Macular Hole

Also - yes, you will be able to read again, although it will probably be with reading glasses. I elected to remain short sighted when they did my cataract operation as I wear contact lenses and it would have felt odd to have only one lens in afterwards, fortunately my surgeon agreed with me on this, which means that when I take my lenses out at night I can still read without any glasses at all! Okay so the book is only 6 inches from my nose, but that was normal for me anyway.

I did worry about it happening in my other eye as well, so it was a relief when a retinal scan at my opticians 2 years ago showed the jelly had shrunk away cleanly meaning it couldn't now happen - so it isn't inevitable it will happen to both.

One final thing for now - being face down for the positioning doesn't mean you have to be lying down. So long as your whole face is looking downwards (not just your eyes) you can be sitting down or even walking about. I bought a portable massage headrest - one of those things with the hole in the middle for your face - and used to sit at the table with a portable dvd player underneath it watching box sets & movies with my good eye, this was before tablets came along. I also drank everything including tea and coffee through a straw so I didn't have to raise my head. The novelty of it all kept me going for the first few days!

I had this 11 years ago when I was 45 - it is scary when it happens but it isn't as disastrous as it probably feels at the moment.
You will be able to drive again, the macula provides the fine detail of your vision but the rest of the retina provides the general vision and this is what is used more when driving. Admittedly trying to work out unfamiliar road signs is more stressful as that does need a bit of fine vision!
If your surgery & positioning goes well then you should regain some fine detail vision in your eye. I couldn't even read the first line of the chart when I was diagnosed but by 6 months after the surgery I could just about read six lines (with a bit of squinting...). The positioning , although tedious to do, is absolutely key to your future vision. The gas bubble (tamponade) presses against the retina and macula keeping it as flat as possible, the more effective this is the better your chances.

It is a fact that you won't regain all your sight but it is amazing how much your body adapts - your other eye will learn to compensate and will work harder, and then you just get used to it. Threading needles is a problem for me, plus putting eye make up on my good eye can end up - err- 'creative (!) but otherwise I barely think about it now.

It is a long recovery process though, you will be blind in that eye until the gas bubble disperses (about 6-8 weeks) plus I had some dark vision spots because of the ILM (Internal limiting membrane) peel they did which they warned me would take up to 2 years to disappear completely - and it did, but in all honesty the surgery was so worth all the hassle because of the amount of sight I regained.

The hole is caused by the jelly that is in your eye sticking to the macula as it naturally shrinks through ageing and causing it to rupture - the scan of mine looked like a child's drawing of a volcano at first, it's more like a slightly rutted field now - so it might not have been anything to do with the laser work you had, it may just be bad luck, it was with me

Don't despair - things will get better than they are just now.

How annoying OP - macula holes usually occur in older people.

But don't panic too much, although your vision is unlikely to be quite as good as it was beforehand, it should still be pretty good and you will adapt. Results do depend on the type of hole.

I find most patients (even older ones) get pretty good vision afterwards and only really notice the difference when they have their eyes tested.

Age and speed of referral is on your side.

There is about a 10% chance of it occurring in the other eye. Are you very short-sighted or did it happen after you suffered some trauma to the eye?

My mum had this and had a procedure to repair it. It's fine now, but I believe it required a period of bed rest in a face-down position to heal successfully. She had a massage-type bed with a hole, I think.

friend had this and as vision problems can be so scary, I hope I'm helping by replying. Important thing is that it has been found and you are being seen by a specialist ASAP.

specialist will advise what needs doing - may just be an injection or could need surgery. If surgery, you may need to do positioning for a while as it involves a gas bubble in your eye. During this time your vision will be blurry and it is going to take some time to resolve. But it should get better. The op will usually trigger a cataract (cloudy eye lens) but that is also very treatable.

It is NOT the same as macular degeneration - there are treatments and I am so glad you got checked out.

wishing you the best.