I recently went to a retinal specialist because I was getting some flashes now and then and a lot of floaters and she told me I had a retinal tear that actually had tried to repair itself but said she would do the laser retinal repair surgery to prevent it from opening. The doctor acted as though it was very low risk and I went a long because I feared any vision loss and I didn't think there were common complications. Since the laser a few days ago I have this blank black/gray spot in my lower peripheral. Sometimes I see it more than others like in certain lighting or if I'm moving my head a lot. Sometimes it even just looks like a little light. I told the doctor about it and she says she thinks it's from the inflammation from the laser and should resolve but there might be a chance that the spot will remain but I'll only see it if I try to look for it and most people don't notice it. I notice everything however and I am only 24 and have good peripheral vision so it's a big deal for me. I was wondering if anyone had this experience and saw the spot and over time it disappeared. I saw a post in another forum that someone had the cyro procedure, saw what sounded similar to what I was seeing and it eventually disapeared. Any comments on experiences with this retinal tear laser would be helpful. Thank you.
Hi Rose
I had a retinal tear two years ago , and had it repaired by laser. I had the streaks of lightening and then the floaters appeared. I was told if tear was not repaired it was highly likely to develop into a retinal detachement. I still have all the floaters and at the time I was led to believe they would gradually diminish or my brain would learn to ignore them. I would advise contacting your retinal surgeon and making an appointment to see him again, it might be just another form of floater and nothing to be concerned about. I understand your anxiety at only 24, it happened me at 50 and I think it was as a result of a jerk to the head. Dont leave it on the long finger, its probably nothing serious, but just get peace of mind for youself, let us know how you get on. Best of luck...
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I dont think its a floater since it is the same exact spot and is more like a little blob. Floaters are annoying to deal with, but at least manageable. I went to the retinal surgeon again the next day after the laser repair and she said it was healing well and she thought it was the inflamation from the laser where the burns were placed that I was seeing and that it should resolve in a few days, but she said theres a slight chance I might see it permanently I guess if I really try to look for it so I am hoping that is not the case. I think but I'm not 100% sure that the spot is slowly getting smaller, but not sure if that's just wishful thinking. I have a follow up appointment in a few days with her so hopefully things are still looking okay. Thank you for sharing.
Rose it could be where the laser burned the retina to seal it. It should gradually decrease but you may have a permanent small blind patch. Dont worry about this as your other eye will compensate when looking with both eyes. I have this. I advise you not to drive for about a month to let you eyes adapt to this change in vision. You may need to advise the DVLA and your insurance if you are in UK.
Thank you Marina for your reply. That's what I was dreading is having a small blind spot now. I wasn't informed this was common to happen before the laser was performed and then after she told me most people don't notice it when I complained about it. Although I guess it's better to be safe than sorry I now sort of regret doing it since the tear healed itself she told me. Hopefully it will get to the point soon where I don't notice it at all. It's distracting when I'm looking in the mirror or walking around. I'm actually in the US and stumbled upon this forum. Luckily the spot is straight down in my peripheral right next to my nose so I don't see it at all when driving. Thank you for sharing ! I appreciate it !
Hi Rose, hope all goes well with appointment, unfortunately many surgeons are slow to point out the risks with any surgery. I hope you get good news. Its very stressful dealing with any eye issue, as well I know, last few months have been extremely difficult for me...at least when you chat to people on this forum you realise you are not alone...
Thank you Tripadvisor. It is very stressful to be dealing with any eye problem. I think it is one of the worst fears to have of losing vision. It is nice to be able to speak with peope going through similar issues. I went to the doctor and she said everything is healing well. The spot seems to be getting smaller and is kind of just flickering now so hopefully it goes away completely soon. Thanks for your reply!
Hi Rose,
I agree, eye issues are defo the most stressful/worrying ...and with any of us we develop anxiety or get very stressed about it which i suppose doesent help. Glad to hear you got reassurance from Retinal Specialist and hopefully that spot will go completely. Havin driven myself crazy searchn the internet Im convinced those of us who are short sighted are more likely to have eye issues, I had laser eye surgery some years back but the surgeon told me regardless of that you still have a very long eyeball when you were or are shortsighted and this makes the eye more vulnerable. Keep the faith , Rose and keep in touch here, Im finding this forum a real help , I have to say.
