retinopathy /laser questions

[the_anticarb]

Hi, I have some retinopathy questions if anyone can answer i'd be grateful.
Feeling very worried as my left eye has proliferated, due to have laser next week which I know will sort it in the short term but worried this will be the beginning of the end if they can't get it stabilised permanently.

How many laser sessions do they let you have before you're lasered 'to the max'? What does this mean - why can't they do any more laser after a certain point?

Can you have perfect blood sugar control, perfect blood pressure etc and still the retinopathy develops / comes back after the laser? Would i have to be very unlucky for this to happen, or is it to be expected. Needless to say I'll be doing everything in my power now and forevermore to prevent this.

What happens to actually cause vision loss, is it when the new blood cells haemorrage and then you have blood in your vision? Is this the dark spots that you see in pictures of 'what the world looks like with diabetic retinopathy?' Can these go away or are you just stuck with them?

I'm really scared i will end up blind or partially sighted, this is really stressing me out, if anyone can help to ease my fears please post!

 

[Tracey69]

HI and welcome
Retinopathy is where the vessels bleed at the back of the eye. You can have quite a few sessions of laser, the only time they won't do any more laser is when there is no more room around the back of the eye.
I have retinopathy but was never a controlled diabetic until about 5 years ago, my left eye is the worse one. I am registered partially sighted, but then i have also got macular oedema and am awaiting to have the vitreous jelly to be removedas my eye continually has bleeds.
There are several ways to have laser, one where you sit in the chair and have your head in a vice like they have when they are just looking at the back of the eye and then there is alaser that can be done by the consultant wearing head gear and this is usually done as a day patient but they can get a more direct laser, and the other type i have had is it felt like they put a little pressure on the eye which can work well.
But i'm sure your only have the first one i mentioned.
They will numb your eye with drops, and then they will laser, the laser can be a bright green light which flashes all the time.
This can happen to any diabetics over time.
Hope all goes well and let me know how you get on.
Take care
Tracey

 

[Unbeliever]

I have o have injections every few months followed by laser for my retinopahy 'macular oedema. The rouble is that my excellent consultant is not lways available and the injections are sometimes administered {operating theatre counts as surgery}
by another surgeon.
Each time this happens the injections are ineffective and I cannot have laser so there is then a long wait and as at present it is a matter of havig the injections again and maybe risking the same outcome. Because it is the NHS there is nothing to be done about his.
On the other hand one would have o be a multi -millionaire to be able to pay for these injections and the laser every few monhs.
Obvously I prefer to have these reatments than to risk blindness but I feel as if my sight is dependent on some roll of the dice each time.
I often wonder if there is anyway to assess the efficiency of these surgeons. I somehow doubt it.

 

[the_anticarb]

Unbeliever that's terrible - is there any way you can see someone privately for a one off consultation after the ineffective surgeon does his botch-job, then if he confirms that he can write something that will go to the good surgeon? I've found over the years that doctors don't listen to patients but do listen to each other.

My recent private consultation answered many questions that had not been adequately answered on the NHS, on two previous visits I'd asked if I could have more children and told 'yeah you'll be fine' only when I see someone privately does he tell me to wait til it is stabilised as my left eye is not in a good way.

Also the consultant I saw privately wrote a two page letter detailing all the changes to my eyes etc, whereas the last nhs session resulted in a letter consisting of one line - pre proliferative both eyes - or something to that effect, which led me to a false sense of security, had it not been for my own niggling feeling I would have got pregnant again by now which I have now been told is very inadvisable til they sort it out, thank god I didn't or else I may have had to choose to abort or have irreversible damage.

So you are still having laser Unbeliever? How many sessions have you had up to now - is there a limit to how much they can do and are you still quite far off that?

 

[Unbeliever]

I am more than happy with the "good " consultant /surgeon . He is aware of the situation I believe [and I have pointed it out} he does his best to be there for me but the situation is not within his control.

It is not the consulant at fault but the organisation of the NHS. He has two private Practices but there is no way I could ever afford all the treatmment I have had privately. I am just hoping that they soon introduce steroid implants which may help me to cut down on the number of procedures I need.

My consulyant has transformed he treatnebt at that hospital but he can't choose his colleagues and has quite a lot o put up with.

I have the injections to dry up the fluid so that laser can be more effective.

I honestly could not tell you how many sessions of laser I have had because I have lost count. I am coming o the end of the road for laser in one eye . Only the sooper dooper chap will attempt it now but there is lots of scope in the other eye which wasn't so badly afffected.

The problem was that my initial sessions of very intensive laser were carried out when I had oo much fluid in my eye . This meant that it was inefffective but damaged my retinsa.
My good consultant introduced the policy of the injections. It is always worth asking abiut that.

Please don't be frightened by my experiences. It is quite rare for patients not to respond to treatment but I have been quite unfortunate regarding my eyes from the beginning. The initial bleed happened due to my levels being reduced oo quickly
and the initial laser did appalling damge,, I am almost a resident at the hospital but I have never met anyone with the same experience or who has been having the reatment as long as I have- to no avail.
I do not despair however. There are new reatments in the pipeline.

 

[Tracey69]

I have also had my eye frozen with injections to have laser as my eye doesn't cope with the light reflection. so to keep the eye straight they have localised the eye with the jab