I've just been told i have to have the Argon Laser treatment for some blood vessels. Central vision is fine but its on the periphery. Has anyone had this done and did you have any side effects? The potential loss of the Periphery vision scares the hell out of me!
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Laser for Stage 3 Retinography
- Thread starter JackBux
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chaoticcar
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I had laser treatment a few months ago It didn't hurt at all the worst thing was sitting still with my chin on the rest and the affect of the bright lights when I went out .I had no after effects at all l hope all goes well for you
Carol
Carol
Flower
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi @JackBux and welcome
I'm sorry you're having to deal with retinopathy, there are treatments that can slow or halt its progression. It is frightening when you are told you need laser but the whole aim is to stop the damaged areas in the retimas increasing and to protect as much stable sight as possible. Stage 3 retinopathy is also called severe non proliferative retinopathy
I had maximum laser in both eyes. I was late to be diagnosed as there was no retinal screening programme back in the 1980's early 90's. Starting any treatment in good time is the best way to try and keep as much sight as possible.
I had a number of sessions of laser on my peripheral retinas before I started to notice any reduction in my sight. The rod cells in peripheral vision deal with night time and low light vision and after a few sessions of laser I started to notice I struggled in the dark. You have a certain number of laser burns to seal off the areas of haemorrhages at each appointment- be prepared for more than one appointment as there is a limit to the number of laser burns that can be applied each time to prevent inflammation and swelling in the retina. It doesn't mean you will immediately notice loss of peripheral vision, hopefully the early intervention will stop the retinopathy from progressing and you will return to monitoring.
Be prepared with sunglasses as eyes can feel gritty and very light sensitive after treatments but this does settle down over the following days.
I find the information on this site really useful for all things retinopathy. It does all sound scary but there is so much that can be done to stop damage progressing. http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/pre-proliferative.html
What is your diabetes control like? HbA1c, blood pressure, cholesterol etc. If you have a higher HbA1c please discuss the safest way to reduce it slowly with your team as perversely rapidly reducing your HbA1c can speed up the progression of retinopathy which is the last thing any one needs in this situation.
Wishing you well, happy to help if there's something I've missed out!
I'm sorry you're having to deal with retinopathy, there are treatments that can slow or halt its progression. It is frightening when you are told you need laser but the whole aim is to stop the damaged areas in the retimas increasing and to protect as much stable sight as possible. Stage 3 retinopathy is also called severe non proliferative retinopathy
I had maximum laser in both eyes. I was late to be diagnosed as there was no retinal screening programme back in the 1980's early 90's. Starting any treatment in good time is the best way to try and keep as much sight as possible.
I had a number of sessions of laser on my peripheral retinas before I started to notice any reduction in my sight. The rod cells in peripheral vision deal with night time and low light vision and after a few sessions of laser I started to notice I struggled in the dark. You have a certain number of laser burns to seal off the areas of haemorrhages at each appointment- be prepared for more than one appointment as there is a limit to the number of laser burns that can be applied each time to prevent inflammation and swelling in the retina. It doesn't mean you will immediately notice loss of peripheral vision, hopefully the early intervention will stop the retinopathy from progressing and you will return to monitoring.
Be prepared with sunglasses as eyes can feel gritty and very light sensitive after treatments but this does settle down over the following days.
I find the information on this site really useful for all things retinopathy. It does all sound scary but there is so much that can be done to stop damage progressing. http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/pre-proliferative.html
What is your diabetes control like? HbA1c, blood pressure, cholesterol etc. If you have a higher HbA1c please discuss the safest way to reduce it slowly with your team as perversely rapidly reducing your HbA1c can speed up the progression of retinopathy which is the last thing any one needs in this situation.
Wishing you well, happy to help if there's something I've missed out!
Lilian
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I have had laser treatment on both eyes nearly 15 years ago now. The worst bit was hanging around waiting for eyes to dilate and taking my turn in the queue of people all waiting for the same thing. No pain and the actual laser treatment seemed to be finished before it was started lol. I thought I would count how many he did, but he went so quick, faster than I could count them. As a point of interest my mother was one of the first people to have laser treatment. It was very experimental then. She was in a London hospital and had to stay in for a week. How things have changed. One of the evenings I went to visit her from work and she wasn't there. She had gone to a party with one of the doctors. He had been invited to this party near where my mother lived and rather than her try and explain how to get there, he decided it would not hurt her recovery if she went with him. He brought her back to the hospital to finish her stay. Not sure whether treatment had been done or not yet. I presume she managed to get something suitable to wear. Unless it was fancy dress and she could then go as a patient wearing hospital gown lol.
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