I went to the eye doctor toady about a fuzzy left eye only to find out that I have detached my retina. While my injury is not related to shooting I remember hearing that shooting big bores can cause the retina to detach so I am wondering if anybody on here has had a detached retina and what happened in the long run? My doctor says that it should go away by itself but I would like to talk to someone esle who has had the same problem.

Other than occasional slurred speech and a semi-constant drool from the left side of my mouth I have not noticed any ill effects from shooting big bores. Did I mention occasional memory loss too?

All kidding aside, I hope the problem with your eye clears up.

Mike

I am not a doctor and did not spend the night in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I have several friends and relatives that have suffered from detached retinas and have never heard of one healing itself. I'd get a 2d opinion. Kudude

PS: I'd stay the hell away from hard kicking rifles until my ophthalmologist gave me the OK. k-d

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MJines:
Other than occasional slurred speech and a semi-constant drool from the left side of my mouth I have not noticed any ill effects from shooting big bores. Did I mention occasional memory loss too?

All kidding aside, I hope the problem with your eye clears up.


Mike, You too



had one years a go. Cleared up no problem although Jeff is tring to get to reapear

Retinopathist is the one to see: I see one for diabetic retinopathy and he talks about detached retinas and their surgical cure. Fairly straight forward procedure. A retinopathist is a specialized Opthamalogist.
Blessings.

We all live in fear of retinal detachment. particularily me. I've also never heard of them resolving by themselves. usually LASER THERAPY IS REQUIRED. -ROB

I have never heard of a retinal detachment resolving itself??? I guess maybe if it was on the bottom of the eye and you had gravity in your favour???

Myopics (short-sighted folk) are more prone to retina detachment, and I am moderately myopic, so I worry about it. I have also had a few floaters show up recently....makes me worry that the 470 Mbogo from the bench might have had something to do with it (burned lots of powder in it practicing for Tanzania).

AND, about 10 years ago, my Dad detached a retina (bumble bee hit him in the eye while cycling) and when they went to do the laser surgery they checked his other eye closely and found it had a detached retina too (from an old injury)! They laser welded the retina on his recent injury, but had to staple the old injury. His sight in the lasered eye is as good as ever, but his sight in the stapled eye is messed up forever (needs glasses for that side only, with a correction for some kind of warp in his vision).

So I worry retinal detachments (or more accurately, susceptibility to them) might be genetic!

Anyway, it does scare me a bit, but I figure one still has to live life the way you want to. I'd sure be getting a second opinion if my doc told me a detachment would go away on its own, though, especially after my Dad's experience!

Cheers,
Canuck

I had a torn retina a few years back. First exam did now show any problem except for a bunch of floaters. One of my friends is an African Hunter, Big Bore Shooter, and oh yes, a retired Opthalmologist. When I told him about the eye, he sent me to the Doc he sold his practice to. A much more through exam showed a tear.

The tear was caused by a blood vessel sticking to the retina when the vitreous shrinks (normal aging). Bad luck with vessel position.

Ten minutes with my eye glued to a Laser gun solved the issue. The Doc stitched the tear with the laser. Not taking care of the problem could cause loss of vision as blood gets behind the retina.

I still shoot big bores, 470/416/375, and last week I shot the 606 Mammoth with no ill effects.

Bottom line, get a seconond opinion. Prudent action today, may eliminate problems tomorrow

I am editing this as I just read Canuck's post. My dad had a tear, same eye, but there was no laser surgery then. His vision was limited in that eye.

reelman: Get to a good doctor NOW! Detached retinas do NOT heal themselves. I'm blind in my right eye as a result of a detached retina from a baseball injury (48) yrs. ago. Of course they didn't have laser surgery then, but I do know that time is important, and the quicker they can repair, the better chance of success. I also had a detached retina in my left eye many years later that was repaired with laser surgery. The doctor said it would be stronger than ever. He was right and I've been shooting all my life (of course, now left handed!). Not trying to alarm you, but get good medical help NOW.

Perhaps we are talking about different things. The doctor explained to me that the retina is made out of several layers and that two of the layers have seperated from the other layers. They are not floating free but kind of "bubbled" up in the middle. He took a scan of the eye and showed it to me and what a normal eye should look like.

The doctor told me that the layers were seperated and I assumed that that meant that it was detached. When you guys speak of a detached retina do you actually mean that the retina was free to float around in the eye.

My godfather recently got a detached retina is his shooting eye from taking a spill on his motorcycle in the woods. It will not take care of itself. He had the option of either having gas or oil pumped into his eye to push the retina back out. With the gas, he had to lay prone for 2 weeks with minimal movement, so he chose the oil option. He had the oil in his eye for a month, then had it removed. In the next two years, he will develop a cataract (normal) and then have it lasered. He left eye has taken over as his dominant eye and he is currently shooting left handed for the next two years, atleast. All in all, I would get a second opinion.

Hey,
I am no ophthalmologist but it is possible to have a vitreous detachment (that is the clear substance in the eyeball where the floaters hang out) without a retinal detachment nor tear, and that could certainly cause some visual acuity or visual field changes. I would defer to the specialist, such as Alf who specializes in everything ...

Ok, been there done that. First understand what your doctor is telling you. A detached retina is NOT reparable. Once it detaches, it floats off the back of the eye & you are blind, end of story. I had a partial detachment, sim. to what you are talking about, but it was in the top & was basically pealing away. I was lucky, I was home, called my optom. who told me to go see my optham. Emergency surgery was required & I was 12-24hrd away from being blind in my left eye for life.
If this is your optom. no offense, go see an optham. Your optom. doesn't know what he/she is talking about. It is not fixed by a laser, although small holes or tears in your retina are repaired this way (the beginning to a detachment is a tear).
There are two methods used, one is a sclaral(sp) buckle (basically a rubber band) around the center of the eyeball to apply pressure to the retina & push it into place. The other is an injection into the eyeball itself of an inert gas that builds up pressure inside the eye & pushes the retina into place. The vitrias will probably be removed or partial removed in this process. One or both methods may be used.
This is serious stuff. See an opthamalogist for a proper diognosis. A detached retina can be brought on by many things including prolonged shooting of heavy kickers. Take heart though, once repaired it's almost impossible to get another on the same eye. Good luck with it. I'm doing fine w/ mine. It hasn't stopped me from shooting my .404jeffery.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Hey,
I am no ophthalmologist but it is possible to have a vitreous detachment (that is the clear substance in the eyeball where the floaters hang out) without a retinal detachment nor tear, and that could certainly cause some visual acuity or visual field changes. I would defer to the specialist, such as Alf who specializes in everything ...

A couple of years ago I started noticing "flashes" of white light and big floaters. Turned out to be three vitreous tears. As I understand it, that occurs when the jelly like fluid shrinks with age, and the retinal surface sticks to it and pulls away from the back of the eye. The Opthomologist Retinal Specialist fixed by tacking them down with a Cryogenic technique. A curved, hollow probe worked behind the eyeball, bulged it inward to position the tear properly and then he pumped the Cryo fluid through the probe to "tack" the surfaces together. The probe and the extremely bright light they use was uncomfortable to say the least, but all is well now and recovery was only a few hours. He anticipated the other eye to have same problem by now but so far so good after an exam. I asked about the hard kickers and he said go ahead and shoot 'um.
Gary

/

Thanks for the advice guys - it is really appreciated. I am going to a retina specialsit this week, I will let you know what he has to say.

Goodluck with it. Like Alf said, hard to enjoy your shooting/hunting if you can't see.