Patient RS came to see us on January 6, 2020 because he noticed some floaters and a blur spot in his left eye that began within the past week. He left the practice 1.5 hours later with a referral for urgent retinal surgery.
Our practice provides comprehensive eye and vision care. While we have evolved to have a strong specialty in developmental and rehabilitative vision care, we also provide general eye care which is essential to seeing well for a lifetime. RS experienced what is called a “Retinal Detachment” or RD for short. The retina is the light sensing tissue in the back of the eye and must be healthy in order to see as expected. Below is an example of how a healthy retina appears.
When the retina is diseased or disorganized by trauma the result is lost vision. If the retina disturbance is in the peripheral part of the retina then peripheral vision is impacted but if the disturbance is in the central part of the retina then central vision is disturbed. RS suffered a retinal tear in the outer part of the retina, circled in black. The detached area extended towards the inner part of the retina and the leading edge is outlined in black. The central part of the back of the eye, known as the macula, is circled in blue.
The retinal tear in the outer portion allowed fluid that is normally in front of the retina to seep inside the tissue. This condition needs urgent attention to prevent permanent vision loss and blindness. RS’s surgeon has reported back that the surgery was a success and we hope that he recovers most, if not all, of his vision.
What could have been done to prevent this? RS has a higher level of nearsightedness or myopia. You can learn more about myopia on this page. The higher the myopia, the higher the risk of eye diseases including retinal detachments. It is possible that if RS had myopia prevention care as a child, his prescription would not have ended up as high as it is and he may not have suffered this disease. The best medicine is prevention.
Make sure to get you and your child’s eyes and vision examined to ensure good eye and vision health!
