Hi everyone, I’m new here. I am 24 and have been type one for 20 years. Two years ago I started have retinopathy and in June this year was diagnosed with proliferative diabetic reiniopathy. My right eye is very blurry and the vision is also distorted. I have a very large bleed in that eye as well. I;ve undergone laser as well as Avastin injections in both eyes. My retina specialist suggests a vitrectomy in both eyes. I was combed through some of the vitrectomy pots but haven’t come across the answer I am looking for which is, what was your vision like before vs. after the vitrectomy? My doctor doesn’t seem to optimistic that this will improve my vision. He says it may slightly help. Anyways, thanks for hanging in there and reading…just looking for others who have been there.
hope you can get someone’s attention here who’ve had it. meanwhile, here’s one person’s experience
you might want to check out the website @Randall_Wong_M_D has
he’s a retina doctor and he actually takes questions from people online!
good luck, welcome to the community & keep us posted about how it goes. It’s truly frightening.
Welcome KAH625. I’m so sorry to hear about your vision problems. I had pretty severe retinopathy when I was diagnosed. I have had 14 tons of laser surgery, more injections in each eye than I can count (and I still get them every four weeks), cataract surgery and three vitrectomy’s. Feel free to ask me anything you want about any of this.
To answer your question about my vision before and after my vitrectomy’s, it was very poor before the vitrectomy’s and still very poor afterwards. The vitrectomy is only really, the removal of the viscous fluid in the eye and replacing it with a saline solution. The procedure is usually performed to accomplish some other work within the eye. The vitrectomy itself usually has little to do with seeing better, but more to do with your eye health.
If you have had injections then the vitrectomy should really be no big deal. It is a similar procedure, just much more involved.
The biggest concern I would have in your case is that you not develop proliferative retinopathy in your other eyeI. As I understand it there is very little that can be done once you reach that stage. I am fortunate in that this is not occurred in my case. And, I do everything I can to avoid it happening.
Obviously I do not know everything about your situation. More than that, I am no Dr. let alone a retinologist. All I know is what I have been through and the results I have gotten. I hope this is helpful to you and as I mentioned above don’t hesitate to ask whatever you need to know. I’m more than glad to share my experiences with you. I know how scary and unnerving these procedures can be. Especially the first time.
hah625, not sure how helpful my info is, since I had my vitrectomy 30 years ago ! My current eye doctor says the procedure is much improved since then.
At the time, I had diabetes for 20+ years, pre-MDI and pump days. After many laser treatments on my left eye, I suddenly could see nothing beyond hand movement 1 foot away. The vitrectomy was done in the hospital, with a 5 day stay. I understand today it is often an ‘office visit’. (also my first experience ‘assuming’ the hospital staff knew how to care for my diabetes, and was very mistaken.)
In my case, it restored significant vision, once all the blood filled vitreous fluid was removed. The unfortunate thing was that back in mid-1980’s, the recommendation was to wait 4-6 months, ‘just in case’ the fluid would settle and clear on it’s own. During that wait, my doctor believes scarring occurred, that may have been prevented if vitrectomy was done sooner. But for the last 30 years, my eye has been stable, with just some distortion due to the scarred part.
Once the fluid is cleared, your vision depends on what damage if any is still on the eye/retina itself, behind the cloudy mess. Sometimes the doctor cannot see it well enough to know. But if there is still bleeding, removing the fluid might mean other treatments could be done to stop bleeding or more damage.
You may want to seek a second opinion if you’re not comfortable with current doctor’s recommendation.
(I did get a 2nd opinion, who told me to get the vitrectory sooner rather than later, but I chose to ignore it at the time.)