Vitreous Hemorrhage

Has anyone here had any problems with this that has been put down to or exacerbated/caused by atherosclerosis? I had a bit of an episode on Saturday evening, seeing flashing lights in one eye and am waiting for an "emergency" appointment at the hospital, after being seen, very promptly I must say, by the optometrist at Specsavers on the Sunday. He has said I have some hemorrhaging on one retina, and it needs further investigation. I am now left with seeing very distracting spiders web type shadows and streaks in that eye along with blurred/misty vision which is concerning me quite a lot to be honest. He did say it is usually down to ageing and caused by the gel in the eye pulling away from the retina and causing the bleeding, but I am wondering how the Aspirin I am on is contributing to this or if it is related to my heart condition. Just sat waiting for the phone to ring at the moment but wondering what else to do.

[Hidden]

I’d visit an eye hospital if you have one close by. I had vision problems last summer and went to the emergency department at my local eye hospital. It was then followed up by a consultant after lots of weird tests I was prescribed lots of drops and creams to lower the pressures in my eyes 👀

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Yeah the pressure in mine is fine, to be fair he did do what seemed like a pretty comprehensive test but the referral is supposed to be an emergency one, it seems a bit daft to just rock up at the eye casualty especially under the present circumstances. I will start making a bit of a fuss soon if nothing happens, I was just wondering really, if this might be linked to the heart condition. You wold think that they could at least have made contact given the circumstances and type of problem?

[Celtic]

With any luck this is just a simple burst blood vessel (conjunctival haemorrhage) and possibly caused by the aspirin . I used to get a lot when on long/ term steroids which can also thin the blood. Another possibility is vitreous detachment - I experienced that following an accidental injury to my eye, and I was experiencing flashing silver stripes down the outside corner of my eye. I was already under an ophthalmologist privately due to glaucoma and a past autoimmune condition with risk to eyesight so I got an emergency appointment with him. Was monitored for a short w hile and told the flashing silver stripes would disappear as my brain learnt to ignore them and amazingly that is exactly what happened although the gel cannot reposition itself. All is well and I do wish the same for you. But put pressure on being checked - anything remiss with our eyes should be checked out immediately.

[Hidden in reply to Celtic]

Thank you for your reassuring reply, I am sure that the Aspirin doesn't help the situation, it just seems obvious really, although I have read it is not a contributing factor in causing the bleed in the first place.

[genorm]

Hi,

I have something similar. Post Vitreous Detachment. When it happened it was alarming. A call to my Dr advised me to go to an optician with the correct equipment to check out the retina. The 'spiders' were more like drones, dead flies to me! I also had flashes at the perimeter of my vision.

To cut a rambling story off, it was put down to ageing :-/, but to have it checked on my usual eye test. The flashes went after a couple of weeks and the floaters changed from black to grey. Weirdly you do get used to them, although reading can be tricky some days.

For me they were nothing to do with any other health conditions, but it is good always to get checked out.

Good luck and best wishes.

[Hidden in reply to genorm]

Thank you genorm/Celtic, very helpful responses. I must say I was impressed with the Optometrist at Specsavers, and he did say it is most likely just down to ageing. I have done loads of research (with the good eye) and I am sure it is just the Gel that has degraded a bit and pulled at the retina, causing what is probably a mild/moderate bleed, but as you say the spiders web/streaks and general residue that is left is most disconcerting and distracting, it is also very worrying as I am sure everyone would be alarmed at any problem with thier eyes. Apparently it clears at the rate of roughly 1% per day, it's also a good excuse to take it easy! I did ring the Hospital eye clinic that Specsavers referred me to and apparently they only class an actual detachment as urgent and that the consultant would "have a look at my case and decide if it is worth him seeing me" in his own good time, although my underlying Atherosclerosis might reduce the waiting time to 6 weeks! I guess it is a sign of the times, I might look into going private if things worsen to be honest. Thanks again though.