Earlier this year, on a routine visit to my opticians to check my prescription, I was given some news I wasn't expecting...

In September, I went to Specsavers for my routine prescription check. When they did the usual shining the light in my eyes and getting me to look up, left, right, down etc, I was expecting it to be the same news as always; namely, everything looks good. This time it was different though! After moving on to my left eye, she then went back to my right eye which seemed odd. When she told me she had spotted something in my right eye and that she would need a second optician to take a look, I must admit I felt slightly worried!

After the second optician looked at my eyes, I was told I needed to go to the hospital with a suspected detached retina! I had zero symptoms, so this came as quite a shock to me. We asked if we could see it on the photos they take of your eyes and at first she said not because of where it was in my eye, but then she took some new photos of the back of my eye and we were able to see exactly where the issue was.

When I saw the ophthalmologist at our local hospital almost a week later, they were also fairly sure that it was a detached retina, but sent me to the specialist hospital the very next day for them to confirm it.

Stock Photo

I did get the news that it was a detachment and was told that I was very lucky to not yet have developed symptoms, but if left my sight would be the next thing to be affected, as gravity would mean that it would continue to tear downwards. Apparently it had been there for some time already and so it wasn't urgent surgery, but better sooner rather than later. I was told that because of where it was and the type of detachment, laser was not an option to repair it but I would need surgery to place a band at the back of my eye, which I later found out is called a scleral buckle.

The date eventually came through for my surgery which was November 4th, a few weeks after it was initially discovered and I was making plans to be out of action following surgery. But then there was a slight spanner in the works! ...

I went down with covid! I'd been so careful throughout the whole pandemic and had managed to avoid it and then about 10 days before my surgery date, I tested positive and was still testing positive when I should have had the surgery. Fortunately, they managed to reschedule for the following week which was November 11th.

The day of surgery arrived and the staff were all so lovely. I had a local anaesthetic and it wasn't the most pleasant experience ever, but I couldn't see anything whilst the surgery was taking place because my other eye was covered up. So there was just a brightness that I was aware of. I had been worried about accidentally moving or something during the surgery, but they told me to just squeeze the nurse's hand who was sat next to me throughout it all.

The next thing I knew, it was over and I was waiting in the recovery ward!

Following surgery, you have to be seen the very next morning to check that surgery had been successful, and then you're given different drops to put in 4 x a day, and that goes on for several weeks after. The drops weren't a problem for me as I have been used to wearing contact lenses on and off since I was 16, but every time I took my dressing off, the nausea that ensued was horrendous!? This was caused by the double vision which I hadn't been expecting. Because my sight was fine before surgery, I wasn't expecting a change to my sight; just perhaps discomfort or blurriness, but the vision was badly affected for the first 10 days.

I took to wearing a patch like in my cartoon pic above to help block the sight in my right eye.

After 2 weeks, my sight slowly started to even out and although it wasn't back to normal, I was able to see through both eyes without too much difficulty. My eyes got tired very easily for the first month or so, probably because my left eye was having to compensate for what my right was lacking. Close up felting work was really challenging to try and focus on the details and working on the computer had an almost hypnotic effect, so I was having to take regular rests.

23/12/2022- Today marks 7 weeks exactly from when I had my surgery. Things are getting easier and my eye is recovering well. It is still bloodshot and I do still find that if I have been focused on something for too long, it really aches and I get tired quite easily too. If I have done too much though my body lets me I've overdone it anyway by striking me with total exhaustion, so it's hard to know whether the tiredness is just me or down to my eye!

When I saw the doctor at the hospital a few weeks ago, he told me he was happy with how the back of my eye looked and told me to continue with the eye drops. He also forbid me from wearing eye makeup yet ( I really was not thrilled about that one!) but did say I could start driving again now the double vision had gone- yey!

All in all, I wish I had been more prepared from the outset as to just how long the recovery would be. The information I was given was that I wouldn't feel like working for the first week or two but I should be fine after that! That was so far from the reality and I definitely would have planned differently had I known it would have taken this long to recover. Having said that, I was fortunate to not have had to do any special head positionings like people who have surgery with a gas bubble do, and that is usually an 8 week recovery at least. I am also so grateful that we have the NHS in this country and that I had such first class treatment at St Paul's Eye Unit in Liverpool.

Before this experience, I didn't realise just how common retinal detachments are, and even more so in short sighted people, like me. So I do encourage you all to make sure you get your eyes checked regularly, even if you don't have any symptoms like me!

Have you had a detached retina? Would love to hear your experience!