A torn retina is a serious sight-threatening problem that needs urgent eye review and treatment. It can cause symptoms like seeing new black dots, moving cobwebs or “floaters” across your vision, or seeing flashes of light.
Symptoms. A patient with an acute retinal tear may experience the sudden onset of black spots or “floaters” in the affected eye. This can have the appearance of someone shaking pepper in your vision. Flashes of light (Photopsia) are another common symptom.
Retinal detachment can cause permanent vision loss — but getting treatment right away can help protect your vision.
Our optometrist can diagnose retinal detachment using two tests. The first is a retinal exam. During this exam, we will use a special lens and a bright light to examine your retina. This test allows us to check for retinal tears, holes, or detachment.
The initial symptoms of a retinal detachment are the same as a retinal tear or a posterior vitreous detachment, i.e. flashes and floaters; however, as the detachment progresses, a dark, opaque moon-shaped shadow or curtain will appear from one side of your vision.
Retinal Tear and Detachment Symptoms
The rate of progression of a retinal detachment can vary from days to weeks depending on many factors such as patient age as well as the size and the number of retinal tears.
While potentially dangerous on their own, retinal tears also often precede retinal detachment — an eye emergency that can lead to blindness. However, getting prompt treatment can keep a retinal tear from evolving into a detachment.
Don't do things where you might move your head. This includes moving quickly, lifting anything heavy, or doing activities such as cleaning or gardening.
A retinal tear and detachment are not painful, but almost always have warning signs that you should be aware of, including: Sudden onset of floaters (small dots or cobwebs) Flashes of light in your vision. Blurred vision.
Recovery after a retinal tear is nothing like the recovery after retinal detachment surgery and much easier! For the most part, patients are even able to drive and work after laser treatment for a retinal tear, and there is no bubble needed (unlike in retinal detachment repairs).
If possible, the surgery should be done the same day if the detachment has not affected the central vision area (the macula). This can help prevent further detachment of the retina. It also will increase the chance of preserving good vision. If the macula detaches, it is too late to restore normal vision.
Dr. McCluskey also warns that a retinal tear can progress within 24 hours, though it varies from patient to patient. Therefore, anyone experiencing sudden changes of vision should call their ophthalmologist immediately, even during a weekend.
Aging, eye trauma, eye surgery or being drastically nearsighted may cause retinal tears or detachments.
Aging is the most common cause of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. As you get older, the vitreous in your eye may change in texture and may shrink. Sometimes, as it shrinks, the vitreous can pull on your retina and tear it.
What are the signs and symptoms of retinal hemorrhage? You may have no symptoms. You may have a sudden or gradual loss of vision, ranging from mild to severe. You may have blind spots.
If you have a retinal tear, you may need treatment to prevent a retinal detachment — a medical emergency where the retina is pulled away from its normal position. There are 2 ways that your eye doctor can fix holes or tears in your retina: Laser surgery (photocoagulation) Freeze treatment (cryopexy)
The risk of retinal detachment in an eye with a fresh retinal tear is about 70 percent. Treatment can reduce the risk of a tear progressing to a retinal detachment to about one percent.
Retinal tears are painless and sometimes can be silent (meaning they are asymptomatic) and only discovered during a routine eye exam. But more typically, they present with visual symptoms such as: Sudden onset of floaters- these can look like small moving specks or clouds, small dots, or cobwebs.
Why do they occur? Flashes of light in the corner of the eye can result from an eye condition or injury. Photopsia is the medical name for these flashes, and this phenomenon usually occurs when there are changes inside the eye. The retina is a thin layer of tissue that receives light at the back of the eye.
A retinal tear is less severe than a retinal detachment, but you still may need treatment. You probably won't feel pain, but you may have blurry vision and a lot of eye floaters and light flashes.
Success of Treatment
The success rate of the retinal detachment surgery depends on the mix of cases examined in any one study, but for most studies the proportion is about 90%.
Believe it or not, eye rubbing can lead to big problems if you do it often. Here are a few concerns ophthalmologists have. Retinal detachment. If your retina is weakened due to a pre-existing condition, (i.e., progressive myopia) rubbing could place more pressure on the retina and cause it to detach.
The simple answer is no, stress cannot cause retinal detachment. Retinal detachment is due to tears in the peripheral retina. Retinal detachment occurs in less than 1 in 10,000 people and can occur at any age but is more likely to affect people over age 40.
Repairing retinal tears and detachments is a common though finely nuanced procedure performed with continuous wave high-energy laser delivery that can be performed safely in an outpatient setting with very favorable success rates as high as 98%.
If the central vision is still attached, a retina specialist may proceed with treatment within 24-48 hours to repair the detachment before it progresses through the central vision. If the central vision is detached at the time of diagnosis, the surgeon may schedule treatment within the next 7-10 days.