Retinal Break – All That You Want To Know

The retina, the light-sensitive tissue present at the back of our eyes, begins to weaken and thin as we age. Due to this, in the areas of thinning, the retina may ultimately break up at various points, creating tiny holes or tears. Generally, retinal breaks do not cause vision problems, at least not instantly to be noticed. It may begin as floaters or light flashes in the eyes. Thus, you must look out for such symptoms of floaters or flashes; and get in touch with the best retina specialist in Mumbai, one like Arohi Eye Hospital, to identify whether these symptoms are a sign of retinal tears. If so, you will need immediate attention.

But, if you don’t take appropriate steps even on experiencing floaters or light flashes, your condition may get severe, tearing the retina apart and pulling it away to let into the eye fluid through the tears. If too much fluid gets in, it will eventually separate of detach the retina from the rest of the eye; the condition being known as retinal detachment. Such a severe condition can lead to decrease in vision; and if left untreated, may also cause total blindness.

Getting a treatment

When you approach a retina specialist you will be diagnosed, and an appropriate treatment will be suggested, depending upon your particular condition. The two most common treatments include laser treatment and freezing treatment. The main purpose of both these treatments is to seal the retinal holes; the only difference being that laser treatment will require a laser to do so, while freezing treatment requiring a special instrument to freeze the holes/tears. Let us learn about both these procedures in detail.

Laser treatment

The scientific term of retinal hole/tear laser treatment is Laser Photocoagulation. In this treatment, your pupils will first be dilated by inserting drops into your eyes. Then, anesthetic drops will be inserted to numb your eyes. A high focused beam of laser light will then be focused onto your retina to seal the tissue around the hole/tear. As the procedure itself proves, it is a very quick and painless procedure. Also, there is no requirement of hospital stay. You may return back home as soon as the procedure is complete; but, you need to understand that your vision will stay blurred for a few hours before coming back to normal.

Freezing treatment

The scientific term of the freezing procedure is cryopexy, which involves the utilization of an instrument called a cryoprobe, which is used to freeze the tissue around the retinal hole/tear, thus securing it to the inside of the eyeball. This procedure too requires local anesthesia. This treatment too is quick and painless, but it will have your eyes to stay red for a few days, to normalize which, you will need to instill the prescribed eye drops.

Both the above procedures are safe and proven to be successful too. Thus, there seems to be almost no risk associated with a retinal hole/tear treatment. There may be rare cases of slight pain or eye irritation, but it may recede quickly, bringing your eyes back to normal. In any way, there is no eye infection reported yet from any of the procedures; so, rest assured that your eyes will be absolutely safe. But, it is yet always recommended that you book a follow-up consultation with your surgeon at least after 10-15 days of your treatment to check for any rare consequences.

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