Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion

[Robotalkingrubbish]

Has anyone had this? I’ve got it and my sight has become distorted and blurry. I want some hope that it will get better. The treatment options sound horrendous.

Anyone?

So the patch of vision loss you've had from the original branch vein occlusion won't really get any better, as you've an area of retina which didn't have enough oxygen going to it. However, the vision in the other eye should cover most of this.

Treatment is aimed at treating the longer term effects which are things like fluid underneath the macula (the bit in your eye where you can see fine detail) and also treating any new blood vessels which appear as these can cause all sorts of other problems like bleeding or pulling bits of the eye you don't want pulling.

I assume you have a bit of macula oedema? In which case steroids or another treatment can be injected into the eye to help to restore some vision and to stop it getting worse.

There's a good leaflet here
https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/condition/retinal-vein-occlusion

You should have undergone some testing too, to work out why it happened as you don't want to same thing to happen in the other eye. If you do smoke stop and lose some weight if you're significantly over weight.

Thanks so much for replying. The doctor at the hospital was so busy, I had no time to ask questions.

I have no direct experience of this condition but do have one totally buggered up eye which amongst other things has had a serious macular detachment (due to fluid building behind the macular) resulting in a vitrectomy, retina reattachment with stitches and laser and a lens replacement.

What I have learnt over years of treatments and tests is that they always sound a lot worse than they are. Descriptions of stuff being done to your eyeball always sound awful but the reality is that you don't feel any of it. I had key hole surgery on my eyeball when I was awake, it was wonderful. They gave me a delightful sedative that allowed me to be completely aware and capable of conversation and thought, but blissfully un-worried and stress free. Afterwards I had stitches in the eyeball and you would think that it would hurt but it really didn't, felt a bit annoying when I blinked but no pain at all. Looked a bit of a state but didn't hurt and was no bother when it was healing, just a few drops per day.

Thanks so much @CyberCritical for sharing your experience. It helps a lot. I hope your poorly eye is much better now.