Let's talk Visual Impairments and Aids

[Lazaras]

OK... I am facepalming over not having asked this before given I have had lifelong vision issues, and went to a school for the blind. However between my recent cateracts surgery and currently dealing with my right eye behaving like warped glass (retinal specialist appointment in a little over a week.)

Who here knows both what sort of diagnostics existed in the time, societal options (though I am fairly certain there wasn't much.) Potential surgeries (I had recalled something about cateracts removal being a thing, though i am uncertain on the details.)

I will say reading the little house on the prarie books (which happened in this rough time period post civil war) does mention Laura's sister Mary going blind and having to go to a school for the blind to help learn how to cope. It's just been ages since I read those and Mary wasn't that much of a focus as Laura and Almonso were the ones who's journals were pulled from.

[E.J.MonCrieff]

There's a reference to a "cataract knife" in  (I think) the Sherlock Holmes story "The Silver Blaze", so surgery to treat cataracts must have been available then.  And I remember my grandmother wearing very thick-lensed spectacles after she had surgical treatment.  I've been luckier - I had replacement lenses...

[J. Wilhelm]

Wow. This is fascinating. How does 5th Century BC sound to you???

https://eyewiki.aao.org/History_of_Cataract_Surgery

[E.J.MonCrieff]

Wow. This is fascinating. How does 5th Century BC sound to you???

https://eyewiki.aao.org/History_of_Cataract_Surgery

They say you should never watch laws or sausages being made . . . . .   After following this link, I'm glad I was anaesthetised for the procedure. . . . . . 

[Lazaras]

Wow. This is fascinating. How does 5th Century BC sound to you???

https://eyewiki.aao.org/History_of_Cataract_Surgery

Sounds like I am grateful I wasn't awake for this stuff.

[Synistor 303]

Cannot imagine how difficult this must be for you. Hope it resolves with time.

[Lazaras]

Oh I am about as fine as can be expected. It's more a case of 'I can't beleive i never asked this question before.'

Heck, the school I went to opened in the 1840's (diff campus given the buildings there are largely from the 50's with extensions and additions made in the 90's.)

[J. Wilhelm]

Checking in with potential bad news, and a bit scared. About aa monthgo, I accidentally hit my only good eye with my hand. The knuckle of my thumb hit the closed eye, above The center of the eye.In the immediate aftermath a dark area in my vision appeared at the lower 3rd of the visual range. The good news is that withing half an hour my vision returned to normal. The Iris (colored muscle around the pupil) was strained but not torn.

I had physical pain on the cornea (transparent cover in front of the iris)and light sensitivity pain for one week, understandably,since the iris muscle was strained. But after two weeks, I noticed a small flash of light at the corner of my eye. Not at the bottom of my vision range, but the extreme "corner of the eye."  This indicates a small retinal separation or tear at the edge of the retina. *sigh*

I'm in denial right now, but I have to get myself together and go see the doctor. No insurance. No money. I got a bit of cash for a consultation or two, but impossible to get a procedure done.

Aaargh! I just want to to heal on its own, but it's not going away. I have no control over when that tiny flash appears, and the location suggests that the tear is (because of image inversion) on the side of the eyeball closest to the nose behind the tear duct, well covered by the nose bones. Since I have no control of when o see it, it's more likely to be"activated" by the pumping of blood in a nearby blood vessel, rather than a muscle (clenching my eyes will do nothing as opposed to my scar on the other eye).

Wish me luck.

[Cora Courcelle]

I certainly do wish you luck Admiral.  I only hope that the damage is not too bad and there is some way that you can get any treatment you need.

[J. Wilhelm]

I certainly do wish you luck Admiral.  I only hope that the damage is not too bad and there is some way that you can get any treatment you need.

Thank you Dear Cora. There seems to be a change. The flash of lights appears to have greatly diminished in the last two days, but it's still there. I'm waiting for a chance to go to the doctor. 

At my job,I used to work on Saturdays at a "brick and mortar" shop, and as I wrote in another thread, that shop is being closed after Halloween. So I'll have the time to make an appointment and get organized. I think regardless of the prognosis,the doctor will tell me that I'm not supposed to be riding vehicles over 3rd World country grade roads, such as we have in the downtown area at the moment (over 70 construction projects have rendered downtown streets nearly demolished. The potholes are so numerous that buses' shock absorbers are shot )..I will try quitting my job to find something closer to home. At the moment I walk about 2½ miles plus about 3 hours of bus rides every single day. Sometimes as much as 5 hours commuting every day. None of that promotes healing in my retina.

[Lazaras]

Any updates on your condition?

[J. Wilhelm]

Any updates on your condition?

Yes, for one week after what I wrote above, the frequency of "flashes" increased to about less than 10 events per day, and in the following week I noticed that the brightness of the flashes decreased significantly. Then after that the size of the flash gradually decreased toward the extreme corner my vision. It's been getting smaller and dimmer, and it's barely noticeable throughout the day. In the last couple of days, frequency has decreased back down to about 3 events per day, close to the way it started, but much dimmer. The way I interpret the flashes is an electric wave propagating between adjacent neurons.

