Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)

RichLB
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Re: Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)

Post by RichLB »

Sorry I got to this thread late, but since I have had a retinal tear i think I can contribute something. I was told that the tear happens when the gooey stuff hardens a bit (as it does with age) and clings to the retina while it shrinks. In my case it just tore the damn thing (scared me to death) and in other cases it pulls the whole retina off (retinal detachment).

The doctor told me that the lightening flashes were because of electrical activity in the eye when the torn retina flapped around. Like Bob, they stuck the torn retina back on the eyeball with a laser (totally painless) and after a day of wandering around with the eye bandaged I was fine. In my case, though, I not only had floaters, but big black dots wandering across my field of vision. I was told that the black spots were blood drops and they would go away in a few days. They did.

I should mention that the doctor explained to me that retinal detachment has a different symptom than a tear. In a tear you get the lightning flashes. in a detachment you experience what seems to be a lace curtain dropping down. Tears and detachments both demand seeing an eye doctor, but detachments should be dealt with immediately.

But back to the floaters.They subsided, but have never totally disappeared. I was told that floaters are dead cells floating in the vitrius humor and I should just make friends with them. The doctor told me there was no acceptable method for ridding myself of the floaters and, like Bob, they no longer bother me. I have discovered, though, when a pesky floater refuses to move out of my field of vision that if I shut my eye and then swirl my eyeball around (looking up, looking down, looking right, looking left) the thing moves to wherever they go.
whitedesire
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Re: Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)

Post by whitedesire »

Ok thanks RichLB, I am coming to terms with these floaters - have to don't you, but they are annoying. Also, how old were you when they happend RichLB, if you don't mind me asking.
RichLB
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Re: Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)

Post by RichLB »

whitedesire wrote:Ok thanks RichLB, I am coming to terms with these floaters - have to don't you, but they are annoying. Also, how old were you when they happend RichLB, if you don't mind me asking.
I was 65 at the time. In my case, the floaters actually became more transparent as the years passed and although still there, they are only a minor annoyance. Floaters are almost universal and occur with age. Don't be frightened of them. But if you are getting those lightening flashes, see your doctor and he'll do a quick repair and hopefully before a real tear occurs.
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