so if you've ever experienced flashing lights new floaters in your vision or
progressive vision loss then you've probably heard of a retinal detachment
and a retinal detachment is one of the most serious eye conditions that can be
experienced it can even lead to permanent blindness and in this video
we're going to be going over exactly the different types of retinal detachment
what the symptoms of retinal detachment are as well as the different
options for retinal detachment surgery that's today's video let's take a look
hello and welcome mr. dr. Alan here from the Doctor Eye Health show helping you learn
all about the eyes and vision and on this channel if you do a lot of
different vision product reviews as well as educational videos just like this one
so if you're new here to the channel consider subscribing Siddhant you don't
miss any of my future videos so when someone is experiencing a retinal
detachment it can come on very slowly but it can also happen all of a sudden
typically what happens as a patient will see a new floater developing in their
vision these are the new eye floaters that I've talked about in other videos
but also they can experience a flash of light usually when they experience this
flash of light it's because the retinal gel inside the eye is actually pulling
on the retina itself and that causes a physiological kind of excitation and the
brain interprets that as a flash of light usually if that happens and it's
followed by a slow change and loss of vision and this usually can be seen as
kind of a shadowy haze coming down from the top of their vision
or maybe even rising up from the floor and if you're seeing this right now then
you need to pause this video and call your eye care provider right now and
make an appointment because it's really important for you to be seen but after
you make that appointment of course come on back and continue watching this video
now a retinal detachment is actually when subretinal fluid actually
accumulates behind the retina itself separating the retina from the back wall
of the eye this process can happen in a couple of different ways the first way
is called a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and yes
that is a real word I'll even spell that out here for you because it is a little
difficult to spell but this is the most common type of retinal detachment and
this is usually followed by some sort of a tear or break within the retina and
then the actual fluid inside the eye such as the vitreous will then
actually kind of break into the retina itself and sneak behind the retina and
cause that separation and detachment this occurs most commonly after some
sort of posterior vitreous detachment or a PVD
or from some sort of trauma to the eye and again for most people that come into
the clinic with the retinal detachment it's this type the second type of
retinal detachment is called a tractional retinal detachment and that's
because of proliferative vitreous strands on the retina itself or within
the gel of the eye and these vitreous trans then kind of act almost like scar
tissue that pulls itself from different directions and that can actually pull
the retina it actually toward itself and that can actually just lift the retina
off the back of the eye kind of like you were riffing off of velcro or something
like that usually the tractional retinal
detachments occur for people with some sort of proliferative retinopathy in the
back of the eye such as diabetes or sickle-cell retinopathy or really any
sort of eye disease that includes some type of neovascularization of blood
vessels in the retina itself the third type of retinal detachment is an
accumulation of serous or exudative fluid behind the retina and this usually
occurs either because of some sort of inflammatory condition or perhaps some
sort of metastatic cancer serous retinal detachment like this usually occur due
to some disease like sarcoidosis and inflammatory condition or perhaps from
some sort of metastatic cancer such as breast or lung cancer so yes keep in
mind that an eye examination can pick up a lot of things other than just having
blurred vision and needing glasses now let's say worst case scenario you are
having a retinal detachment and there are a couple of surgeries to correct for
this the first one is called pneumatic retinopexy see another one is called a
scleral buckle and then we also have a vitrectomy or we could use a
combination of all three one of the most common procedures that can be done
actually in the clinic is called pneumatic retinopexy and that's
actually where we put a gas bubble inside of the eye and this gas will
actually push on the retina because of that's opposite effect of gravity the
gas bubble will push against the retina and kind of tack it down to the ceiling
then your surgeon will use a liter a laser or some sort of cryosurgery
to again scar and tack down that retina into place the
is downside to this type of procedure is that it's usually best for people who
have a tear or a hole in their retina on the superior part of their retina and
after this is done the gas has to remain in place for at least a week and that
means that the patient who has had this done is often laying down face-first or
in some uncomfortable position to allow that gas to push on the retina and again
hold it in place and that means you're often laying down face flat for 16 hours
a day every day for at least a week it's so uncomfortable in fact they have
special tables and pillow specifically designed to give to patients so that
they can actually sit fairly comfortably maybe read or see something underneath
them to keep them busy all day because otherwise you can go kind of stir-crazy
but thankfully for a lot of people when this is done the retina is in good shape
and is something that we just kind of observe and watch afterward another
procedure is the scleral buckle now the scleral buckle procedure has been around
for a long time the score buckle involves using a silicone band kind of
like a rubber band that is placed around the globe of the eye and because of this
rubber band around the eye it's actually underneath the eye muscles it actually
compresses the Isle little bit changes the eyes shape and that actually brings
the retinal or the globe closer to where the retina is it reduces the traction of
the retina that's occurring inside and actually gets the rena to basically stop
it from progressing now this surgery is a lot more involved and so it actually
does require the patient to go into the operating room through this procedure
afterward that one of the biggest complications is that because of the
compression of the band on the eye it causes the eye to grow a bit longer and
with that elongation of the eye even just one millimeter will equal about two
and a half to 3 diopters of change so most patients who have a scleral buckle
surgery will end up becoming very nearsighted afterward and so that can
actually cause a big difference between the right and the left eyes and that
requires often a prescription change maybe special contact lenses or perhaps
even some type of cataract surgery afterwards and if you're kind of curious
about cataract surgery and exactly how that goes or what a cataract is I do
have another video going over cataracts and I'll hooked it up here
the YouTube card above as well as in the description below if you want to learn
more about cataracts otherwise the third and final option is a pars plane of I
Trek t'me and that's where they physically remove the gel from inside
the eye using a couple different needles they actually break all the vitreous
strands inside and they try to relax the actual attraction developing inside the
retina one of the biggest downsides to any of these surgeries is that retinal
detachment surgeries are usually much more complicated and any sort of surgery
that has to go into the operating room and do an intraocular surgery usually
are at higher risk of complications so it's really important if you do have one
of these procedures to listen to what your doctor says and let them know of
any other sudden changes to your eyesight or new floaters or flashes or
anything going on like that now for serous retinal detachments usually the
treatment is non-surgical we usually identify what is going on that's causing
that type of retinal detachment and then we simply just treat and manage that
condition now I totally understand how scary retinal detachments can be any
sort of thing that could be threatening someone's vision and eyesight it can be
a major life event and so I certainly recommend if you're having a tough time
if you're experiencing this again talk to your doctor reach out to a
family member get some support we are of course
as an eye doctor myself I am here as a resource for you and I want the best for
you again if you're having any of these symptoms and you haven't seen a doctor
already you need to stop this video and call your doctor right away again
remember that you only have two eyes so please take care of them last question
of the day have you a friend or a loved one ever experienced a retinal
detachment or have you gone through a retinal detachment surgery go ahead and
connect and share your story in the comments section below
hey thanks for watching if you liked the video hit that like button for me share
with a friend or family otherwise keep an eye on it