Background
Having myopia since young had caused me to have high myopia with astigmatism. My colleagues say I read too much but actually I played too much video games when young. In fact, according to my eye specialist, myopia has less to do with our lifestyle but more on our genetics. But I still believe in relieving stress on the eyeballs by looking far but it was too late for me.
The risk of high myopia (>600 degrees) is that the retina is more stretched and therefore prone to peripheral retinal tears. The retina is a layer of cells at the back of your eye. These cells use light to send visual information to your brain. Retinal detachment happens when part of your retina detaches from the inner wall of the eye. When that happens, your retina does not function normally. If not treated promptly, a retinal detachment can cause permanent vision loss.
Procedure — Prevents worsening of thinned retina
Laser retinopexy is a procedure where the doctor uses a thermal laser that passes through the eye and forms barricade scar tissues around a retinal tear. The scar tissue serves as a weld in order to prevent expansion of the retinal tear and prevent fluid from entering into the retinal tear and causing progressive retinal detachment.
Experience with Raffles Hospital (Singapore)
First, a high resolution photograph for my two eye balls before and after the procedure. I was given dilating solution before photographing and then later given a painkiller by doctor. Doctor have me waited for 1 hour to have the painkiller in full effect. Seated at the eye station, anesthetic drops were used to make the eye numb and a specialized contact lens was laced onto one of my eye. It felt like a marble pressing against my eyeball. When doctor removes this ‘marble’, there was a suction feel. I was told to relax and follow doctor’s instructions to look up, down, left, right. To be honest, with that ‘marble’ stuck onto my eyeball, i am not sure if I am looking in that direction except to hear my doctor’s audio cues. The only important things I hear from Doctor was, “always stick your forehead against the upper band”. I pushed my forehead as hard as I can forward as I bear through the procedure.
Each beep sound is a green laser light and you can roughly tell it goes around the edge of your eyeball. There is no burning smell. However, when the beeps go very quickly, I have feelings of discomfort due to my unfamiliarity and my right temple (if right eye is receiving treatment) has headaches. That is when painkillers will help before the procedure. When I needed a break, I will tell the doctor to pause.
After the procedure which took minutes per eye, the eye sees purple at the center of my vision, the edges of my peripheral was black. I was given about 20 minutes rest between two eyes.
To bear with the procedure discomfort, I had to tap my lap trying to count the number of beeps to distract myself. I think it was like hundreds of beeps? What an experience.
My vision was not too blurry, it was almost nothing happened to my vision with spectacles. However, you can tell your vision is not as sharp as before. Your eyes will feel slightly drier than usual. No eye-drops or further painkillers was needed for me after procedure. A 2-week follow up was needed to see the scar tissue has formed nicely. I was told not to do jumping jacks and not wear contact lens for 2 days. I didn’t ask why.
Benefit of Procedure
It is a lifetime protection against any retina detachment. Anyone with high myopia should go have the eye checked for wear and tear and thinning areas. I hesitated 1 year to do this. It was a blessing in disguise because Doctor told me he only found out there was a minute tear during the procedure and he helped weld scar tissues around that tear. He said previously this tear wasn’t obvious through high resolution photograph.
Summary
Highly recommend and is safe. All high myopia folks should have their retina checked and then decide the urgency of doing this procedure. There are nerves attached to your retina so you may feel headaches but never your eye feels pain. When you punched in the eye you felt the trauma pain but the procedure doesn’t produces such sensation. I believe Doctor’s painkiller helped alot.
