Are you extremely short-sighted and getting on in years?

[RogerS]

By extremely, I mean -6 diopre or worse.

Do you know all about eye floaters and flashes (in the eye, dammit, that's why I put 'eye' floaters ).

Seriously, if you don't then I do recommend you take the time to (a) read this and that you know where your nearest hospital is for acute cases so that you can go there the same day and have a bit of laser spot-welding done if need be.

You can self-refer. Do NOT waste time going to see your GP.

If you can't get to the eye hospital then at least go and get your retina checked out by an optometrist registered with the PEARS scheme (not all of them are). You will be able to get a same-day appointment. It potentially is THAT SERIOUS.

I'm OK...I got a large floater in my left eye on Monday but didn't get it checked properly until Friday (partly because I didn't have hardly any flashing) at an optometrist registered with PEARS (not all of them are). She (young slip of a girl) said that as far as she could tell my retina(a) were OK but suggested I go to the Birmingham Medical Eye Centre for a second opinion. I do have PVD in my left eye but, as the article says, lots of people get it. Just that any flashing - now or in the future - is potentially serious and could mean loss of sight in that eye.

 

[CHJ]

Frightening isn't it, and you do not have to have serious vision distortions for those things to occur.

See Blood flowing across your vision, don't ask me how your brain can focus on something within your eye but believe me it can, just like you had dropped a spot of ink in water.
Sunday and away from home, call in local hospital on way home for advise, rushed into casualty immediately without wait, 10 minutes later told to get wife to drive me to Cheltenham Eye hospital promptly as ambulance could be too long a wait, further preparatory eye drops applied to save time during journey.

Arrive at same time as consultant called in, 1 hr. + and a whole raft of scans and told did not need anything welding back in place as retina appeared intact.
A few weeks of constant checks as grey fog of diluted blood slowly dissipates, and a few more months waiting for brain to ignore the odd floater that persisted.

Not very encouraging to be told they are quite common for the over 70's when you still have a few years to go to reach that milestone.

When floaters appear in second eye a few years later not quite so much panic as regular eye tests have confirmed just result of natural wear and tare.

Don't see them unless someone asks how they are doing or brain focusses on them for some reason.

Told in the first instance not to worry unduly about vertical bright white flashes seen when in very low light conditions (with me depends on general eye health and rapid eye ball movement or shock loads)

Told to be very aware of anything that looks like a curtain being drawn across field of view.

 

[GrahamH]

I'd agree with the above and get it checked out quickly as possible i.e. straight to your local eye hospital. It might not be PVD but you could have a problem with your retinas.

I'd a floater but no flashes which I'd ignored for a couple of months, only picked up as I'd needed to get an eye test as I had broken my glasses. The optician stopped the test about halfway through and called through to the local eye hospital for an emergency appointment.

Turns out I had several tears in both retinas, which need laser on one eye and cryo (froze a bit that was flapping about) on the other.

Don't take any risks with your eyes please - you only get one set.

 

[tisdai]

I had my eyes tested arround 6 weeks ago and ended up needing new glasses and nothing was mentioned their. I have been having like a faint greyish or dark line or small dots passing by in my vision, they can go in any direction been going on for a long while now. surely an eye test would bring that up right away, Well I hope it would anyways..

Cheers

Dave

 

[RogerS]

I had my eyes tested arround 6 weeks ago and ended up needing new glasses and nothing was mentioned their. I have been having like a faint greyish or dark line or small dots passing by in my vision, they can go in any direction been going on for a long while now. surely an eye test would bring that up right away, Well I hope it would anyways..

Cheers

Dave

They don't test in depth for this. You have to have drops put in your eyes to dilate the pupils so they can get a good look. They then shine a very bight light - called a slit lamp - into your eyes and each eye takes a long long time to do properly. Much longer than in the standrad eye test. I guess that if you had a large tear in the retina then that would be picked up. Otherwise maybe not. Are you very short-sighted? If so then maybe go back to your optician.

 

[devonwoody]

I complained of floaters to my optician a few years ago, he referred me to my GP (who is also an eye consultant), they didnt seem to make much fuss and told to refer back if things progressed.

 

[Digit]

Bin there etc, but also a word of caution Rog, but please understand this is just my case.
Floaters, yes, flashes, yes, been tested, been told to watch for etc.
One Friday morn I awoke with a black hole in the centre of my vision in the left eye.
Saturday I'm in hospital, age related macular degeneration, she says.
Oh no it's not! says the chap.
I sit there whilst this pantomime continues, but eventually they both agree that laser spot welding to stop the hole spreading
You won't feel anything, it's quite painless as it's done under a loca ane however you spell it!
They lied! It's like having your eyeball boiled!
The worst thing is that I now not only have a small hole in my vision, the chap was correct BTW it wasn't ARMD, but I have a much larger area of distortion surrounding the hole that renders my left eye useless!