Hi Rose. I posted a similar post a few months ago. Initially, i had a tear, and that day I had what looked like (small) black rain drops across my entire right eye. Long story short, i had 10 minute of laser from a Retinal Specialist. For several weeks, i had flashes (mostly in the right corner of my eye. Most visible at night. Occurred most when i would turn my head to the side). The flashes subsided. My Retinal specialist continued to see me every 3-4 weeks for about 6 months. Her main concern was that the blood (that she could see during deep exam) was not clearing fast enough. Finally, on my last visit, though the blood was still visible, she extended the return visit to 3 months. I continue to have a large -what i call- octopus or jellyfish shaped floater. It is clearish, but mildly gets in the way of my vision. When i turn my eyes left, it moves to the right. when i turn my eyes to the right, it moves to the left. Most of the time, my eyes look past it, or around it somehow. The strangest occurrence for me, is when i close my eyes, sometimes (not every time) i see a brief light colored movment. For the first few months, it appeared to "roll over" and disapear after a 2 second. Most recently, it does not seem to roll, it just "is there" for a few seconds, then gone. I think we all have memory sight when we close our eyes (i.e., if you were looking at a lamp, and closed your eyes, for a few second, you will see the memory of the lamp, not the actual lamp). This is like something bright briefly flashes across the memory sight. This probably does make sense, to most. To Rose, i hope that you condition continues to improve. It IS frustrating to have your (our) eyes do non-standard things, especially when it gets in the way of us seeing clearly.
Thanks Rick for the reply. It is very frustrating to have any eye problems. My biggest fear has always been losing my vision. Hopefully the retinal specialist will tell you the blood has cleared up at your next visit. Floaters have been annoying to deal with. I've never had ones like you describe, however. Mine are pretty small. Its funny you say you were seeing small black rain drops bc that is what I was seeing in my peripheral before I had the tear repaired, but only if I really looked for it. It more so looked like little black lines coming down. Since last positing although I'm not seeing a black spot as much anymore, in its place I have this constant flashing or flickering almost white/clear light and it seems like this flickering extends into the peripheral on the other side of that eye as well since the spot was down by nose. I am hoping this is just part of the healing process since the retina is scarring and that it will subside soon. It's definitly been annoying since I see it pretty frequently. I was wondering if anyone else experienced this after the retinal tear laser surgery? Part of me just wishes I never went and left it alone since supposedly it healed itself. Now I feel like I have more eye problems then before the laser. I visit the retinal specialist again in a week and a half to check on it.
Hi Rose. When i had the initlal black rain, and the flashes, my Retinal specialist warned me that it was/is a very serious situation. Therein, the reason for the laser. When i went in for my first visit, and i was dilated and she examined me, it was at the end of that initial visit that she did the laser. She had finiished examining me, and said I think we will need to do some laser. There was something in the way that she looked at me, that i said to her: "Now?", and she said yes. And she did the procedure within the next 30 minutes. Why am I saying this? You should be very glad that you had the treatment. My specialist warned that if my eye had gone untreated, that it was possibly/likely that i would have gotten worse (i.e., my retina could have FULLY detached) and i could have lost complete vision in my right eye. I don't know your details, but I venture to guess that the same could have been true for you. My best wishes for your continued improvement.
Hi rose, I've just had a laser surgey done for my retinal tear 6 days ago on my left eye. After surgery I've been noticing a blind spot, a shadow to the left side of my eye. It is somewhat distracting and is most noticable when I'm in bright places and when I try to look out for it deliberately. I don't notice it when I'm doing stuff however it's kinda bothersome and I feel like my field of vision is not like what it used to be before surgery. I will be seeing my eye doctor again in 2 days. I hope and pray that the shadow will subside in time. I feel better after reading after reading your post and know that I am not alone in this. Thank you for sharing. I hope you are completely recovered by now. God bless.
Hi Paul,
For the most part that black/gray spot dissapeared but I was left with this annoying constant shimmering in my peripheral vision in the area I had that laser. It seems to extend out from the spot where I had the blind spot. Although it has gotten better since it first began, it has not resolved completely and it really drives me crazy. I also feel like my field of vision is not the same. I feel a little off balanced sometimes when looking straight. Hoping the issue resolves for both of us. Some people have said it can take a year for the retinal to heal completely. Many times, I wish I never went to the retina specialist and just left my eye alone and it might have been fine especially since my tear had scar tissue from healing itself. I didnt know it was common to be left with this visual disturbance. That should be explained much more clearly to patients.
