Wellness

[Kachina624]

My floaters just come but never go and doc says there's not a thing that can be done to get rid of them.  They are bothersome and annoying.

[CJC]

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@pietook wrote:

Do you know if an ER dr. could detect detached retina?  Since it is the weekend ----ER would be my only choice.  Would hate to go and they just tell me to contact my eye dr. on Mon.!  Again, Thank you !!

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Not a doc, so you must decide for yourself, but I would not go to ER for possible detached retina.  They lack the equipment to test for this and most likely will just refer you to a specialist.  Following my cataract procedure I had your symptoms in one eye.  Had myself all self diagnosed as having a detached retina.  Made appt. with a retina specialist at West Florida Eye Instituite.  I waited for about a week to see her.  There was nothing wrong; I had no detached retina.  The floaters and red flashes of light were just a delayed result of cataract surgery plus my age.  They have since disappeared for the most part, altough I still get small floaters now and then.  I have my retina doc check me once a year since I do have couple eye freckles (moles) near my pupil which can very very rarely turn into a form of melanoma.  I would not panic at all.  Just make an appt with a retina specialist or experienced opthamologist.

[Carmie]

I get eye floaters, two different types.  One type looks like a small bug on flying around.  I swat them sometimes feeling stupid because there is no bug.

The  second type looks like black ink floating on top of oil.  These are extra annoying and  they interfere when I am looking at a white or light surface, such as a book. They last for days sometimes, but they do go away.

I have had a torn retina and had no symptoms.  I was lucky that it was discovered during a routine eye exam.  I had it repaired.

My Retina specialist said I am a good candidate to get a torn retina in the other eye due to some heredity issue with my eye.

I am to look for flashing lights and a loss of vision in part of the eye...like a curtain covering part of my eye.  I am supposed to call the retina specialist immediately if any of this happens. The ER does not have an eye specialist on staff, nor do they have eye equipment to diagnose problems.

I do get flashing lights in my eye that has had a torn retina, but there is no known reason found when I get it checked out.

i think many people get floaters.  My friends all swat flys and bugs that aren't really there.  

If you see light flashes  or lose your vision with a curtain-like covering, call your eye doc immediately.  You can see a video of what the curtain blindness looks like on line.  I looked it up because I had no idea what my doctor meant.

[yellowrose]

I once saw white lightning bolts out of the corner of an eye.  I was out of town,

so called my dr to see what he thought. Told me to get to ER asap as it could

be a sign of a stroke.  So I did and it was wasted money.  All they did was get

me to read an eye chart, dr. came in and was going to give me the name of

an eye dr. I told him that I was out of town and would see one locally when I got

home.

I was afraid of a torn retina, but all was OK.  The lightning bolts eventually

went away.

Good luck @pietook   As someone already stated - they don't usually have the

equipment in ER's for this kind of thing.

[SilleeMee]

I have floaters and they don't come and go.  Mine stay the same. But a few years ago I ran across some information that helped me. The stuff I read was about taking hyaluronic acid supplement to help replenish it in the vitreous fluid, which is made up of mostly water, collagen and HA. I'm not saying it cured me, but the HA seemed to have made my floaters much less noticeable...less fuzzies. 

[VaBelle35]

I was diagnosed with detached vitreous fluid in December.  I had the flashing and had had an ocular migrain once before with flashing, so I leaning towards the migrain because I was under stress when it occurred.

I was yelled at for diagnosing myself and waiting to come in.

Mine is quite bothersome in low light and night driving, so I am going to explore having it vacuumed out this year.

[pietook]

Earlier today I called the ER to see if they have eye dr. available---can call one in if needed or be told to wait til Mon. to see my dr.  So, I called the walk in clinic and they referred me to an urgent care.  Urgent care said they didn't have equipment to help---so I decided to wait til Monday----then went to bed to take a nap! LOL  I live in a small town that does not have any chain eye places that would be open today---to walk into and ask for help.  Again, thank you all----whisper a small prayer if you are so inclined---and I will keep yo posted!

[jlkz]

@Kachina624 

I had cataracts removed a year ago and recently had one eye that would see the time on a digital clock in triplicate.

He examined the eye and said retina was fine and the lens implant was fine also.  He said a one-minute laser treatment would clear up the blurring in time in that eye.

Blurring cleared up significantly within a month.  However, I have a floater that joined up with a smaller floater and can be seen some days slowly moving across my field of vision.  It must get stuck someplace because there are days when it is gone.

At my next appointment he will see it in all its glory and then zap it away....I hope !

[Kachina624]

@jlkz.  Ive also had cataract surgery in both eyes and that subsequent laser treatment in one eye.

[pietook]

Update!  I went to my eye dr. this morning.  It is just a floater with a clean break---no tear in retina.  But, will be on watch for any changes and go back in 6 weeks.  Thanks again for all the input and info!  It is great to get other opinions --- and others experiences!