My vision impairment stemmed from my first detached retina ten years ago. Read my mini bio in the {About Me} page link above, which is next to the Home link, if you wish.
I decided to share signs of retina issues in today’s post in case you or someone you know exhibits the symptoms. For those of you in the choir that I’m preaching to, feel free to share your experience in the Comments.
Signs of a torn or detached retina:
- Blind spot
- Flashes of light
- Floaters (sort of like specks of dust) in your vision
- Shadows or a curtain dropping over your vision
- Spider web images in your vision
- Blurry, distorted, or doubled vision
I’m not a doctor. Don’t take my word for medical advice. Contact your doctor or a retina specialist immediately about retina problems. If you don’t know a retina specialist, going to the ER will connect you to one if you are experiencing a torn or detached retina.
In my experience, time is not a friend to retina troubles. If left untreated, total vision loss is possible.
One last note: a retinal detachment is painless. Just because it isn’t causing you agony, that doesn’t mean it’s wise to ignore a change in vision.
Adventures in Low Vision 
Retinal detachment is something that scares the daylights out of me. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I suspect it will one day. I wish more was being done with medical research and maybe even laser technology to be able to prevent or heal this issue.
For most patients who seek immediate treatment, laser treatment does fix the situation. I’m a complicated case.
I was told that even if I RAN to a hospital, the area that detaches would never have its vision back after they take care of it with laser. They said it would cause a blind spot wherever they reattach it. Then again, the medical system where I live is notoriously BAD.
Yes, lasering can cause blind spots. Not sure how doctors determine when to laser or offer injections vs do retinal surgery with gas bubble or oil tampenade recovery as of course, I’m not an MD. It’s unfortunate to hear that your medical system is not great.
I’ve only just this weekend heard about injections, and don’t understand how they work/help. Both patients who spoke of it were being treated for cataracts, however, so it may be slightly different.
And yeah, boo to Canada’s ‘free health care’.