A few weeks ago, my wife was walking down the stairs, when, it seemed to her, a red ink bomb exploded in her eye. We went to see an eye doctor who referred her to an specialist.
The specialist examined her eyes and determined that a blood vessal had ruptured in her eye and it was continuing to bleed. He also determined that her other eye also had blood vessel damage due to the long term affects of diabetes. In fact, according to him, my wife was probably a diabetic a lot longer than she suspected and a lot longer than when she was diagnosed.
What the doctor has recommended is surgury to remove the blood from inside the eye, followed by laser treatment to treat the damaged tissue. Also, he has recommended that he also do laser treatment on the other eye due to the long term effects of my wife’s diabetes on that eye.
The doctor is great but he is extremely busy but we would like some basic ideas about what my wife can expect during the days after her surgeries and also in the weeks and months to follow.
We are not looking for medical advice but some people on this Forum may be familar with the procedures my wife is facing and can perhaps share their experiences with everyone on this Forum. My wife would feel a lot better if she knew something about what to expect over the next few weeks, months and even perhaps years.
Any advice given or experiences shared are greatly appreciated.
After 52 years with tyoe 1, I had the same procedure. First, to stop the bleeding, they injected something directly into my right eye. As bad as that sounds ,there was less pain that a tooth extraction. They deadened the eye with drops before the injection. The laser treatment was a little uncomfortable. The first time I had laser on my lef eye, they deadened it with shots under the eye. This last time I opted for no shots and afterward, I probably would have opted for the shots. After two years and a good pump, things have remained stable.
It seems like your wife will be having a vitrectomy in each eye. This is a very useful procedure, because they can get all of the blood out of the way and see where the retina needs to be lasered. In older times, they had to wait for the blood to clear, which takes about 3-4 weeks. With laser, timeliness is important.
I really hate to describe my experience because everyone is different. I went to a day surgery center and had general anesthetic. I think I was out for less than an hour. they make two tiny incisions on either side of the iris and suck the fluid out and replace it with saline. It sounds like they will be doing the laser at the same time, which is easier when the patient is out.
I was not in any pain after, but I think some people are, and they will give her pain pills and she’ll have to wear a patch for at least a day. The eye was pretty red and swollen for about a week, and at the incision sites were two little stitches that I could sort of feel each time I blinked (but not bad at all.) Some of my curious friends asked to look at the stitches and then freaked out. They dissolved in about a week.
She may continue to have some bleeding inside the eye. Sometimes while the lasered vessels are dying, they shrink and release blood. This usually clears on it’s own.
I am so very sorry your wife is going through this. But, we live in the best of times and technology is superb. My good wishes to you both. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask on my page.
PS, I can see ok today, 6 years later.
Kathy , thanks for explaining the procedure to Marad and his lady . Marad and his lady, I understand , are visiting Canada from the Middle East … I want to wish them both well from British Columbia , Canada ; cannot help with their request of " housing " …live on the other side of big Canada ;-(
i am about to face surgery next month for this exact same thing. i work on a computer. how long were you out of work. i have some time i can take off but not much
