experience with a Vitrectomy?

I do not see a HEALTH category so I'm entering my question here. I may have to have a vitrectomy. Has anyone here undergone this procedure?  Thanks. 

(A vitrectomy is a type of eye surgery to treat various problems with the retina and vitreous. During the surgery, your surgeon removes the vitreous and replaces it with another solution. The vitreous is a gel-like substance that fills the middle portion of your eye.)


I don't know if there's any connection with your condition but over a year ago, I developed a strange retina condition called a retinal blister, which involved fluid oozing into and pushing up the retina, creating bizarre visual effects. I don't usually pounce on requests for, or volunteer references to, Drs but I found a wonderful retina surgeon/specialist nearby.  Kurt Jackson.   He was the only guy who would let me walk in without an appointment when the symptoms surfaced even though the symptoms suggested an emergency.  All the other offices were offering their next available appointment as if I was coming in for a routine check up.  Jackson did laser surgery on me that day.  Great guy.


bub said:

I don't know if there's any connection with your condition but over a year ago, I developed a strange retina condition called a retinal blister, which involved fluid oozing into and pushing up the retina, creating bizarre visual effects. I don't usually pounce on requests for, or volunteer references to, Drs but I found a wonderful retina surgeon/specialist nearby.  Kurt Jackson.   He was the only guy who would let me walk in without an appointment when the symptoms surfaced even though the symptoms suggested an emergency.  All the other offices were offering their next available appointment as if I was coming in for a routine check up.  Jackson did laser surgery on me that day.  Great guy.

bub, thank you for your comments. My condition is different. I have, rather quickly, and just a few months after cataract surgery in both eyes, developed severe "floaters" in one eye. They are very distracting and make reading and work difficult. My eye doctor, who I respect passionately, has suggested I wait 30 days and see if there is improvement. (Floaters are actual bits of tissue in the vitreous, the gel-like fluid that fills the eye. Vitrectomy is surgery where the doctor removes the vitreous and replaces it with another solution.) Perhaps gravity will move them away from the center of my vision, or I will get used to them. (I feel the latter is virtually impossible.) I think the surgery is inevitable. The problem is waiting the 30 days with one eye's vision filled with moving spots and what appear as cobwebs and clumps of hair. It sucks. I ordered an eye patch from Amazon to cover the one I when I read or work. (Reading and working fill my day.)


Hope the prognosis for that is good.  It took many months for my thing to subside after the laser surgery but it did.  I have some lingering scar tissue on the retina and apparently I'm now at a higher risk of macular degeneration but so far so good.    


That sucks man. You won’t be able to really read much for at least a couple of weeks after the surgery. Friend of mine is going through this presently, seems to be a common complication after cataract removal. I hope you don’t have retinal detachment issues also. Your eye will be swollen for a while, not sure if you will be able to work under those conditions as you need to read a lot. Good luck with that.


Get a second opinion.

I have significant floaters in both eyes from vitreous detachment.  I feel your pain; this really interferes with reading. I regularly swat at imaginary flies.  I joke about having my own personal light show but the reality is it sucks.

My optometrist, the ophthalmologist who did my cataracts, and the retinalogist I saw all recommended against doing this based on the risk of serious complications.  Oh well.


My spouse had a similar-sounding procedure after the repair of several retinal tears. A gas bubble was injected into the gel to hold the retina in place while it healed. Had to maintain a face-down position for several weeks, which was pretty challenging. (Rented a special chair to be head-down a bit more comfortably.) But it worked!


I've had vitreous flashes and floaters throughout my life, starting in my 20's (now 65). They're unrelated to cataracts or any other medical condition. I'm just lucky, haha. 

I had a particularly big burst a few months ago and went to the ER, thinking it was a retinal tear. Nope, just more vitreous. I discussed a vitrectomy with my regular ophthalmologist. He discouraged it unless I felt the floaters were really interfering with my life. It sounded scary, so I didn't follow up. 

My floaters are always there, but they do eventually fade or sink out of the way, or my brain learns to compensate. Two things that help: 

1. My floaters are much more visible and distracting in bright light and high contrast situations. When I'm on the computer, I keep the room dim and the screen lighting low.

2. They're much more distracting when I'm wearing my contacts vs. glasses. I switch to full-time glasses for a month or so until the floaters settle down.

It does affect my enjoyment of reading, which is unfortunate.


kthnry said:

I've had vitreous flashes and floaters throughout my life, starting in my 20's (now 65). They're unrelated to cataracts or any other medical condition. I'm just lucky, haha. 