Thank you Rick. Thats what I try to keep in mind that it could have been much worse, but having this visual disturbance is very distracting for me. =/
Hi there, I just had my retinal tear laser surgery 2 months ago and have been noticing a small crescent shaped spot at the lower left corner of my operated eye. Within this spot, I see white light sometimes. But most of the time it looks like a kaleidoscope of floaters floating within. Even though the spot is relatively small, it really bothers me. My eye doctor told me that the retinal laser surgery was successful after going back twice for checkups. But she told me to expect this small part of vision loss because of the damaged/scarred retina. I can totally accept this minor impaired vision due to scarring, but can anyone tell me if this constant kaleidoscoping effect I see within that spot is NORMAL at all?? Or is it something to worry about? Will it subside, ever? And how long does it take for the retina to heal COMPLETELY after a laser surgery? Many thanks!!!
Hi Tom, if you went back to the retina specialist for check ups since this began, it probably is not something to worry about. A couple weeks after I had the laser surgery I strarted getting something similar in the spot I had the laser, but I would describe mine as more like static/strobe light effect I think and it is constant. Mine really annoys me too. I feel like although it is in my peripheral vision it radiates up into my central vision. Its always there, just varies depending on the lighting. It would be one thing to just have a blind spot, but this effect in my vision is so distracting. Its been 8 months for me and it stil has not faded completely. It has very slowly gotten a little bit better (I think). Sometimes it is hard to be sure since it really depends on the lighting how bad I see this effect, but I do overall think it has faded so that he strobe light effect is more clear than white/light if that makes sense. But sometimes I get that white light still in dark environments. On other forums, some people said it went away after a year and it can take about a year for the retina to heal so I'm hoping that is the case. I hope with time it fades for you. Its very stressful/distracting to deal with.
I had my laser surgery 4 days ago. My eye is very blurry and every now and then I get the jelly fish floater. I think this is OK? at least it's nothing like the flashing lights and black floater which was a bit like a fly. I too was told I had to have immediate treatment and they found two tears in the retina.
I have had one check up and the next one is in 2 weeks. It's made me really anxious. Does any one know how long the new floaters will last?
Hi Hazel Im so sorry to hear you had two retinal tears. I had same thing two years ago and had emergency laser surgery to repair the tear. Sadly I was with a very careless and disinterested eye doc who chance diagnosed my phone and was adamant it was just a pvd. It was very nieve of me to accept a telephone diagnosis considering it was concerining my eyes. The morning after I saw the lightening streaks I woke up with what felt like a huge fly in my vision...Unfortunately because it was left unattened for 5 days (until I went to see someone) there was further damage done so it was day 6 before I had my surgery. I was left with the floaters despite the retinal surgeon telling me they wouldnt last forever, would eventually go. I was very lucky my retina didnt completely detach over those days. If your tears were caught early on Id be optimistic your floaters will go as I know someone who was operated on 24 hours following her diagnosis and withing weeks the floaters vanished. Ive had other more pressing eye issues in the last year following an accident so tbh the floaters dont bother me at all. Id say just hang in there and they will go...
Thank you so much for your reassuring words TripAdvisor.
It was the third consultant who found my tears and he had to do the laser because the laser specialist could not find it.
I agree, trust your instincts.
I hope your current issues with your eyes are being sorted.
How is rose I wonder?
Hi Hazel, did you have the photocoagulation laser? That's what I had. My vision was only really blurry the day of. I don't think I got a new floater after. I have a bunch of floaters now after using Flonase which I believe caused all my eye issues...but from the scaring from the laser I do now have a static/shimmering like phenomenon in the area that was lasered. Luckily it has gradually gotten better over the months, but it is still distracting. I am hoping it goes away completely soon. Sometimes I wish I never got the laser but I guess then I would have been worried that my retina would have detached. From what I read, sometimes floaters go away and sometimes they don't so there's really know way to know but I hope it becomes less distracting for you. I think the most important thing is making sure to go to all your follow ups with the doctor who did the laser to make sure there's no new issues!