1. No, absolutely not. Cabin pressure differences in an airplane can not cause retinal tears with or without a PVD or lattice degneration.

2. Distortion may be due to translocation of the retina, but there may be other reasons; macular edema, epiretinal membranes, to name a few. I’d ask your retina specialist.

At times, though uncommonly, re-detaching the retina and “re-translocating” the retina may be necessary, but usually there are large retinal folds present as evidence of a malpositioned retina. Basically, it doesn’t happen often as the peripheral retina stays attached to keep proper orientation. Perhaps “complete” is an incorrect term.

Example (I hope this doesn’t add to confusion) is a group of people holding a parachute. The edge of the parachute is the peripheral retina and remains oriented with respect to rotation by each person hanging on. When we lift the parachute and it billows with the air, this is analagous to a complete detachment, but the relative orientation with respect to rotation is negligable.

3. Yes, but we don’t like to do it.

4. The double vision is more likely due to the scleral buckle, either by causing anisometropia (large change in refraction) or by the fact that it is restricting your eye muscles, or both. Ask this to your doc.

5. There are two possibilities for your unaffected eye; laser with or without a vitrectomy.

Thanks for your questions.

Best of luck!

Randy

I am a 44 yo male who has been myopic since childhood. My refractive error is -8.

Back in October I lost a contact lens. I thought it got stuck inside my lid, so I proded and pocked my left eye looking for it. Some time after this day I noticed floaters and flashers in my left eye. I told my optometrist about this and he dilated my eye and examined my retina and said that it looked fine, but that I should make an appointment with an opthamologist. I put it off and ended up taking an overseas trip a few weeks later. On the second day after my plane landed in Istanbul I noticed a small blind spot in my lower left field of vision in my left eye. I thought it was temporary and would go away, but everday it grew bigger. Since I was not informed on the topic of retinal detachment and since it is not painful I did not know the urgency of seeking treatment immediately regardless of where one happens to be when it occurs. I have no family in Turkey, so I waited untill I arrived in Italy (where I do have family) to see a doctor. By that time the retina was almost entirely detached and the doctors said it would be better to return home to America for surgery rather than do it there.

When I returned home the opthamologist confirmed that I did have a full retinal detachment with multiple tears in the lattice region, and that I have lattice degeneration in the unaffected eye. The next day he implanted a scleral buckle and and performed a vitrectomy. He then sealed off my entire latice with a laser, followed by the injection of the long lasting gas bubble.

It has been six weeks since my surgery and according to retinal surgeon my retina is attached nicely.
However I have double vision and distorted vision. Far off objects appear smaller in the operated eye than they do in my unaffected eye. Also objects apprear higher, to the right, and slanted a few degrees as if in the one o’clock position.

My questions for you are the following:

1} Can the cabin pressure differences in an airplane cause retinal tearing, especially in an eye with posterior vitreos detachment and/or lattice degeneration?

2) I suspect that the distortion and double vision might be entirely and partly due to translocation of the retina. Does a retinal surgeon have a way or procedure of orienting and reattaching a fully detached retina to its original orientation and position? How does a surgeon know where to pin it down if it is fully detached?

3) Can a translocated retina be operated on again to reorient it?

4) If the scleral buckle is partly or fully responsible for the double/distorted vision , how long should one wait to have it removed?

5) Since I have lattice degeneration in my unaffected eye, is it only a matter of time before I have problems in that eye? Are there any preventative measures to minimize the chances of problems occuring in my other eye?

Thank you for your help and your blogsite.

Patrick

Sounds like you have done very well! Congrats!

Thanks for sharing.

Happy New Year!

Randy

Would be glad to help, but could you give me a bit more guidance as to what you are looking for? I’m a bit confused.

Thanks,

Randy

I apologize for the long delay. I don’t have a good system of answering comments once “opened.”

I am not aware of any drugs specifically for VRP (what we call PVR), but intraocular steroids have been considered. I also would suggest asking your surgeon if it is necessary for you to reoperate if your macula is attached.

I think the silicone oil will be helpful. I am not familiar with “Ring Laser,” but can guess it is laser treatment to the entire peripheral retina.

Please update me.

Randy

I reread your previous posts. I think you really should make sure that your cataract did not progress. While “small” or “tiny” before the retinal detachment surgery, a known complication of intraocular gas is rapid cataract formation. If you had a scleral buckle, you might also experience a large change in your refraction (strength of glasses needed to correct vision). Either way, sounds like you are in great shape.

BTW – your comments were under “Vitrectomy Surgery for Retinal Detachment.”

Stay in touch.

Randy