Detached Retina Surgey

My husband did. All I can remember is he was unable to lift anything over 15 pounds for a couple of months. Might have had to wear a patch for a day or two? And use antibiotic drops.

You'll be alright. Just do what they tell you to do. Blindness would suck. Good luck.

A close friend had the surgery a few years ago. Follow all post op instructions carefully. I hope it goes well for you.

I’ve had the surgery. Hopefully, you caught it before it completely detached like mine.
Had to lay face down for like about 10 days while it healed. They fuse the retina back to the eye with laser and they injected gas behind my eye to help hold things together while it heals.

Mine happened in Paris and I could have elected to have the surgery there but chose to fly home and have surgery here. My eye never went back to 100%, have a couple blind spots but 95% of my field of vision. Unfortunately, not correctable with glasses so I can’t see that well out of that eye.

I would have had to stayed in a hotel in Paris with my daughter for a month because you can’t fly after the surgery and she would have had to go out and find food, do laundry.

Hopefully, yours was operated on quickly enough and you have a better outcome.

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Might have had to wear a patch for a day or two?

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Try to detach it around mid September to kill two birds with one rock.

I forget, had to put antibiotic drops in every day, multiple times a day. And wear a padded metal guard over my eye while I slept for protection.

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wear a padded metal guard over my eye while I slept for protection

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Good luck

This exact thing happened to me in 2009.

Your recovery experience will depend a lot on the location of the detachment.

IMX, the procedure was like this (all instruments used are very small):

-- A tiny (<= 1 mm) slit is made in the side of the eyeball, below the edge of the cornea

-- A tiny instrument (essentially a vacuum cleaner) is inserted, and the vitreous humor -- jocularly called the “jellyball” -- is sucked out. The eyeball is then re-inflated

-- Other instruments are used to manipulate the retina back into place against the inside curvature of the eyeball. This is a difficult and extremely delicate thing to do -- the retina is a single layer of cells, and it has the consistency of wet toilet paper. There must be not even the slightest wrinkle in the retina, and there must be absolutely no damage to any retina cell

-- Once the retina is back in place, a laser is inserted, and is used to make tiny burns, everywhere they are needed. When the burns (eventually) heal, they leave scars -- essentially spot-welds -- that hold the retina in place.

-- The eyeball is re-inflated, using (at the doc’s option) air or silicone oil

-- For two weeks post-op, you will be required to maintain your eyeball at a 90-degree angle to the ground -- you must always be looking straight down. In actual practice, you will be required to spend two weeks lying prone, with your face on a special pillow provided for this purpose. You will be allowed out of bed for 15 minutes, 4 X per day, for eating and bathroom breaks.

Failure to follow this regimen can result in re-detachment of the retina.

-- You will be prohibited from any reading, and from viewing any video screen, for [approximately] 4-6 weeks. The reason for this is that reading, or viewing video -- or even still images -- involves extremely tiny but jerky eyeball movements, and these can interfere with your retinal spot-welds, and possibly even cause them to fail.

-- You will be prescribed at least two, and possibly three, different eye drops, and a pretty rigid schedule for each.

-- One of these medications may contain -- forgive me if I spell it incorrectly -- Prednisolone. This is to combat post-op inflammation. WARNING: This medication is metabolized very slowly, and can, in some cases, induce nearly uncontrollable hyperphagia (abnormal desire to eat). IMX, it is easy to control, as long as you have been forewarned.

-- If your doc chose to use silicone oil (instead of air) to re-inflate your eyeball after the laser, then approximately 3 months post-op, the oil will be replaced with saline.

ATTENTION: My surgery was fourteen years ago. It is probable (but not necessarily certain) that protocols, both surgical and post-op, have changed / improved by now. As always, YMMV.

I wish you luck.

Yes. It does not hurt. You stay awake and see lots of weird shite during surgery. My vision is much improved but the flashes from the detachment scared the frick outta me at first.

I had it years ago and the surgery was easy but the recovery process was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! I slept face down on a massage table for days and had to walk face down because of the gas bubble that was injected to ensure the stayed reattached as it healed. My sister had to lead me to the bathroom, etc because of having to walk with my head down. I also wore a shield over my eye to keep me from rubbing it. I forget how long it was before I could shave and shower / take a bath.

I pray everything goes well and you have a speedy recovery!