Detached Retina

faceman

This is not a request for medical advice!

I am very short sighted and my optician always warns me that I am at risk of getting a detached retina. I'm curious though, has anyone hear ever had one?

I have lots of floaters naturally already so the symptoms I am aware of (floaters and curtains) worry me that if I did develop symptoms, it may be 'too late'.

What was your experience with the onset of detached retinas?

Again to emphasise, I am not having symptoms or anything like that, just curious about people's experiences.

Daenarys

My Dad had it in both eyes, I remember him mentioning seeing halos and/or quick flashes of light. I think most short sighted people have floaties, they're so annoying but it's not a sign of retina detaching. I know because I asked my optician

Bluefrog

I've had 4, 2 in each eye. Mine come from some issues I had with my eyes when I was a kid.

Each time they have presented in different ways but you definitely know something is up. Mine have started with:

1. Flashes and some shape distortions - objects appearing wavy.
2. Loss of brightness in vision - very noticeable at the start with loss of night vision but then noticeable during the day too with everything developing a yellow tinge.
3. The appearance of permanent floaters - quite a bit larger than anything you would normally see and persistent with spectrum effects around the edges. Couldn't really mistake them for the normal kind.
4. Curved vision, especially noticeable looking at straight lines like the edge of doors and windows.

Even with a full detachment you have at least a couple of days to get it sorted so I wouldn't let the fear of it run your life - just get regular checkups to monitor.

While 4 seems quite a lot, I know people who have had many more and had them repaired.

Short sightedness does increase your risk but not nearly as much as say diabetes or some physical trauma as far as I know.

_Whimsical_

Bluefrog wrote: »

I've had 4, 2 in each eye. Mine come from some issues I had with my eyes when I was a kid.

Each time they have presented in different ways but you definitely know something is up. Mine have started with:

1. Flashes and some shape distortions - objects appearing wavy.
2. Loss of brightness in vision - very noticeable at the start with loss of night vision but then noticeable during the day too with everything developing a yellow tinge.
3. The appearance of permanent floaters - quite a bit larger than anything you would normally see and persistent with spectrum effects around the edges. Couldn't really mistake them for the normal kind.
4. Curved vision, especially noticeable looking at straight lines like the edge of doors and windows.

Even with a full detachment you have at least a couple of days to get it sorted so I wouldn't let the fear of it run your life - just get regular checkups to monitor.

While 4 seems quite a lot, I know people who have had many more and had them repaired.

Short sightedness does increase your risk but not nearly as much as say diabetes or some physical trauma as far as I know.

Thanks so much for that answer. I'd never heard of this condition before a trip to the optician that scared the wits out of me last week telling me about the signs and symptoms after I mentioned I have floaters.
Glad to see floaters aren't all that uncommon and that the worrying kind are somewhat distinct from regular ones. When you say your night vision is affected is that over a matter of days it happens or do you mean you have poorer night vision in general?