Eylea injection - blindness afterwards

[Kmcb77]

Dear All

Yesterday I had my 22nd eye injection. Up till now I’ve had a very positive outcome. My normal consultant is amazing. She performs the injection efficiently and afterwards I have minimal pain with no redness. However I got called in for an injection yesterday with a gentleman I hadn’t had before as my normal consultant is on holiday. He performed the injection and immediately afterwards he did the waving of the hand can you see it test and I couldn’t see anything. It was complete whiteness. I had no sight of his hand or anything else. He then put some drops in my eye told me to close it massaged it. After 10 mins I regained some very cloudy minimal vision. All last night I was in quite significant pain and this morning the pain has subsided but the vision is worse than it was before the injection. I have always had positive results post injection noticing that my vision is significantly better. Has anybody else ever had the complete blindness following an injection please?

Thank you

[Jbenson]

Yes it happened to me a couple of years ago.

I was injected by the doctor because the usual nurse was on a break. I was told afterwards that it sometimes happens if there is a small bubble of air in the syringe. When it cleared I had a large black floating disc that went after 3 days. It happened during my second injection and it was very scary but left no long lasting problems. I don’t know if it was really caused by air in the syringe the Dr was certainly slap dash and obviously not happy at having to cover for the nurse but I’ve never been sure of why it happened. My vision slowly came back after 5mins it was a long 5mins and I was terrified I don’t remember my vision being worse afterwards. If you are concerned I would contact the hospital and speak to someone if only to put your mind at rest. Good luck and roll on the day when they find a less invasive way of treating this.

[Hidden]

I agree with jbenson, call the clinic to ensure the pain and worse vision is nothing sinister. If all is ok I would also ask why everything went white ( as opposed to dark), what drops Dr put in, and is pain due to him massaging the eye too heavily?

The Mac soc may also be able to advise you. Best wishes going forward.

[Hidden]

Whiteness following an injection is not something I have experienced in 84 shots or heard of in others.

It used to be common for everything to be black immediately following an Avastin shot but that lasted less than 2mins.

Definitely, a call to the clinic is appropriate.

[RosMacularSociety Partner]

Dear Kmcb77,

Did the eye clinic give you an explanation for what happened?

Have you fed back to them about the pain that you experienced last night?

If not, it is important that you do so and obtain an explanation for the likely cause, plus clarification of whether there is a possibility that this could reoccur and if so, if there are any measures that they could take to guard against it.

Kind regards,

Macular Society helpline

0300 3030 111

[e-mail]

[Rosie102]

If you have an Eye Casualty would you be able to go there and perhaps they will be able to take a scan and talk to you about this experience. God Bless you.

[arwmd]

This is a new one on me. I’ve had injections once a month since April 2011. That is a lot of shots! First I don’t understand the procedure. So far the procedure used in my case is the photo of the inner eye first, then the vision test with dilatating eye drops, the glaucoma test, - fingers and chart. Then the eye drops to numb the eye in prep for the injectionthe the figure vision test. All of this is done by technitions. Then I wait 5 minutes for the numbing drops take effect. Eyelea gave me a bad reaction Jan, Fen Nd March. They sent the batch back, I had lucentis that month then went back on eylea with no problems. So let me ask you. - did you type your note here yourself so you can see we’ll enough to type it? Have you called your practice to be seen again or for information to explain what happened? I do understand that there could be many ways to conduct this treatment but would you please let me know what you learn and what they do to restore your vision and eliminate this white screen. I sure wish there was something that I could do to help you.

[AMD6yr]

yes, I lost complete sight in the after an injection for AMD caused an infection. Trouble was compounded after being given steroids following a surgery to clear out the infection. That caused my (small) cataract to grow huge. So now I am awaiting a cataract operation, to be followed by a second eye surgery to clear out all the remaining infection. I cannot get ANYONE to tell me what the chances are I will regain all or some of my eyesight in that eye. Has ANYONE else had any experience with this? I am in the USA; I think this website is in the UK. Thanks.

[Zool]

Yes! I have been getting Eylea injections for the past 2 yrs. with no problem. Changed RS and he gave me an preventative injection in my right eye which obviously I didn't need because it was stable. I also went blind for about 10 minutes and say only white. He did the massage thing and drops and pills as my eye pressure went way up over 50 (I also have glaucoma) and I had a severe headache. Very scary. It has now been about 7 week and have had a mild headache, lightheadedness, some dizziness and a weird sensation when I shake me head. The Dr.'s won't tell you much. My GP is sending me for an MRI as something isn't right and now I am terrified of getting another shot. I have a feeling that the new RS either gave me too much as he said I must be one of those people who can't have too much fluid, or the effects of a shot I didn't need. I read there can be systemic side effects.