Vitreous Detachment
Oct. 24th, 2009 12:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuThe human eye is not hollow. It is filled with a transparent substance called Vitreous Fluid. About the consistency of egg whites, and 99 percent water. As you age it can change in consistency.
It can also detach from the retina--and will, generally speaking, in most folk as they get older.
A couple of days ago I noticed a new and prominent floater (shadow that can look like strings, streaks, clouds, bugs, dots, dust, etc. which are the shadows of debris inside the eye falling on the retina) in my left eye. It was rather more obvious than most, and close to my center of vision. Annoying, but not terribly problematic--except that its sudden appearance worried me.
Yesterday I called my doctor and got a referral to an opthalmologist. That night I noticed a new symptom--in addition to the prominent new floater, when I looked at a light or a large, brightly lit uniform background I could see thousands of almost invisibly tiny specks drifting around, shifting when I moved my eye. Not good.
Today I had the appointment with the opthalmologist. I had a standard vision test, a glaucoma test, and then had my eyes dilated. The doctor studied the interior of my eyes--which was unpleasant, as I'm very light sensitive and it involved lots of bright lights in my eyes.
His diagnosis was, as you've probably guessed by now, vitreous detachment. The vitreous jelly is pulling loose from where it was in contact with the retina. It's occuring in both eyes, actually, though more advanced in the left. It generally happens to everyone as they get older and is not usually a serious problem...unless it fails to detach cleanly. In which case it could tear the retina. If that happens (indicated by sudden appearance of flashes of light in my vision*, or a veil falling across part of my field of vision), then we're looking at more serious issues. It could well require laser surgery to weld the torn retina back into place.
With luck, that won't be the case. I've got an appointment to go back and see him in a month--the process generally takes a month or less. So he'll take another look then. If it's done and there's been no retinal damage, I'll be good as...well, not new obviously, but as good as can be expected. The new floater won't go away, though it may eventually drift farther from the center of my field of vision. Even if it doesn't, it won't present a serious problem--I'm already learning to ignore it, and at its worst it's simply annoying.
I am, however, vastly relieved that what I'm experiencing isn't terribly serious. All my worst-case scenario fear fantasies have turned out to be just that. It was a worrying day or two, though.
*And they won't be subtle, he told me. Like flashbulbs going off, so hard to miss or mistake.
It can also detach from the retina--and will, generally speaking, in most folk as they get older.
A couple of days ago I noticed a new and prominent floater (shadow that can look like strings, streaks, clouds, bugs, dots, dust, etc. which are the shadows of debris inside the eye falling on the retina) in my left eye. It was rather more obvious than most, and close to my center of vision. Annoying, but not terribly problematic--except that its sudden appearance worried me.
Yesterday I called my doctor and got a referral to an opthalmologist. That night I noticed a new symptom--in addition to the prominent new floater, when I looked at a light or a large, brightly lit uniform background I could see thousands of almost invisibly tiny specks drifting around, shifting when I moved my eye. Not good.
Today I had the appointment with the opthalmologist. I had a standard vision test, a glaucoma test, and then had my eyes dilated. The doctor studied the interior of my eyes--which was unpleasant, as I'm very light sensitive and it involved lots of bright lights in my eyes.
His diagnosis was, as you've probably guessed by now, vitreous detachment. The vitreous jelly is pulling loose from where it was in contact with the retina. It's occuring in both eyes, actually, though more advanced in the left. It generally happens to everyone as they get older and is not usually a serious problem...unless it fails to detach cleanly. In which case it could tear the retina. If that happens (indicated by sudden appearance of flashes of light in my vision*, or a veil falling across part of my field of vision), then we're looking at more serious issues. It could well require laser surgery to weld the torn retina back into place.
With luck, that won't be the case. I've got an appointment to go back and see him in a month--the process generally takes a month or less. So he'll take another look then. If it's done and there's been no retinal damage, I'll be good as...well, not new obviously, but as good as can be expected. The new floater won't go away, though it may eventually drift farther from the center of my field of vision. Even if it doesn't, it won't present a serious problem--I'm already learning to ignore it, and at its worst it's simply annoying.
I am, however, vastly relieved that what I'm experiencing isn't terribly serious. All my worst-case scenario fear fantasies have turned out to be just that. It was a worrying day or two, though.
*And they won't be subtle, he told me. Like flashbulbs going off, so hard to miss or mistake.
