So, I'd now been diagnosed with having a CRVO. I didn't know what it was but I very soon looked it up. Some of the small blood vessels on the wall of my retina had burst and have caused several areas of scarring. 


The areas of scarring can clearly be seen in the above image. If treated immediately following a bleed the scarring can be reduced and in most cases gone for ever, unfortunately in my case the damage had been done by this time and the scarring is permanent.

The scarring leads to several blurred areas in my central field of view, luckily (if anything is lucky about a CRVO) the peripheral vision is still very good in this eye and I am able to carry on mostly as normal.


In my eye the central area of the retina (the Macula) had edema, a swelling caused by the blocked blood vessels. (The image above has been downloaded from Google). The fluid in this area has to be reduced and that leads my on to the treatment I've been receiving.

Starting in October 2021 I received my first dose of Lucentis (a prescription medicine for the treatment of macular edema following retinal vein occlusion).

The treatment involves some anaesthetic drops in the eye followed by cleaning the whole area with Iodine. The point of injection is highlighted with a tiny dot and the solution is injected, the needle is inserted as far as the vitreous part of your eyeball -- a jelly-like substance in the middle of your eye. After a second or so Im aware of what looks like a bubble of fluid in the centre of my vision, this slowly disappears after a few seconds.

Its not exactly my idea of fun, the first few injections were quite uncomfortable but I have since got used to them.

The solution reduces the fluid but regular injections are required to prevent further build up. At first I was having monthly injections now every six weeks.

The Lucentis solution is quite expensive, each dose around £700-£800, I've been lucky to receive this treatment on the NHS (National Health Service) and this is provided at no cost to me.

You can probably tell that I am not medically trained and I'm sure some of my description may not be 100% correct.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Initial Diagnosis (it wasn’t CRVO)

Image
 CRVO Central Retinal Vein Occlusion I had no idea what it was but I know now! It all started back in August 21, a Thursday evening when I experienced a strange aberration in my right eye - it only lasted a few minutes, it was as if my eye suddenly became pixelated. About half an hour later it happened again, the same pixelation but this time it lasted a lot longer. It was enough for me to become worried so I tried to phone the NHS 111 only to find they were so busy. I went on-line again 111 and was advised to contact my nearest eye clinic, in Brighton. I quickly got through and was advised to contact my optician the following day. Well, I contacted every local optician but they were all fully booked so I decided to visit my nearest NHS A&E at the East Surrey Hospital, Redhill. Little did I know at the time that this was a big mistake. After a short wait I was examined, had several tests and asked to wait for an Ophthalmology Consultant to assess my diagnosis. On refl...
Read more

So What Went Wrong when this all started

In the last two posts I've tried to explain what a CRVO is and the effect it has had on my vision, what I'd like to do now is give an overview of my initial (lack of) treatment. On my first visit to the A&E department at the East Surrey Hospital I wasn't seen by a Doctor but the nurse seemed very thorough, doing various tests, blood pressure, eye test etc. What I didn't know at the time was that nurses initial diagnosis. In June 2022 I decided to find out a bit more. I requested my notes from the East Surrey Hospital and are very comprehensive sets of papers duly arrived. Most of the notes related to my visit to the TIA clinic, the tests and scans I had and the follow up MRI scan which proved that the brain TIA diagnosis was incorrect. The most important page from the notes was about my first appearance at A&E. A simple one A4 page with all of my personal details and a brief conclusion as I've listed below: Referral Source - Self referral Arrival Method ...
Read more