On my other eye, with my near 40 year old injury I've observed the same phenomenon. It's following the doughnut shaped scar tissue around the macula (center of vision). Generally,the electric pulse gas a directionality to it, the flash propagates clockwise. On my good eye, near the corner of vision I also noticed a clockwise propagation,but it's so fat to the edge that i can only see less than one half, maybe one third of that circular motion, which suggests s scar is centered just outside of my vision range, whatever that injury may be - a tear, I imagine.

It's wishful thinking on my part to expect the progress to mean that I'm healing, but I do know it's not a static situation.

[Lazaras]

All I can suggest is continued followups with retinal specialists as random flashes (of light or darkness) is a potentia lsymptom of retinal degeneration as thsoe flashes represent the retinal cells beign stimulated.

Having new vision artifacts are genuinely a terrifying thing even fi it turns out to be 'nothing' because 'oh god what's going on' and in my case the time I didn't worry OVERLy was the time it was a potential 'i almost lost my right eye from my retina de-laminating.' and am grateful the surgery went well (seriously they described my recovery as a miracle given no loss in field of vision and only minor warping and defects.)

[J. Wilhelm]

All I can suggest is continued followups with retinal specialists as random flashes (of light or darkness) is a potentia lsymptom of retinal degeneration as thsoe flashes represent the retinal cells beign stimulated.

Having new vision artifacts are genuinely a terrifying thing even fi it turns out to be 'nothing' because 'oh god what's going on' and in my case the time I didn't worry OVERLy was the time it was a potential 'i almost lost my right eye from my retina de-laminating.' and am grateful the surgery went well (seriously they described my recovery as a miracle given no loss in field of vision and only minor warping and defects.)

I know, thank you. It is terrifying. I had normalized the flashes on my"bad" eye, understanding how severe my injury was on that eye when I was in 6th grade. But the other eye ended up being much more fragile than anticipated. Maybe it's my age, or my blood pressure. which made such injury more likely to happen. I want to get angry about it,but I can't because I can only blame myself.

[Prof Marvel]

Just FYI ---

flashes of light or odd visual patterns are also a symptom of a "visual migraine" or "migraine aura"
often due to stress.
manage the stress, and they can "go away".

prf marvel

[Lazaras]

I know, thank you. It is terrifying. I had normalized the flashes on my"bad" eye, understanding how severe my injury was on that eye when I was in 6th grade. But the other eye ended up being much more fragile than anticipated. Maybe it's my age, or my blood pressure. which made such injury more likely to happen. I want to get angry about it,but I can't because I can only blame myself.

Please do not beat yourself up over the matter. I'd about doen the same thing to a detatched retina because it was all milky and hazey colored rather than the creeping blackness I'd been told to watch for.

Plus as The good Professor has said, it could be stress related. Even if it isn't, beating yoruself up isn't going to help. 

As a personal note: Outside of the first couple days my transition to bifocals has been pretty solid, and so far has been mainly catching myself  going back to behaviors i had before all this mess started with no dizzy or uneasy p anything when looking between the near patches and normal lenses.

Amusingly the lenses don't seem to do much at a glance..... but if i try focusing th out 'em it's.... a literal headach inducing mess. Leading me to believe the majority of the point of them is astigmatism correction. That or i ended up giving the eye doctor bad information and they're flat out wrong, which is a fear of mine whenever i go through an eye exam. Especially this one.

[Banfili]

Visual flashes can also be symptomatic of TIAs - mini strokes, in other words.
 
I have had two of these in the last 31/2 years (so I'm informed!), and they can be horrible. The second of these TIAs has limited the right peripheral vision in my right eye, the left peripheral visioning my left eye, and the lower quadrant of both! The first time this happened, virtually normal vision returned within a couple of weeks, more-or-less, but there was some residual lower quadrant confusion in both eyes. The second time, the visual issues are still with me, but clearing up very, very slowly. I won't ever recover normal vision. The right eye right side peripheral loss has stopped me driving. The left eye is not as bad. It is very frustrating and limiting.

In the 1990s I had two major accidents in the space of 18 months, and was told that it was possible that I could have some long term damage that would come back to bite me - and it has!

[Synistor 303]

Just FYI ---

flashes of light or odd visual patterns are also a symptom of a "visual migraine" or "migraine aura"
often due to stress.
manage the stress, and they can "go away".

prf marvel

I get them - a weird zig-zag V shape that starts right in my central vision, then over a period of 20 minutes or so gets wider and wider then moves to the outer edges of my vision until it goes away.

After putting up with them happening 3-4 times a day for a few years, I figured they were associated with artificial sweeteners. I stopped using anything artificial food-wise, and I now have perhaps a maximum of 2 a year.