Detached retina

**deacon Mark** · 07-28-2024, 04:00 PM

Had this last week and went in for surgery. They laser and do a gas bubble in the eye, Hopefully my vision can be brought back to close to where it was I am ideal candidate for detachment with high myopia and age, The guitar problem is I am pretty fair sight reading by standards and this will make sight reading harder I hope it come back.

Be interested to know if anyone on forum as had detached retina and experience? Right now, I have to chill and do remain in upright position as much as possible, Better than face down as some have to for expended time period,

**rpjazzguitar** · 07-28-2024, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by deacon Mark

Had this last week and went in for surgery. They laser and do a gas bubble in the eye, Hopefully my vision can be brought back to close to where it was I am ideal candidate have high myopia and age, The guitar problem is I am pretty fair sight reading by standards and this will make sight reading harder I hope it come back.

Be interested to know if anyone on forum as had detached retina and experience? Right now, I have to chill and do not much remain in upright position as much as possible, Better than face down as some have to for expended time period,

Sorry to hear about the problem. Best wishes for a speedy, effective recovery.

**sgosnell** · 07-28-2024, 04:52 PM

Not me, but my wife had that issue. Fortunately she saw an ophthalmologist quickly, and he bragged about his work, because she healed quickly, even though she was about 70 years old at the time. He said the quicker it was fixed the better, and the likelihood of full recovery diminishes rapidly after the detachment. Her vision is not great in that eye, but it's about the same as it was before the issue. The instruction to keep the head upright or back is exactly what she was told, and she was careful about it. Good luck with your recovery.

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 07-28-2024, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by Mick-7

I took it the word "not" was missing from your sentence? - "Hopefully my vision can be brought back to close to where it was I am (not an) ideal candidate have high myopia and age."

Actually, the sentence was correct as written. Severe nearsightedness and advanced age make retinal detachment more likely and more common. With nearsightedness, the eyeball itself is elongated. As we age, the semi-solid fluid in the main chamber of the eye (the "vitreous") shrinks a bit and can pull on the retina. So older people with severe nearsightedness are "ideal candidates" for detached retinae.

I"m so sorry to hear you had this, Mark. Here's to the best possible outcome in the shortest time.

**deacon Mark** · 07-28-2024, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

Actually, the sentence was correct as written. Severe nearsightedness and advanced age make retinal detachment more likely and more common. With nearsightedness, the eyeball itself is elongated. As we age, the semi-solid fluid in the main chamber of the eye (the "vitreous") shrinks a bit and can pull on the retina. So older people with severe nearsightedness are "ideal candidates" for detached retinae.

I"m so sorry to hear you had this, Mark. Here's to the best possible outcome in the shortest time.

That is exactly what happened to cause the detachment. I had my right eye do the same thing a number of years ago but only the vitreous pulled away and retina ok. That just caused me some floaters for sure in the right eye. Actually they check that eye too and dr said because that already happen the less chance of a detachment in that eye now. I also had LASIK 21 years ago I never needed glasses after that for 18 years but my physics of my eye are still highly myopic.

On a good note I have been working through Cherokee again to really get it up to tempo. Managed to pull it off well playing along with the Hark Garland recording of it, I just cannot play with his smooth lines but able to solo on it. I try not to focus on the guitar neck but that is not easy.

**Dennis D** · 07-28-2024, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by deacon Mark

Had this last week and went in for surgery. They laser and do a gas bubble in the eye, Hopefully my vision can be brought back to close to where it was I am ideal candidate for detachment with high myopia and age, The guitar problem is I am pretty fair sight reading by standards and this will make sight reading harder I hope it come back.

Be interested to know if anyone on forum as had detached retina and experience? Right now, I have to chill and do remain in upright position as much as possible, Better than face down as some have to for expended time period,

All the best Mark. Long story short I had one DR in one eye and two in the other eye, each time I was ' head down' for 2 weeks..... I actually had a second detachment while the first buckle surgery was still healing. I'm not sure I ever got a satisfactory explanation as to how that could occur, but they said the retina can tear in another spot. And the strict ' head down ' regimen vs upright seems to vary for whatever reason....different parts of the US or different schools, or ? ......
But I did later develop cataracts in both eyes, ( a blessing ) had them both repaired, and even after all that passed a driver's test without needing glasses, for the first time ever.....I didn't know what ' green grass ' really looked like !.....I've never seen better, although there's scar tissue in the one eye due to a macular hole . So that eye helps with depth perception.....

Lots of good luck.....

And you may be revising your eyeglass scripts.....But if you haven't had cataracts yet, watch for those and as soon as they'll fix that have them do it ! If your eyes are like mine, the improvement will be incredible.

