Problems with Eylea injection

[bruno5485]

My husband had an eylea injection Feb 14, 2022 and a day later he lost all vision in the eye..........he experienced an eye infection that took away his vision. Has any one else had this happen?

[middlejoel]

WOW! Hopefully his eyesight came back. How is the other eye?

[springcross]

Oh dear Bruno, I'm sorry to hear this, that sounds very scary. Did his sight eventually return? I really hope it did.

[RP1944]

That’s the first time I have heard of that happening, really scary. I hope his vision returned.Did the eye clinic give any explanation as to what happened? Hope things are better now. Best wishes.

[Retired130]

Hello. So sorry to read about the loss of sight & infection after the shot. Unfortunately, infection is one of the dangers of getting an eye shot, be it Avastin, Eylea, or Lucentis.I had 2 major issues at two different injections during my 5+ years of getting eye shots.

On my 2nd shot ever (Avastin), the doctor giving the eye shot, did it very poorly (probably too deep). The pain was so extreme, I passed out for a few seconds as I tried to get out of the chair. I went back the next day in pain, but the doctor & staff said there was nothing wrong. By that next day, I lost all color vision in that eye as well as losing the ability to read even larger than newspaper size print. The pain eventually subsided, but I have never recovered by color vision or reading vision in that eye & that was 5 years ago. I never went to that Retina Specialist again.

About 1 1/2 years ago, after an Eylea injection, on the 2nd day, I woke up to being blind in that eye. This Retina Specialist immediately wanted to see me when I called (it was a Sunday). He said I got an infection in the eye from the shot, possibly from a bad or spoiled Eylea or a not-totally sterile needle. Treated me with heavy antibiotics for 3 days with no improvement, & then said I needed a very delicate Vitrectomy operation on the eye to drain the infected fluid out of the eye & disinfect the interior of the eye to possibly return some vision to that eye. He said I could go blind in that eye from the operation as it was a risky operation, but it was my only chance to recover vision in the eye. Luckily for me, the operation was a total success and over the course of a few months, my body produced replacement vitreous fluid & my vision in that eye slowly returned to as bad as it was before the infection (no color vision & could not read).

If you read the warnings on any of the eye injection medications, they all state that the risk of infection is one of the possible bad side effects.

I hope your husband's vision returns on its own, possibly with antibiotics or the operation I had. I hope your Retina Specialist is treating it quickly, as the infection would cause total blindness in the eye if not quickly treated.

[Shimano]

No I haven’t experienced this Bruno but I know it is the no.1 fear of getting the injections. I have both eyes injected at the same time and the doctor is very careful because of the danger of cross infection. I am so sorry to hear of your traumatic experience.

[Annsandra13]

Hi Bruno, I really feel for you as I too had a similar experience 3 years ago and went through hell and back, sorry to put it this way but eventually my sight returned within weeks thank goodness.The day this happened which was a few days after my Eylea injections ( both eyes) I had antibiotics injected into the back of the eye, had fluid drawn out to discover the type of infection, it was necessary to visit the hospital daily for 5 days. I was on approximately 30 different eye drops daily. It was Endophthalmitis and took months to recover. But I did and I hope your outcome will be the same. I am now very cautious about the level of hygiene at my clinic. They are great people doing very difficult procedures, although I was nervous for 12 months and so was the clinic but all is well now. We need these injections as the alternative is not a consideration, so we all learn to live with them with courage and a smile hopefully. Good luck Bruno5485 my thoughts are with you.