On Sunday I started having streak-like flashes at the top of my vision and in the right-corner of my eye. By Monday I had a string-like floater and specks floating in my eye so I called the clinic and made an appointment to see an ophthalmologist. I knew my usual doctor wouldn't be in the clinic until Wednesday but I didn't want to wait. 

My eyes were first examined by a resident doctor who checked my retina for holes. She told me that my retina looked fine but that I was experiencing PVD and went on to explain what it was. I'm already familiar with PVD but I didn't interrupt. She also said it was unlikely my retina would tear. I guess she said that to make me feel better but having experienced this years ago, I didn't feel better. 

After the resident doctor, one of the clinic's ophthalmologists also examined my eyes and also explained what was happening with my eye but while she examined my eye with the slit lamp she noticed a tug at the center of my retina. Finally! The phantom flash made its appearance during an eye exam. 

She told me that my retina may or may not tear but if I experienced symptoms of detachment to come back to the clinic. She also said I was experiencing PVD due to my age which may have been true but because I've been experiencing these issues for almost two decades I disagree with her but I didn't say anything. I don't usually debate with doctors unless I feel they're insisting on a procedure I don't want. I knew she wasn't familiar with my vision history but clearly she could see that I have very high myopia which is the reason for the PVD. 

After the eye exam she told me to return in a month to see my usual doctor. When I got home from the exam I noticed a Weiss ring floating in the corner of my eye. It's kind of scary how quickly things progressed in just a few days.  

Follow up

By the time I returned to the retina clinic (March 2nd) I had so much vitreous debris in my eye - a Weiss ring, strings and a huge transparent mass that clouded my vision like a mild cataract - that at times it was difficult to see. It's like having a tangle of hair constantly floating inside my eye but I can't remove it. It's very frustrating. Due to the vision in my right eye being blocked by floaters my left eye at times acts as my dominant eye which is not good since it's my weakest eye that also has distortion. 

During the first part of the examination one of the resident doctors asked me if I knew what PVD was and I told him I did. I also told him that the last doctor I saw said my vitreous was detaching because of my age, but I know it's really because of my myopia and he confirmed that I was correct. He went on to say that people under 60 years of age who have high myopia, including himself, experience PVD  at an early age due to high myopia. So of course I felt vindicated after hearing him say that. 

I saw my usual eye doctor and he said that my retina looked good and that there were no tears. He explained the only way to remove the floaters was by surgery. I heard this before and knew  the surgery he was referring to was a victrectomy, which I had been told in the past was too risky to undergo just to remove a floater. The risks would be detachment, tears, or a macular hole because my retina is so thin. The doctor said he wanted to wait it out to see if the floaters go away on their own or if my brain will eventually ignore them. He also said that if I really couldn't live with it then we could talk about the possibility of surgery. 
 
I don't want a surgery. I wish I wasn't going through this at all. I'm very happy that my retina has no signs of detachment but I can't help but to recall how I heard some of the same things about 6 years ago during a routine eye exam then a few weeks later my retina detached.