I had a particularly big burst a few months ago and went to the ER, thinking it was a retinal tear. Nope, just more vitreous. I discussed a vitrectomy with my regular ophthalmologist. He discouraged it unless I felt the floaters were really interfering with my life. It sounded scary, so I didn't follow up. 

My floaters are always there, but they do eventually fade or sink out of the way, or my brain learns to compensate. Two things that help: 

1. My floaters are much more visible and distracting in bright light and high contrast situations. When I'm on the computer, I keep the room dim and the screen lighting low.

2. They're much more distracting when I'm wearing my contacts vs. glasses. I switch to full-time glasses for a month or so until the floaters settle down.

It does affect my enjoyment of reading, which is unfortunate.

Kthnry,

Thanks for your comments. My floaters are similar, but one is what looks like a clump of hair (imagine how disconcerting that is) while I also have spots - at times I have the sensation I'm seeing bugs on the walls. I feel the floaters really ARE interfering with my life. I work full time at a computer and one of my principal pastimes is... reading! I read the newspaper in print every day, do the crossword puzzles every day, I'm in a book club and subscribe to multiple print and online magazines. 

I'd do the vitrectomy in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the very disruptive recovery requirements. Spending a few weeks facing down would be hard, to say the least, if I expect to work every day. Can I work on my computer with a face-down chair, like iwasmim mentioned above?

Thanks for the two tips. They sound very helpful although I don't wear contact lenses. I imagine that would be very disruptive. 

I'm seeing my eye doctor again on Monday and I will go through all this with him. It's all very disconcerting. 


I’m hoping that you don’t have to do that surgery. Best wishes man. Keep us updated. 


I also have spiderwebs and clumps. Sometime I'll stare at a bright window and twitch my eyes and watch them drift around for entertainment. Good thing I live alone, lol.

How long have you had the floaters? Sounds like they're quite recent? They really do fade with time (in my experience). I would give it a month before making any big decisions.

I'm lucky that mine are almost all in my left eye, which is my weaker eye anyway. I often read with that eye closed. Takes some getting used to.

I find reading online to be easier than on paper. I can read indefinitely on my iPad but reading on paper is tiring. I think it's the reduced contrast. Do you have a kindle or similar? If I still lived in NJ, I'l lend you mine.


For the life of me I can't imagine having to keep your head facing down for a few weeks.


A friend in Japan had detached retina surgery and had to stay/lay face-down for 2-3 days at the hospital for it to heal enough to be discharged.


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I do not see a HEALTH category so I'm entering my question here. I may have to have a vitrectomy. Has anyone here undergone this procedure?  Thanks. 

(A vitrectomy is a type of eye surgery to treat various problems with the retina and vitreous. During the surgery, your surgeon removes the vitreous and replaces it with another solution. The vitreous is a gel-like substance that fills the middle portion of your eye.)


I had a vitrectomy -- the Dr also removed some scar tissue -- last May after cataract surgery the previous September.  I had a lot of floaters.  The surgery was very quick and i did not have to sleep face-down .  I did have to avoid getting water in it by shower or shampooing for a week. And i think i could read on my laptop & tablet within days. The idea of the surgery freaked me out but it was painless and quick.  And now my floaters are gone -- maybe one or two every now and then but not constant and numerous like they were. As  i remarked to the nurse as i was leaving, eye surgery is far easier than dental!!


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I do not see a HEALTH category so I'm entering my question here. I may have to have a vitrectomy. Has anyone here undergone this procedure?  Thanks. 

(A vitrectomy is a type of eye surgery to treat various problems with the retina and vitreous. During the surgery, your surgeon removes the vitreous and replaces it with another solution. The vitreous is a gel-like substance that fills the middle portion of your eye.)

I wish I’d seen this discussion earlier, to be helpful, as my experience was similar to EdwardAlbert’s. The procedure sounds awful (I joked about replacing my gel with 10W-50W) but it went well for me, and recovery wasn’t tortuous. I may be wrong, but perhaps discussion went sideways with description of recovery for healing a retina (that gas bubble) versus a vitrectomy.


Edward, your comments are more encouraging than others I’ve heard. 


