[peej07]

Well after many months my doc said he thinks in about 2 weeks he'd like to do a vitrectomy to clear the blood in my gel. I guess I'm a bit concerned about the complications and the success percentages. From what I'm reading it looks like 82% are successful, 9% show no improvment, and 9% loose vision. Those nubers scare me. I'm hoping some of the more educated members here can shed some light on this. Thanks

[xMenace]

No I can't. I believe I read the same stats.

The fact that he's waiting it out seems good to me. If your eyes were in bad shape, I think it would be a no-brainer to operate asap. I suspect your general eye health is pretty good. I'm no doctor.

[peej07]

Ah you were my ace in the hole. I was hoping you had better nubers for me. Yours has been complication free though, hasn't it?

[Mich]

Hi PJ,

I have had three vitrectomies, the first to clear the gel (which it did) and the others to fix a retinal detachment. John (the post above) has also had a vitrectomy. We both have posted extensively, but both of us and many other people here would be more than happy to answer specific questions honestly and put your mind at ease as much as possible.

The statistics? They sound terrible, but you must remember that they include figures for people with much worse conditions than yours. It's my understanding that little can be done for any intior section of the eye without removing the gel so that the doctor can see what he is doing. That necessarily means that some of the statistics include people like me, with serious retinal detachments and other complications and we are probably skewing the results.

A vitrectomy these days is a carefully-orchestrated, much performed procedure. In short, they really have it down--even to the types of sedation and anesthetic used. I would compare it to having a wisdom tooth surgically removed--no big deal, small inconvenience afterward.

Other questions? Knowlege is power and it eases your fears. Ask away.

Mich

[RobiJo]

I think your best bet is to be sure your doc is an expert at doing them. There are apparently different variations of the surgery. Some folks get local anesthesia (sp?) while others are under general anesthesia (which is how mine were done). I went to a specialist at the University of Michigan hospital, a different doc than my regular eye guy---who had done all my laser.

It hasn't been a year yet (May and July) but I have not had any problems/compllications. My vision is great, and I've not had any bleeding or floaters since. (fingers crossed). I go back to the eye doctor every 3-4 months now. My night vision is not as good as it used to be (lights are a bit fuzzy on the edges) but that was from all the laser.

Best of luck!

[peej07]

That's good to hear. He would be doing the surgery to clear my vitreous. My retina is intact and my vision is great before the bleed. Thanks guys.

[Jan B]

Peej,

I don't know anything about this, other than knowing a few people have some experience with it. I'm just wishing you the best and hoping you can be calm and hopeful and not too worried. Easy for me to say, huh?!

[markr]

I had it done three years ago. Fantastic results.

[peej07]

Originally Posted by markr

I had it done three years ago. Fantastic results.

That's great to hear, what did you have done? In my case it's just to clear the gel.