to get worse so on Friday I finally went to see Drs. Brent Bellotte and Ranya Habash, married eye surgeons, at the West Boca Eye Center. Prior to my appointment I had done research on the internet and thought it was more than likely a retinal detachment. Unfortunately I was right! Dr. Bellotte sent me immediately to the Retina Group of Florida to see Dr. Lawrence Halperin, a retinal surgeon. Retinal surgeons are eye surgeons who specializes in the treatment of retinal disorders only. I had no idea there was this sub-specialty of medicine. After Dr. Halperin's examination of the eye he told me that I was almost completely detached and that I would need a scleral buckle done to repair it ASAP. By the time I had the surgery done I was ready for it because 1) the yellow thumbprint was annoying, 2) the eye began to hurt a lot from the pressure of the detachment, 3) I was getting kind of freaked out over being blind in one eye! Dr. Halperin had to go out of town so Dr. Barry Taney did the scleral buckle. There are seven retinal surgeons in their group practice. Throughout my entire ordeal, both Dr. Halperin and Dr. Taney have been wonderful. Both are extremely knowledgeable on retinal disorders as well as gifted surgeons. Between the two of them they have given me back my sight in the left eye! My regular eye surgeons, Drs. Bellotte and Habash were also excellent. Both of them are very caring and knowledgeable surgeons. I feel like I am in good hands with all of the eye surgeons.
On July 19 I had the repair done in an outpatient surgery center. Although I had been through five heart surgeries and considered myself tough, I was not prepared for how awful the surgery was. I woke up twice during the procedure which was not fun! They do not put you totally out for the surgery because if they can get away with local anesthesia and mild sedation they will do it. They did put me out for the shot to numb the eye but it doesn't last long and the next thing I knew I woke up on the OR table. I did not feel the pain of the actual surgery so much as the pressure of it. It was similar to going to the dentist and although the area is numbed, you feel the pressure on the area being repaired. Then I woke up in the recovery room to extreme pain. They gave me some pain medicine and then shortly thereafter I was taken home to recuperate. I had a large plastic shield taped over the eye and I was not to remove it until I got to the doctor the following day. The first night was not comfortable at all. It felt like I had glass shards in my eye. I was actually feeling the dissolvable stitches. It took two weeks for the feeling to go away. I had to put several eye drops and ointment in the eye multiple times a day for two weeks. The ointment in particular helped with the pain. I was not able to use the computer easily for several days. I had a terrible aversion to lights even in both eyes. The surgeon gave me a nice pair of sunglass goggles to go over my eye glasses to use outside.
This picture was taken 3 days post-op from the surgery. I never thought that the eye would be all swollen and that my face would have bruises around the eye. The first time I looked at it I was a little surprised by it.
This was taken at the same time. You can see how bloody and swollen the inside of the eye was. The eye on the inside is much better now but it still doesn't look normal yet. It has been four months since that surgery. I had to keep post-op appointments every week to make sure the attachment was secure. After the initial swelling went down I began to see better. The most important aspect was that the yellow thumbprint was gone immediately!
Then in October 2006 I was told that I had scar tissue in the retina which was a common problem after attachment surgery. I was sent back to see Dr. Habash to get my "best vision" checked to determine if new glasses would help or if I needed to have the scar tissue removed to make the difference. I had noticed that the vision got better for a while but then stopped improving and got worse. All text was blurry and wavy and I could only make out extremely large text such as on a poster. Working on the computer was a big strain to the eye. I didn't know it was scar tissue until the surgeon told me. Dr. Habash determined my vision to be correctable to 20/60 with a new glass prescription. Dr. Halperin, the retinal surgeon, said his cut off was 20/50 in order for the vision to be helped with corrective lenses. 20/20 is the best vision with or without corrective lenses so despite the attachment surgery I was short of that. On October 30, 2006 I had the scar tissue removed at the same outpatient day surgery center. This time Dr. Halperin did the surgery. I have pretty much seen him the entire time in all of my clinic visits. Dr. Halperin did a procedure called a vitrectomy and peel. Basically he removed the vitreous in the middle of the eye, "peeled" the scar tissue out and put in a gas bubble. I had read about gas bubbles on the internet but it still surprised me when I first noticed it the day after the surgery. It was both annoying and amusing! For the first several days the bubble took up most of my vision in the eye but then it began to shrink and finally break up into several small bubbles until it finally went away in about 8 days. Depending on how I held my head the bubbles were in different positions. I could move my head and see them moving, kind of neat! The vitrectomy surgery was much better tolerated than the scleral buckle surgery. I did wake up once during the surgery but only for a few seconds. Post-op recovery was very smooth and the pain was minimal. Since then I have noticed the eye continue to improve again and I am grateful for that! The blurry and wavy appearance of text has gone down considerably.
