First I will give you my history. At 16 I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. I have been lucky and it has not progressed since diagnoses and my retina specialist said (4 weeks ago) that for having RP my eye is as healthy as can be. (I'm 29) About 5 weeks ago I noticed an onset of flashes in my vision like tiny pinholes everywhere. I also noticed they were mostly bothersome in my peripheral vision. I also noticed that being an Rp patient any issues with my peripheral vision alarm me. I went directly to my retina specialist who diagnosed me with a PVD in both eyes and nothing else. I went back 5 weeks later (last Thursday) and he said they were evolving but still there (I've since learned they will always be there). My question is almost 6 weeks later my flashes are still there. It really bothers me in sunlight and dim light and really bothers my peripheral vision. Do you feel these stubborn flashes are just pvd? Why is it still bothering me if everything says the symptoms go away in 4-6 weeks? Is it neurological? My retina specialist didnt seem alarmed and did all the necessary OCT and other scans. It's hard for me to just 'not worry & wait' when your vision issues is something you can't escape or ignore!
2014-12-26 05:58:55
PVDs do not operate on time-tables like trains and planes. Most flashes due to PVD do go away in 4-6 weeks but I've had patients report flashes for many months. A physicians wife hit in the eye with a tennis ball reported flashes for at least 5 years and I can recall many that lasted more than a year. In those cases the warnings are flashes much more common much more severe increase of floaters or loss of peripheral vision. I have had some PR patient report strange strings of flashes in their peripheral vision and we have attributed this to ischemic peripheral retina (not enough blood flow and RP damage to sight receptors).
2014-12-26 05:59:58