**Mick-7** · 07-28-2024, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

Actually, the sentence was correct as written. Severe nearsightedness and advanced age make retinal detachment more likely and more common. With nearsightedness, the eyeball itself is elongated. As we age, the semi-solid fluid in the main chamber of the eye (the "vitreous") shrinks a bit and can pull on the retina. So older people with severe nearsightedness are "ideal candidates" for detached retina.

Right, I had interpreted his statement as "not an ideal candidate" for the that laser eye surgery, not the disease.

**Gitfiddler** · 07-28-2024, 09:33 PM

@Deacon Mark...Wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.

**jim777** · 07-29-2024, 09:21 AM

Having lost an eye to cancer at age 2 anything retina related scares the crap out of me. I hope you have a fast and fantastic recovery and that you'll be burning through Cherokee again ASAP

**P4guitar** · 07-29-2024, 02:44 PM

I got the bubble treatment about 20 years ago and it fixed the problem. Even though I've had a lot of eye problems before and since, I can still read music and function pretty well. Bottom line: modern ophthalmology is wondrous and without it I would be totally blind now.

You'll do just fine.

**wintermoon** · 07-30-2024, 12:21 PM

Get well soon Mark!

**MarkRhodes** · 07-30-2024, 04:46 PM

Yikes!
Wishing you all the best.

**starjasmine** · 07-30-2024, 08:59 PM

Sending you well wishes!
To make lemonade out of these lemons, this sounds like ideal incentive to practice playing without looking at the neck. Just close your eyes and play. It might be very weird at first but you'll probably be surprised at how quickly you start to be able to play without visual cues.

**oldane** · 07-31-2024, 05:01 AM

I don't have any personal experiences with retinal detachment but my late wife had. Being a physician by profession myself I do understand the mechanisms. She too was very myopic. She experienced retinal detachment two times on the same eye. The first time, the treatment was "oil" filling. The second time a couple of years later she was treated with cerclage and that did the trick once and for all. However, as is often seen when there's surgery done on the eye, a cataract developed, but that was an easy fix. After that came an "after-cataract" which is the remaining lens capsule becoming unclear and milky. That was fixed with laser which cuts a "peep hole" in the capsule. My wifes vision was not quite the same as before in the peripherical part of the visual field, but she could read and drive without problems and she continued to work until she retired due to age.

The important thing with retinal detachment is to get treatment immediately when the detached parts of the retina can still be put back in place. Along with penetrating injuries it one of the few "emergencies" in ophtalmology.

**Marty Grass** · 07-31-2024, 07:03 AM

Mark, I'm sorry to learn this. Sight, like life, is precious and temporary. I pray for a full recovery.

**deacon Mark** · 07-31-2024, 07:31 PM

Update, saw dr today 2nd Post op visit. So far so good, he allowed me to drive to store and get around if needed. Still have to remain chilled and take it easy. Cataract surgery coming up next as this makes them mature faster. The gas bubble in my eye about 1/2 way down. I ran tell you I will not take my eyes ever the same. Make sure to protect them and baby them. See dr in a week.

**sgosnell** · 08-01-2024, 12:09 PM

Losing my eyesight has been one of the things I've most worried about. I use safety glasses of some sort for most jobs, and I wear sunglasses when outside. I've also always tried to protect my hearing, and even after being a helicopter pilot for almost 50 years my hearing is still pretty good.

**Mick-7** · 08-17-2024, 09:05 PM

How is your eye doing, deacon?

**deacon Mark** · 08-18-2024, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by Mick-7

How is your eye doing, deacon?

Well so far so good the bubble is gone left last week in the sacristy before 7:30 am mass. Saw the retinal dr Wednesday he is happy so far. My vision in the eye right now is as it was even slightly better. I could read the 20/25 line and guesstimate the 20/20. My eye pressure was up a bit but dr was not concerned. Right now it again is my distance eye for seeing as the right eye has a -2.25 correction I see about 20/40. Naturally I am really happy but not out of the woods can detach again depending on how it takes.

The other thing though is from my bike crash May 20th, The broken collarbone healed and my hand, however my greater trochanter on right hip is broken nondisplaced but not healed. I can walk no pain but cannot step up stairs on it unless I hold rails and take off the weight. The xray after crash showed nothing but a ct scan did 9 days ago. It has not yet done much healing or bone callus. I don't know but it has been a rough 13 weeks. Up and down and one thing I can play the guitar and have a lot but sitting in one spot on right leg can get uncomfortable.

Thanks for asking!

**Cunamara** · 08-18-2024, 05:36 PM

Somehow, I managed to miss all this until today. Glad to hear your eye is healing up, Mark. Also glad the results of your bike accident are mostly better, although concerned about the hip not having healed. However, if they didn't know about it, then they wouldn't have been able to do a fixation to secure things. Are they sending you back to ortho for an opinion?