On my next day post-op visit after the vitrectomy surgery I saw Dr. Taney. He told me I had leaking fluid behind the retina. He said it could be the result of the laser used in the surgery and that I would need to be monitored closely to see if it stops or if I need another surgery to correct it. My next three visits were with Dr. Halperin. On the last visit he said that the fluid had finally dried up. I was grateful that I didn't need another surgery, especially so soon after the second one. Fluid can cause the retina to detach again and after all the work both surgeons had done, none of us wanted it to literally fall apart again.
On December 14, 2006 I had yet a third surgery to repair the re-detached retina! Although Dr. Halperin had been monitoring the eye since the October surgery and it had improved, he informed me on December 13 that it had detached (caused by the leaking fluid which had come back) and it had to be repaired. The surgery was similar to the one in October. This time I had to lay my head to the side for most of the day for two weeks to keep the gas bubble in place. This was to try and keep the retina attached. While I did have a gas bubble put in during the 2nd surgery, it was not to secure a retina in place, but rather to fill the void of the vitreous which was removed (vitrectomy & peel.) The surgery was tolerated fairly well but it had been a long day filled with flooding streets, torrential rain and a long day at the hospital. I was the last one wheeled into the operating room and didn't get home until 10:00 PM! The next day during the post-op visit with Dr. Halperin he decided to laser the eye to fix one little spot to ensure "this will never happen again." The laser was rather unpleasant despite the anesthetic drops. The laser light itself caused a purple color in my field of vision and my eye was going crazy being forced open for several minutes while being continually flashed with intense light from the laser.
It took a few months but the eyesight continued to improve and reading became more normal. The lines of text were wavy for a long time. In April 2007 I was able to get a new eye glass prescription I cannot read well with the eye because the letters are still smaller and blurry but I can tell that it has gotten better over time. I still wear my glasses a lot because I need to be able to work on the computer but for driving and doing things that don't require reading I wear my contact lenses.
Since the left eye detached from extreme nearsightedness the right eye also has a greater chance of detaching. This is because the retina is being stretched on that eyeball just like the left eyeball. Now that I know the signs and symptoms of an impending detachment I would get to the retinal surgeon immediately to try and prevent a full blown detachment. I pray that it never happens because despite the great work of my retinal surgeons, the vision can never be fully restored to how it was before the detachment. All I can do is hope for the best! They can laser the eye to prevent a full blown detachment in some cases. It is also imperative to get to a retinal surgeon ASAP after noticing symptoms so that they can repair it quickly. Retinal detachments are considered a medical emergency because the longer you wait to get it reattached the greater the chance your vision will not be improved.
I hope that my story on my retinal detachment was helpful to anyone who has one. Don't give up - it gets better! About The Zookeeper Page | Congenital Heart Disease | Detached Retina |
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DISCLAIMER: This website was set up to SHARE my OWN experience with my reptiles, guinea pigs, ponds/fish, gardens and local wildlife and to post pictures and video of them. It was NOT SET UP to offer my opinion or expertise on ANY QUESTION that I am asked and what I post on this website should not be taken as "EXPERT ADVISE" or how to take care of reptiles, guinea pigs, ponds/fish, gardens or local wildlife. I AM NOT A REPTILE RESCUE GROUP, GUINEA PIG RESCUE GROUP, VETERINARIAN, REPTILE EXPERT, GUINEA PIG EXPERT, PONDS/FISH EXPERT, GARDEN EXPERT OR WILDLIFE REHABILITATOR! I have limited experience with reptiles, guinea pigs, local wildlife, ponds/fish and gardens, therefore, I am NOT QUALIFIED to give out advise or answer questions and you, as a visitor to this website, should not take anything on this website as expert advise or accurate information. I present this website for fun and fun only - NOT as a reference website to instruct anyone on how to properly take care of reptiles, guinea pigs, local wildlife, ponds/fish or gardens. I share how I DO THINGS for my reptiles, guinea pigs, local wildlife, ponds/fish and gardens and this is not intended for others to take as expert advise or to mimic. Furthermore, my political views are my own and not intended to offend, annoy, hurt or demean any person, entity or organization. I express my views as an American who has the right to free speech under the Constitution of the United States of America. Please feel free to set up your own website and express your views, post your pictures and video and share with the rest of us in cyberspace what your little corner of the world is like. Thank you very much for your kind understanding in appreciating the value and contents of this website.
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