Posterior Vitreous Detachment PSA

[mckenney99]

Last Friday morning I sat down to pay the monthly bills. I immediately noticed something was wrong with my left eye vision. I had a jumbo sized "floater" to the left side of my vision. I also was experiencing "lightning flashes" in my left eye. I was NOT experiencing any pain or discomfort in the left eye. I immediately tried flushing the eye out with water and checking to make sure there was nothing in my eye but I couldn't see any type of foreign object in the eye. I became a little more concerned that I was experiencing a possible serious eye/vision event, so I called the last Optometrist I had seen here in town. I was told to get into the office as soon as possible for an examination which honestly concerned me a bit. After dilating my left eye and then a thorough examination she diagnosed me as experiencing a common ailment for folks my age (66) and it is generally a benign condition that should resolve itself in about 4 - 6 weeks, while the symptoms may worsen before they begin to subside.

I have never heard of or read about this condition. After a little internet research (I know) I found an excellent short/concise article from the Cleveland Clinic that supported completely what the local Optometrist had told me.

I don't mind admitting I was really concerned when I first experienced the symptoms.

I just want to put this information out there for those of you who may be getting to "that age" when bad things start to happen.

This morning, now a week into this experience, I have noticed that the "floater" has enlarged to the point it is obscuring about 1/4 to 1/3rd of my left eyes vision, which seems to be reported as a possible normal progression of the condition until it finally resolves itself.

Take care of your vision folks.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14413-posterior-vitreous-detachment

 

[WCCPHD]

I have had the same ailment. Took more than six weeks for the "floaters" to go away.

 

[mckenney99]

My floater today has enlarged to the point it reminds me of a creature from an old "B" horror movie. I'm beginning to think about giving "the thing" a name since it looks like it's going to be with me for a while.

 

[Golddollar]

Coming up on 3 years ago I had floaters that looked like the patches on a Holstein cow. I went to the emergency room first because I wanted to make sure I wasn't having a stroke. My eye doctor got me in a couple days later and he determined I had a retinal hemorrhage in my right eye and referred me to a retinalogist. The hospital determined that I wasn't having a stroke and that was a relief. The leaked blood has been washed out but I still have some issues with the vision of my right eye. The hospital did act pretty promptly to make sure that I wasn't having a catastrophic condition.

 

[mckenney99]

The artifact I see in my left eye thankfully is not solid. It is not visible when looking in a mirror. From the inside looking out it looks very much like the coronary arteries/veins with dye in an x-ray image of the heart. It moves around into view as my eye moves around. It makes it distracting trying to read a book or a screen.

 

[Kevin J.]

I had a similar incident a few years ago where the I basically lost vision in my right eye. I distinctly remember when it happened, shortly after a heavy lifting session in the gym. Long story short I spiked my blood pressure resulting in damage to the retina. Mayo Clinic was able to restore my vision and now I am on blood pressure meds and need to receive an eye injection every two months as a maintenance therapy. The doc told me I wasn't a kid anymore so no more power lifting. Workouts are now lighter with more reps.

Watch your blood pressure boys and gals. It is the silent killer.

 

[SMSgt]

BTDT. I've had floaters all my life, but the "flashes" scared me. The doc said as we age, the eye fluid thickens, causes floaters, and the fluid can "tug" on the retina causing the flashes. He said the treatment, if necessary, was to suck the fluid out of the eye and replace it with saline solution, but it would cause cataracts. I took a pass on it. I don't have the flashes much anymore, but I chase a lot of gnats and ants because of the floaters.

 

[cougar14]

BTDT. I've had floaters all my life, but the "flashes" scared me. The doc said as we age, the eye fluid thickens, causes floaters, and the fluid can "tug" on the retina causing the flashes. He said the treatment, if necessary, was to suck the fluid out of the eye and replace it with saline solution, but it would cause cataracts. I took a pass on it. I don't have the flashes much anymore, but I chase a lot of gnats and ants because of the floaters.

I had exactly the same happen 3 years ago, but the "tug" actually caused a hemorrhage. The doc said sometimes these clear up and I saw him weekly for a month, when he scheduled me for a vitrectomy. I already had cataracts and he told me this procedure would greatly speed up the growth of the cataracts and I should expect within a year to have cataract surgery. He was spot on. After he removed the blood and the vitreus, he filled the inner eye with air and instructed me to sleep upright in a chair for a month. Gradually the body replaces the vitreus, and all was ok, excapt for the accelerating cataracts.

