Wavy or deformed lines or objects after Retinal detachment surgery

I had RD surgery two weeks ago.  Bubble has diminished but the vision is very distorted with wavy lines and double vision. But based on the feedback I've read (thanks to you all) it sounds like I will get some improvement over time.  I'm just trusting in the Lord at this point. One comment I read was about a fellow that had cataract surgery following the RD and was disappointed in the correction.  I just wanted to mention that I had cataract surgery several years ago and followed up with lasik to bring the correction to near 20/20 so that is an option.  Good luck to you all and God bless.

I had complex detached retina surgery July 2012 (had the buckle and the works).  When the gas bubble disappeared I could see the waviness and distortion of objects (for me, the left side of an objects gets squished a little).  Everybody kept saying, "it'll get better.".  I had the cataract removed with the most expensive multifocal lens money can buy 3 weeks ago.  All that did was make everything clear and brighter but waviness and distortion and stuff is still there; plus the now sharper image has given me double vision.  With the cataract, at least my brain had learned to suppress the blurry image - not so much anymore.  I am thankful that, even though I have double vision caused by the operated eye, I can still function using this eye even if something happened to the other one.  If I tilt my head down and penis it a little to the right, I can get the two eyes to fuse.  I can now read from the computer with the right eye but it takes a little work to fight the waviness.  Bottom line, I am thankful for getting this much vision back in that eye...I think they got it to 20/50, but I have to really concentrate to read that chart - it doesn't come easy, but I'll take it.  It could have been a whole lot worse....

 

I had surgery 3 years ago.  I too had the wavy vision.  After a year of waiting I went and got a second opinion.  The new Dr found a micro tear still in my retina which was causing fluid in my eye.  A year to the week I had a second surger for the detachment and a few months later the cataract came out and the wavyness was gone.  .....present time my vision has decreased some and is cloudy again.  I will be seeing my Dr. This week (haven't seen him in a year). hopefully it is nothing bad.

hi, i had a retina detachment when i was 17, i had a scheleral buckle. After the surgery i had double vision and waviness. i've been to so many doctors here in nyc and nobody can tell me much about the waviness. as far as the double vision , im thinking of having strambismus surgery ro realign the muscles. i am 28 now , ive been wearing a contact in one eye for the past 11 years. i am scared to have any other surgery in my eye but i have double vision and my eye gets a bit lazy. does anybody have this problem? has anybody had strambismus surgery after the retina detachment?

Had RD a month ago. My panic got me to the dr in Advanced Eye, Navi Mumbai in time. Wavy lines have'nt bothered me much perhaps because it was minor. All the best guys, hope you recover really fast! 

I had my retinal detachment surgery 12 months ago. Now I see wavy line, arch picture frame, deform human face, double vision, and depth perception off. I have been seeing these visions since day one. How much longer do I need to wait for my vision to get better? Thanks.

Hi all, my name is Peter, 23 years old, and you'll be suprised because I'm from China. I encountered RD at 9/21/2013, and had surgery at 9/25. it's been 3 months and the doctor says my eye is recoveryed well, but I still can see distortion and waivness. So if you have good news like the waivness is gone, I will be all my ears.

I am a programmer at Citi bank, in Shanghai, I think my career is going to be an end. So hopeless, don't know what to do as a fresh graduated student. Life is so beautiful while I am forbidden to do many things, like playing basket ball, body building..

If you have good solution to heal the eye and decrease the distortion, please drop me the details, I will be very thankful to your cross-national help!

May god bless us all!

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I've started to see Dr. Steve Charles in Memphis, TN. The Charles Retina Institute is a world-renown clinic. I currently live in Las Vegas see a doctor here too. My doctor in Las Vegas is probably the best we have in town, but Dr. Charles is probably one of the top Retinal doc's in the world. My next visit with the doctor is at the beginning of March. I saw him last after my second surgery, which was November 2013. Specifically, he is known for membrane peeling which scar tissue is probably causing the wavy lines. I have them too and if another surgery is required, Dr. Charles is the guy to do it. Also, I wanted to mention that Dr. Charles is an engineer too. He holds patents on medical instruments used for these surgeries. This guy has performed 29,000+ surgeries.

I'm 4 weeks into getting my RD fixed with the gas bubble.  What does everyone think about not reading, resting, excersing, or getting back to normal life and a timeline?  My doc says it's okay to read but I'm wondering if I'm over doing it?  

Hi All,

I just happen to work in the Estates Department (we maintain the buildings) of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

On the 22nd April 2014, I went for an eye test within my hospital as I needed some new glasses. My Right eye was ok except for being short sighted. However the vision in my Left eye was only focusing in at a central point when looking at a grid of nine letters (the outer letters were being dragged in to the center slightly).

Luckily I was at one of the best eye clinics in the country where they took internal photos, used ultrasound (like they do with expectant mothers when looking at unborn babies), and shon lights in my eyes.

I was told that I had a detached retina and I needed the Gas Bubble operation within the next few days (The first doctor that I saw thought that I may have had to have the Scleral Buckle procedure though this was changed by the consultant that performed the surgery to just the gas bubble).

On the 24th April 2014, I had the Op under General Anaesthetic and not Local Anaesthetic as I did not fancy having someone digging about in my eye whilst I was conscious. This was followed by a check up the next day followed by another check up just over two weeks later.

I did not have any shadows or floaters in my eye and I thought that it was all down to eye strain and I just needed new glasses (I don't know how long my eye sight had been like that). It turned out to be two tiny holes in the top of my retina that were then lazered to seal them.

It is now 26th May 2014. The gas bubble went on the 11th of May 2014 though I still have squashed and warped vision and slight disorientation which I hope will get better over time. I will have to go for another check up in about a month and a halfs time when I hope that my consultant will give me good news on how it is recovering.

