Yesterday I went to a retina specialist to have my eyes examined. (No not my head, though that may need to be done soon. As I have many children) My Opthamologist noticed some retinopathy at my last checkup. (Tiny blood vessels bleeding in my eyes) I also was seeing letters and words distorted while reading. (My favorite pastime).
So Cassie went with me to drive on the way home as we were told that the eyes would be dilated. We got to the clinic, and only had to wait for a few minutes before we were escorted in to be seen by the doctor. A nurse tech dilated and numbed my eyes then took my eye BP and said that it was normal. (Yeah!) Then she asked some questions. The doctor then came and gave me an exam. He said I had mild retinopathy in my left eye. But mild to severe retinopathy in my right. He then explained what the procedure was next.
They inject me with a yellow food based dye to act as a contrast so they can see where the blood is leaking, and then take some pictures. All the nurses were very pleasant and competent as they took the pics. Next the doctor said he was going to use the laser to dry up the bleeding.
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They sat me down in the chair with what looked like the normal exam tools with a laser added. The nurse then numbed my right eye again and the doctor took a magnifying contact lens and placed it on my eye and proceeded to blast away the bleeding spots on my retina. It was cool! He went zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap to all the spots. What I saw was a very brief pinpoint of light flash in many spots in my eye. The whole procedure took, not even five minutes, and I was outa there! There was no pain nor any discomfort. The people were very friendly, helpful and professional.
I have to go back in two weeks to get my left eye done and then back in two months for a final checkup. The doctor told me that getting and keeping my sugars under control is the best way to keep the retinopathy at bay, so with the help of my darling wife and the rest of my family I will try to be better at it.
After my next visit I will post some pics of my retina the doctor said he will give me.
By the way, the wonderful doctor and organization that is treating me is Mid Atlantic Retina/Wills Retina Surgeons and my doctor is Carl D, Regillo MD. Some of the nurses were Samantha, Nancy and two others whose names I can't recall at this time. What a great team and a wonderful facility.
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