Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)

Friday after Christmas, I began to develop black lines in my field of vision out of the left eye, outer edge. I thought it may have been from an energy drink that morning. Next day, I began to get flashes of light in the same area, moving from top-down. Tons of floaters. Phone call to an optometrist and explaining the symptoms have them ask me to come in immediately. I knew it (probably) wasn't a stroke, but I thought it may have been a detached retina. No trauma, it just happened.

They diagnosed me with PVD. The fluid sac in the eye is pulling away from the back of the eye. The OD said there are about 3.5 million attachments and said for example, I may have had 150,00 release.

Bad news is, I will have permanent floaters now in my left eye field of vision. I also since developed a thumb shaped section at the bottom of my vision that is opaque. Somewhat frequent black dancing dots in my vision.

This is a bit disheartening. OK, so I still have vision in the eye....but to me, my vision looks like I am looking through matted eyelashes all day with a big bump on my cheek. And I was told by two different docs, there is nothing I can take nor any kind of "laser" surgery to Astroid those floaters out. I am more prone now to retina detachment and I have to watch for a "snowing effect" with light flashes and present to the ER right away so they can operate to save the vision.

I am not looking forward to the next 30 years...............

 

Damn, don’t know what else to say other than I’m sorry. Some vision is better than no vision

 

Where are you? If you’re anywhere near Duke I can hook you up. Our eye center is one of the world’s best. PM me if you need any help. Seriously.

 

So sorry to hear this...my advice do your best to stay positive and try to only speak positively about yourself and the situation.
People dont realize the power words have. Did they give any indication of how this happen? What you could have done to prevent it?


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Sorry to hear that man....at the end of summer I started seeing something weird in the center of vision in my left eye. Went to the eye doctor and they said it was a macular edema. Fortunately about 2.5 months later it completely cleared and I'm back to normal, but for a little while there its was definitely concerning me.

Best of luck to you.

 

Contact Wills Eye in Philadelphia.

 

You need to see an ophthalmologist ASAP.

 

Plenty of sympathy here. Tough diagnosis for sure. I hope somehow there is something you can do to recover your normal vision.

 

I appreciate the well-wishes. I am getting a second opinion and will proceed further. I forgot to mention in my OP that reason for the post was to see if anyone else incurred this and what did they experience?

 

Shit fuk man. Hope something comes up to help.

 

I was hit in the temple with a lacrosse ball and had my vitreous humor rattled and almost detached. I still have lots of floaters. There are treatments for the detachment that can restore the vision. The biggest risk is that the detaching vitreous pulls the retina with it and creates a detached retina. Go see an ophthalmologist who deals with that kind of thing. Optometrists can diagnose that kind of thing visually but they don't have the training or tools to treat. There are lots of options for treatment It's the kind of a think that you could probably get seen the same or next day if you call a doc.

 

FWIW I got in a full blown panic the first time I experienced a visual migraine. Had no idea there was such a thing and had recently had a friend suffer from a detached retina. Scary stuff.

Since then I've had to wear special coated glasses when working at the computer but it helps a lot. I know it pales next to PVD, but just thought I'd mention it because I know that feeling of fear that perhaps this is something that is going to permanently damage your vision.

 

Update- after pushing my OD, I was referred to a vitreous specialist yesterday. Either I was misdiagnosed in Dec, or I had gradual worsening, as he found a torn and detached retina. Fluid is gathering behind the retina and pushing it away from the back wall. I am having emergency surgery in about 4 hours. He would have operated last night, but I ate about two hours before seeing him. Not quite sure why that is such a huge issue because its just an eye and not an orthopedic style surgery, but whatever.

I could have done without the play by play on how they are going to cut into my eye, suck out all the vitreous gel, and replace it with saline solution and a gas bubble after the repair. I have to be face down for a week, no water in the eye for three weeks, no workouts for a month, no swimming or flying for three months........... What is a killer is I had my biggest ever work project in my entire career to date next week in California that is being possibly re-scheduled for mid Feb. (so I have to take a train then instead of flying, ugh). Being self-employed, this will bite a bit.

Good news is with removing all my vitreous gel in my affected eye, I won't have the floaters anymore. They did say then I should expect to have a cataracts surgery on the same eye in a year or three as this procedure always affects the lens and results in much higher incident of cataracts. I appreciate the comments and thoughts outlined in the thread. This place isnt all bad.

 

It's about the anesthesia, I believe, not about where on your body they are going to cut you open.

I didn't know that the first time I went under and have someone sneak me in late-night dinner into the hospital. But I have an excuse, I was 20.

 

My wife just went through a similar procedure for an injury. PM me if you want details. The face down thing is extremely tough because it meant (for her) face down period. Holding that position while asleep is a major challenge, but necessary. The bubble floats to the back of the eye (when you are face down) an puts pressure on the retina to hold it against the back of the eyeball.

 

That is a really tough rehab but definitely worth it if you get your vision back. Glad to hear it's "only" a detached retina.

 

Was thinking about this thread posted the other day, obviously not with respect to conditions like the OP is describing but for general eye health and preventative measures does anyone else here take lutein/zeaxanthin supplements?

There's a fair bit of research detailing how it can reduce the risks of cataracts and AMD. They help to filter harmful blue/ultraviolet light from damaging your retina.

In addition to these things that I mentioned a few months back.....also good to help stave off AMD exacerbated by too much blue light exposure.
http://forums2.13x.com/index.php?threads/trt-guys-talk-to-me.340245/page-23#post-5619265

 

I have been taking a multi-vitamin with lutein at the direction of my optometrist since 2001 after having LASIK. She is part of the LASIK practice. I will more than likely be having cataract surgery later this summer, although it perhaps delayed this, your genetics are probably the most determining factor.

 

Best of luck on the surgery. Hope everything works out well.

 

Doctors can be such assholes. Never taking what people say seriously. Glad to hear there's treatment at least. Is face down for a month only while sleeping or do you have to be face down most of the day? That's brutal. Good luck on the recovery!