Roy.

 

[tisdai]

You guys are getting me worrrried and no doubt others as well. will have to phone in the mornin to get this checked this out.

 

[Digit]

Floaters are normal td, I was informed that only a sudden increase warrented examination, flashing apparently may or may not be worrisome.
I had an episode of flashing and as I have only one usable eye I went straight to A & E. I was examined and informed that there was nothing to worry about and it cleared shortly after.

Roy.

 

[CHJ]

They lied! It's like having your eyeball boiled!
...

Been there, at least something similar, local anesthetic whilst they rasped scar tissue off the surface of the eye.
No, the rasping did not hurt but the bright hi-intensity light shining into a totaly dilated un-shaded eyeball was excruciating, especially whilst they discussed amongst themselves which brand and profile of rasp were best.
Surgeon would not listen, said it could not possibly be that bad, don't normally wish anything on anybody but...
just like he refused to let Anaesthetist prescribe me anything greater than paracetamol for afterwards despite Anaesthetist being pretty forceful about the need. Anaesthetist was correct paracetamol was not strong enough.
Likewise opthalmists doing follow-up slit tests etc. would not believe that light caused excruciating pain. They may find out one day...

So if anybody is unlucky enough to have eye surgery, don't wait for pain to start before taking next lot of pain relief, if the prescription says it's safe, take it at minimum intervals, it takes too long to kick in.

 

[RogerS]

Bit more feedback.

When I started going down this route, I went to see my highly experienced (aka grey-haired but very much on-the-ball) optometrist at my opticians and it was he who told me that although he was qualified the opticians wasn't on PEARS and so set me off on the path via the young lass. He did ask me to get back to him, though, with feedback.

I commented about how I was a bit disillusioned by the relative inexperience of the young lass and her wanting to send me to the eye hospital. To my surprise, he said that he would have done exactly the same and these are the reasons why.

This PEARS scheme is relatively new and has been foisted on the opticians by the hospitals. Apparently as soon as you walk into the eye hospital it costs them £140 before they actually do anything. So PEARS pushes down the retinal detachment testing etc down to the optometrist at the opticians. For which they get paid £45. However....most opticians do not yet have the full set of equipment. The gear that they have can only check out the retina surface that is in line-of-sight through the pupil. So there is a big chunk that the optometrist (as yet) cannot check. So they are not prepared to run the risk of legal cases etc for a paltry £45 if they don't have the proper training or the proper kit.

What is the 'proper' kit? It is the Goldmann Universal Three Mirror Contact Lens kit. You need special eye drops that aneasthetise the eyeball as it is a contact type operation onto the eyeball. You are not supposed to wear hard contact lenses afterwards for a while as the cornea can get soft, I believe. Question to self: I'm not 100% sure that I had this done when I went to the Eye Hospital which means that I'm not necessarily in the clear as retinal tears are most prevalent in this area....the very area that your local optometrist can't see with the standard kit. So I'll be contacting them to find out.

He did say that me having a virtually complete PVD (posterior vitreous detachment) was a cause for celebration. The vitreous acts like a load of bungee cables attached to your retina and as the vitreous shrinks with age then these bungees pull on the retina...a possible cause of a tear or detachment. So by having a PVD it means that all the bungees have been released. My engineering brain thought that it would be the complete opposite...ie increased risk because the vitreous wasn't pushing and holding the retina in place against the eyeball.

So there we go. Stay tuned for 'Doctor' Roger's next health newsheet :wink:

 

[Bill Mooney]

4 years ago I got showers of black dots in my right eye. My optician referred me to our local eye casualty. After many bouts of laser treatment & 10 operations on both eyes for multiple retinal detachments over 3 years I am now registered blind. I am not dark blind but have lost useful vision. I am using a 27" mac on high magnification so I can just read the forum. After being off the lathe for a couple of years I have been retrained & am back turning. I also learned to touch type which is a great help.
if you are in any doubt about your sight get it checked now,SOONEST IS BEST, don't feel foolish if the Doc says your eyes are ok, that's what you want to hear. You feel nothing but when you see the symptoms it's already happened so just be aware.

 

[Digit]

I can only sympathise Bill, when I lost the use of the one eye I spent the morning I was to go into hospital walking around my garden trying to remember everything in case it was the last time I would see it.
I'm very deaf, I've had cancer, but nothing scared me as much facing the prospect of blindness.
As Bill says people, if in any doubt at all, see your GP! That's what he's paid for!

Roy.

 

[CHJ]

Glad to hear that you are managing to get around the problems somewhat Bill, must be very scary and ultimately frustrating, I know I had never been so much on edge as when my problem occurred, due annual checkup end of month and if it's not my usually opthalmist then they are going to be facing some searching questions in case something is missed.