 

[twodog max]

I had the same problem in 2019. Was told the same thing about a month or two. Well 5 years later I still have problems with the eye. No floaters or sparks but if I focus on something more than a few seconds like crosshairs they blur. I to was 66 at the time

 

[WR Moore]

Had something similar a while back. As an addition to the PSA, find an ophthalmologist rather than an optometrist. Those with the longer title are actual medical doctors who specialize in eye care. Longest eye exam I've ever had.

 

[mojave30cal]

Had a similar incident several years ago. The lightning in my
left eye turned out to be a detached retina. Needed laser
surgery to repair it. Also got a big floater in that eye. Doc
called it a " honker".

 

[H Richard]

I have had Floaters for 50 years off and on. Currently I have a large floater in my right eye, an "L" shaped one that seems to be attached at the top of the eye and "swings" back and forth. It past the center of my vision, and can obscure about 1/4. It has lasted over a year now, but has lost density and is less noticeable. It's a real pain in the *** when trying to use open sights.

 

[smithman 10]

Floaters

I've had them since I was 15 or 16 (77 now). I never notice them unless something like this thread prompts me to pay attention to them.

But if one of them got large I'd head for the eye doc forthwith too.

 

[wuluf]

Once with food poisoning, I threw up so hard that I literally lost my vision. All I saw was a red screen. Must have been that blood pressure spike mentioned above, but I was terrified it was permanent. Lasted about 3 hours and slowly went away..

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

 

[swsig]

Here's another cause of weird flashes in the eyes. I've had floaters all my life and long ago I'd learned to ignore them. One day about a dozen years ago couple of them lit up like strings of Christmas three lights. I had them in both eyes. I went to my ophthalmologist who said I was suffering from an "occipital migraine" (totally painless), and that the flashy floaters would go away within a few days. No treatment was necessary. He was right, and they disappeared within a day or so. I've had them reoccur a couple of times since with no problems. Just another fun aging experience, I guess.

 

[Heinz]

I had this happen about eight years ago. It has completely resolved. Some of the best advice I received was to stay hydrated (with non-alcoholic liquids). I have not had a recurrence.

 

[swsig]

I had this happen about eight years ago. It has completely resolved. Some of the best advice I received was to stay hydrated (with non-alcoholic liquids). I have not had a recurrence.

That explains the last occipital migraine attack I remember having. I was visiting friends in Las Vegas and I was not staying hydrated with non-alcoholic liquids.

 

[desmobob]

One day, several years ago, I started having unusual floaters that were "small black blocks," not the usual squiggles; very distracting. I kept thinking I was seeing crows flying by in my peripheral vision. I figured I had better see a doctor the next morning. Shortly after that started, I got home from work and grabbed one of my air rifles to do some back yard target shooting.

At the recoil from the first shot, It looked like someone started squirting ink into my left eye with a hypodermic needle. Within a minute or two, it was completely blacked out and I couldn't see through it at all.

I drove an hour to the hospital emergency room, where they did a bunch of tests They strongly recommended that I actually take an ambulance to a big hospital in the state capitol, another hour away. I did. By then, it was getting later in the evening.

At the big hospital emergency room they did more tests but didn't have an eye specialist on duty at that hour. They let me go, with an appointment to see a retina specialist the next morning. When I saw him, he immediately did laser surgery to reattach my torn retina. That "ink" I saw obscuring my vision was blood from the detachment-induced tear.

Luckily, there is very little permanent vision damage... nothing I notice. 'The whole ordeal was scary though. The retina specialist did joke with me at future visits that I was the first person he had ever heard of that was transported by ambulance from one hospital to the next for the issue.

 

[CH4]

Thanks for sharing. I'll be 60 in November, so now I know to keep an "eye"out for these conditions. Glad to see you're going to be ok.

 

[rwsmith]

For a while....

My floater today has enlarged to the point it reminds me of a creature from an old "B" horror movie. I'm beginning to think about giving "the thing" a name since it looks like it's going to be with me for a while.

Rig

My right eye had a huge eagle rearing its wings. I kept telling the doctor, "It looks like a huge eagle." Right now I'm concerned about my retinas.