Retinal tear

I’ve had a retinal detachment, and 3 tears now, plus a macular hole (which was horrendous afterwards). I’m extremely short sighted, and I was told that my retinas were thinner at the edges, so they just fray and tear spontaneously. I had cryotherapy not laser on the tears, and a surgical repair to the detachment. Apart from some damage after the macular hole my vision is fine, but if you need a lot of tears repaired that can cause problems so I have my fingers crossed I (and everyone else!) don’t get any more. I hope you have recovered well.

I didn’t have a detachment, just retinal tears that were repaired by laser treatment. I was assured by an optician that I didn’t need to informed DVLA, but then found (years later!) on the DVLA site that, because I’d had retina treatment in both eyes, I needed to inform them. The optician who carried out the DVLA field of vision test said a lot of people don’t realise.

DVLA website says:
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Retinal treatment and driving.

If you’ve had retinal treatment in both eyes, you must tell DVLA.

You can also fill in form V1 and send it to DVLA. The address is on the form.

If you’ve had retinal treatment in one eye, ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your treatment will affect your driving. If it does, you must report it to DVLA.
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www.gov.uk/retinal-treatment-and-driving

I may be wrong, but I think retinal detachment does affect the DVLA regulations, but retinal tears are somewhat different and I have not heard of any requirement relating to tears. Hopefully someone else will be able to clarify.

Hi, I’ve had a retinal tear in both eyes, I’m very short-sighted, and the tears happened as a result of PVD, which is often accompanied by floaters and flashing lights. This is a risk if you are shortsighted, and the more short sighted you are, the higher the risk. I had areas of lattice degeneration in each retina, which is an area where the retina is very thin, and these were where the tears appeared.

I still have floaty bits in my eyes, years later. I was very frightened by the first one, as I didn’t know why it had happened, but researched PVDs and retinal tears via google, which helped a lot.

One thing to be aware of: if you have retina treatment in both eyes, you need to let DVLA know if you drive. I didn’t realise this until several years later - thank goodness I didn’t have an accident in this period as I’m not sure if the insurance would have paid. I had to have a field of vision test, and fortunately got a letter from DVLA saying I was fit to drive.

Yes, I have one long sighted and one short sighted eye. My tear was in the shirt sighted one, as is more usual.

Another who suffered a retinal tear, with no obvious cause. I had had floaters for quite a while prior to it, but hadn't realised how serious they were ! Thankfully just had the one, but am also being checked out for glaucoma .

I had this and was told that it was because I am so short-sighted. I was so impressed by the laser treatment - how lucky we are to have this technology - and free.

BlueBelle

I suspect it's because heavy lifting can cause pressure in the back of the eye. (Seriously.) It's amazing how many things we don't think about until we're in an position to have difficulty. For example, when I had my wisdom tooth pulled (just one; only ever had 3 and the other two came in fine) every time I bent over my mouth really hurt. Bending over apparently increases the pressure on your gums.

If it is my daughter must be in for them as she’s a weight lifter ?

I’ve had them too, two in one eye one in t’other lasered back together I m short sighted and had a blow to the head before the first one nothing happened with the other two
I think you can have thin retinas just like you can have thin skin or thin hair I eouldnt think it’s connected to lifting They certainly never had that as a question when I went to the eye hospital

I've had a couple of retinal tears repaired with laser. On both occasions there was absolutely no obvious reason - they just happened. My first one occurred on my 60th birthday - so I thought that was a very bad omen ! The second about five years later.

I have one short-sighted eye and one long-sighted. Both tears appeared in the long-sighted eye. I'm just thankful that they were both easily repaired.

I do feel sorry for you as this sounds frightening and unpleasant. Unfortunately, I don't have any helpful remarks other than "don't lift anything heavy" but I expect other people have told you that and it's difficult to not lift things in this life.

I don't want to sound smug but I have not had this problem.

Nannymags - I had a retinal tear a few years ago, also had the laser treatment as well, and felt no discomfort. Like you prior to my tear I had been lugging furniture around not a good idea when you get to a certain age! I wish you well.