I've got annoying floaters, too, which I'm mostly just used to, I guess -- they don't normally bother me, but they're very noticeable if I let myself notice them (if that makes any sense) and probably do impact my computer usage, etc. I hadn't heard of a vitrectomy until this post, but when I googled it, I saw some mentions of a laser surgery for this that's becoming more popular -- I'm kind of intrigued, now. 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Edward, your comments are more encouraging than others I’ve heard. 

glad to help!  just talk to your doctor about what you are in for after the surgery.  I had a friend who had to sleep face down for 6 weeks and  she suggested I order the vitrectomy pillow and accessories from amazon.  But when i asked my doctor, he said i wouldn't need it so i sent it right back.  He only did my left eye and its my weaker eye so no problems reading because my right eye leads the way.  I skipped the gym for 2 weeks and i think i didn't drive for a month but recovery was uneventful.   I've been dealing with retinal inflammation for 3 years and that has significantly improved since the vitrectomy.


I also recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. Successfully, it would seem. Now I'm wondering if there's any connection between the surgery and the floaters. 

Any thoughts on the issue? 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I also recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. Successfully, it would seem. Now I'm wondering if there's any connection between the surgery and the floaters. 

Any thoughts on the issue? 

is your doctor planning on doing the vitrectomy on one eye? I’m getting anxiety just reading this thread because I am mortified of eye injuries. Not being able to see properly is scary as hell. Edward Albert has given the most comforting response so far, and I agree that you should ask your doctor what you should expect after the vitrectomy surgery. 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I also recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. Successfully, it would seem. Now I'm wondering if there's any connection between the surgery and the floaters. 

Any thoughts on the issue? 

As explained to me when I had my cataracts removed, the floaters were always there. The cataracts hid the visibility of them, which made them far more visible after the replacement.


Dennis_Seelbach said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I also recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. Successfully, it would seem. Now I'm wondering if there's any connection between the surgery and the floaters. 

Any thoughts on the issue? 

As explained to me when I had my cataracts removed, the floaters were always there. The cataracts hid the visibility of them, which made them far more visible after the replacement.

I'm skeptical of this. My floaters didn't show up for a few months after cataract surgery. But I'm seeing eye doc tomorrow. I'll ask.   


My opthalmologist blasts the post cataract floaters with a laser. When he did the first eye he blasted away like it was a game rewarded with points for speed and hits. The second one was done by a new, younger opthalmologist in the practice. He seemed to slowly and carefully take aim at each floater. He missed a big one that is particularly evident when I'm reading or typing in bed.  Like now. 


krnl said:

My opthalmologist blasts the post cataract floaters with a laser. When he did the first eye he blasted away like it was a game rewarded with points for speed and hits. The second one was done by a new, younger opthalmologist in the practice. He seemed to slowly and carefully take aim at each floater. He missed a big one that is particularly evident when I'm reading or typing in bed.  Like now. 

that's how my cataract surgeon blasted my lenses!  i think she enjoyed it!  and for some reason, i thought i was at a disco!


UPDATE: I saw my eye doctor yesterday and he clarified a few things, as it were.

1. Laser treatment of floaters is not recommended. All that does is break up the floaters into smaller pieces so instead of 2 or 3 or 10 floaters, you have 100. 

2. Recovery from vitrectomy doesn't necessarily entail weeks in a face-down position. 

My next step is a visit Thursday with a retinal specialist who will make the recommendation of surgery or not. My doctor seems to think it's warranted. 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

UPDATE: I saw my eye doctor yesterday and he clarified a few things, as it were.

1. Laser treatment of floaters is not recommended. All that does is break up the floaters into smaller pieces so instead of 2 or 3 or 10 floaters, you have 100. 

2. Recovery from vitrectomy doesn't necessarily entail weeks in a face-down position. 

My next step is a visit Thursday with a retinal specialist who will make the recommendation of surgery or not. My doctor seems to think it's warranted. 

Glad to hear he's taking it seriously and you're able to be seen so quickly.


kthnry said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

UPDATE: I saw my eye doctor yesterday and he clarified a few things, as it were.

1. Laser treatment of floaters is not recommended. All that does is break up the floaters into smaller pieces so instead of 2 or 3 or 10 floaters, you have 100. 

2. Recovery from vitrectomy doesn't necessarily entail weeks in a face-down position. 

My next step is a visit Thursday with a retinal specialist who will make the recommendation of surgery or not. My doctor seems to think it's warranted. 

Glad to hear he's taking it seriously and you're able to be seen so quickly.

My eye doctor in Manhattan is the best. I’m happy to recommend if anyone wants a referral. 


Any news from the retina specialist?


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