Saturday, January 13, 2007

Detached vitreous?


Eww. So last night I noticed a spot in my eye, which I assumed was a "floater", which I have always had and had gotten more noticeable in recent years. Then I was driving after dark and noticed a flashing in the corner of my eye when I would move it rapidly from one side to the other. Well this seemed to be something my eye doctors were always asking me about but something I had not noticed before.

We looked up the symptoms on the web and, once I realized the "floater" was stationary, I decided to call the eye doctor and go in. He put a bunch of drops in my eyes and looked around with a very bright light, then said it was a detached vitreous, which may not be a problem, but he wants to make sure it does not tear the retina. I have to go see a retina specialist in two weeks.

Hilariously, we ran into the doctor again a couple hours later in Stew Leonards. You see everybody there.

3 comments:

Bruce King said...

Hi Geoff, greetings from far off New Zealand!
The symptoms you describe fit my experience of yesterday precisely. I had noticed for some time a "ring" of flashes in my right eye when changing my line of sight from my side mirror to the front when driving. Last night the more subtle "flashes" turned into a strong and alarming ring of flashing from all sides and the floaters intensified. These artifacts are now highly visible. Thanks to your post (via Google—what a resource!) my panic reaction to this new state of seeing yielded to calm as I read your experience. Thank you for posting this piece of personal information which has helped another person unknown to you and far away. Such is the power of global communication these days! I immediately phoned my eye specialist—a wonderful man who didn't mind being contacted on a Sunday at home—and he verified that, like your experience, it is a vitreous detachment for sure and he will see me in two days. I would very much like to know how this issue was resolved for you. I enjoyed your account of your laptop repair—this is the kind of nutty thing I have been known to get involved in occasionally (I'm a 66 year old ex engineer/inventor/graphic designer, now retiring in the direction of woodworking/furniture making). All the best, keep on blogging!

Geoff said...

Bruce, if you look back here again, you are welcome, and I am glad to hear you saw a specialist right away. Thanks for reading my blog. Have a good winter down there.

Geoff said...

Bruce, I forgot you asked how it turned out for me. The retina specialist gave me a good bill of health and said to just keep seeing my regular eye Dr. I believe it is now fully detached and I can see many artifacts as I move my eye around, but it only bothers me in very bright light and I have kind of gotten used to seeing it. Good luck with your examination.