Question
Hello,
I am 32 years old and had an eye exam this past week to renew my prescription for my contacts. Upon examining my eyes, the Dr. spent quite some time on my left eye. He stated that for "lack of a better term your retina has a stretch mark." This is something that you need to keep an eye on. My prescription in my left eye stayed the same @ -12.0 however, my left eye increase from -12.5 to -13.5. This is over the span of 1 year. I have noticed a heaviness in my left eye for a while along with just some bright light flashed especially at night, but just thought it was from being extremely nearsighted. What are the risks of this turing into a retinal detachement, and is it a major concern that I need to see a specialist about.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Answer
Dear Joyce,
Any eye with high myopia or minus numbers means an eye which is longer in shape than normal eyes. This itself means that the retina which lines the inner part of the eye ball now needs to line a much larger surface area. Hence, all with high myopia do have thinner retinas.
Thin retina means that it is more susceptible to getting any degeneration or weak areas in it...probably what the doctor you saw described in his terminology.
This only means that you visit a good eye specialist (need not be a retinal expert), for a dilated eye exam once every 8 motnhs or so even in absence of any symptoms.
The heaviness in the eye is not related to this retinal finding.
it could be related to the change in prescription.
You also need to undercorrect your glasses if sitting for very long hours on the PC to avoid such shifts in powers in future.
To correct your powers permanently you may consider Implantable contact lenses or ICL.
Please read more about this on www.lasikindia.in
Hope this information helps,
Best,
Dr Shroff
