![]() The response was the last thing an uninsured patient like me wanted to hear: I needed a major eye operation - a vitrectomy, which removes part of the vitreous gel to get to the retina and repair it - as soon as possible. The resident spoke with the eye surgeon on call and relayed my diagnosis. Central vision becomes severely affected if the macula becomes detached. As the vitreous starts to detach, it may pull on the retina and cause a tear.” The dark shadow I had dismissed Thursday was my retina starting to tear, the liquefied vitreous gel leaking through.Įven more worrisome, the macula - the part of the retina responsible for fine vision - was in the process of separating from the inside of the eye. “When the vitreous gets less gel-like, it can detach from the back of the eye. “As we age, the vitreous jelly, which holds the retina in place, begins to liquefy,” Rich says. In fact, most happen while you’re walking down the street or even sleeping,” Rich says. “Most people think retinal detachments come from trauma, such as being hit by an air bag in an auto accident or getting hit with a racquetball or tennis ball. Rich III, an ophthalmologist based in Falls Church, Va. This degenerative condition occurs in 30 percent of people older than 50, according to William L. Many spontaneous tears occur in boomers who develop posterior vitreous separation. (It also affects more men than women, the NEI reports.) The National Eye Institute says there are a variety of risk factors for retinal detachments, including being extremely nearsighted, having a family history of the problem and aging. I hadn’t been hit in the eye or experienced any other eye-related injury, so the idea that my retina might be torn never crossed my mind.īut more than 90 percent of retinal detachments occur spontaneously, according to Gordon Byrnes, an RGW surgeon. If this is just another floater, I told myself, I can live with it. I should have called my regular ophthalmologist right away, but I didn’t have health insurance at the time for financial reasons.
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