 

 

I'm in the UK and have been interested to read about other people's experiences on this subject. Just under 4 weeks ago I received surgery for a bad RD with macula off. My vision in the affected left eye just before the vitrectomy procedure was probably only about 5% remaining at the outer edge while the rest was black. The experience was very scary. I had laser treatment for a tear in the retina and a gas bubble was inserted. Five days of posturing followed treatment. I'm very lucky that my sight was saved in the left eye, but it is compromised to a large extent. My vision in that eye is much more blurred than the "good" eye and everything is about 15% smaller but thankfully I still have quite good peripheral vision. My main concern is the distortion that I now experience which I suspect is due to my macula being off which probably damaged it. Whether this distortion will improve over time I don't know - I somehow doubt it. In about 6 months I was told I would need to have a cataract operation, so as post operative healing may gradually improve my vision, another aspect of it will get worse until treated. I find my binocular vision feels quite peculiar - obviously the eyes are seeing things quite differently and the result is rather spacey. I haven't tried driving yet - I'm a bit worried about that. I'm managing okay with day to day things and I hope in time my brain will adapt and give priority to my "good" eye which thankfully has 20/20 vision when corrected with specs. At my recent follow-up the consultant did tell me that I'm at risk of another detachment though, which is my main concern for the moment. 

In reply to the last post.

I also have shrunken vision in my left eye for what sounds like a less serious retinal detachment than the one you have had (I posted the last comment listed before yours). I also was told that the surgery that I had could cause a cataract within 18 months.
It seems to be pretty standard to have warped and shrunken vision after the operation and also the cataract later on no matter how serious the initial problem.

It has now been 6 weeks since my operation and I think that my vision has improved very slightly.
I have started to go to the gym again but not the swimming pool yet and I found it difficult to lift weights at first as I have had a month off from doing any exercise (the eye was not a problem in the gym).

As you have mentioned about driving, I went out on my own in my Fiat Punto this morning for the first time since the Op (good job that it isn't a tank) for about 15 minutes.
I too was not confident about driving until now even though my surgeon told me that I was ok to drive almost three weeks ago.
The weather was cloudy with the light levels associated with this and I had no problems in the car at all.

I hope that you sight will improve and you can get on with your life as I am now doing.

Thank you for replying to my post - I'm glad to hear that your vision has been improving since your op and hope that will be the case with mine too.

At the moment the pre-op correction on my specs is way out on my left eye and nowhere near strong enough now. My prescription was -6.75 in that eye, and now I should think it's about -10! I went to my optician to see whether it could be corrected last week but he told me it was too early and the eye needed to settle down. He recommended I went back in 3 months time. He said there was no sign of a cataract developing at the moment but apparently they can appear quite suddenly. I've invested in a vitamin supplement with lutein and zeaxanthin for the eyes in the hope that it might help to improve my vision - it may do nothing but there's no harm in trying I guess.

Interestingly I too drove my car today for the first time since my operation which was on 6th May. It required a little more concentration than before but I didn't have any real difficulty. I'm unsure about attempting night driving as even before the detached retina I found the glare of oncoming headlights quite dazzling. I haven't done any bouncy aerobic type exercise as I'm concerned that it could be a risk factor for another detachment - walking is my only exercise at the moment.

This whole business has made me fearful of going away on holiday or being somewhere where I couldn't get my eye dealt with quickly should another problem arise - not helped by the consultant telling me I was at risk of another detachment. I don't want to put my life on hold so I hope this risk is going to reduce in time.

Good luck to you and everyone else on this site in your recovery and healing process.

Hi I am the guy that replied to your last post.

I regards to your trip to the optician, my ophthalmic surgeon told me not to go back for an eye test yet until he says I can as my eye will take time to fully settle.
He has also told me that my prescription may have changed now after the Op though the clarity of image that I am seeing seems to be the same as it was at before (-3.0).
The vision is still a bit warped and squashed though I am expecting a similar prescription as before.

You should get another appointment from your eye clinic typically about 2 months after the surgery for a general check up and your surgeon may be able to advise you at that session (or one after) about having your next eye test.

As for the cataract, my surgeon told me that it was a very minor operation (if a cataract were to form). Other people that I have spoken to about the cataract Op say that it is quick and nothing to worry about SO DON’T WORRY!

When it comes to traveling I was told that I could not fly for the first month as the gas bubble needed to dissolve first due to the gas expanding in a pressurised airplane cabin (things could go bad at altitude).
Now that the bubble has gone I can fly anywhere if I wanted to.

If you want to go on holiday and you are still concerned you should contact your eye clinic for advice.

My name is Alan, had macular pucker surgery 5/12/14 for my right eye. I had bleeding after the surgery which caused high pressure and severe pain. The doc. surgically removed the blood a week later. Two weeks after that, my retina detached in the operated eye. A different doc reattached the retina with laser and put silicone oil in. It’s been almost 3 weeks since the retinal detachment surgery and I have been noticing wavy/distorted objects in addition to blurriness from the oil, which cause dizziness and disorientation. My doc told me he will remove the oil when he’s sure the retina is attached and stabilized. My questions are,

What might have caused the bleeding after the macular pucker surgery? My doc was not sure.

 Is it a common practice to remove the blood if high pressure and severe pain are present?

What cause the wavy and distorted vision after retinal detachment surgery? Will they ever go away?

If the oil stays for a long time, could I get a temporary prescription lenses to allow me see a little better and reduce the dizziness? My old lenses no longer works so I am using a plain lenses right now since the oil is kind of transparent and I can see a little.

Please share if you have any similar experiences. Thank you.