Central serous retinopathy
That volcano-shaped thing is supposed to be a little pit (that's what "fovea" means).
I'm a bit pissed off that the Zeiss optical coherence tomography machine that the doctor used to take this image evidently keeps the data locked up in a proprietary format, and can only exchange data with other Zeiss products. The doctor says he can't even save a screenshot. The only way I could get this picture was by snapping a photo of the display with my phone.
I'm impressed with the technology, and I'm happy to pay for it. It's much better than the machine used to take the image in my first post about this, and allowed for a quick and unambiguous diagnosis. I just don't want to pay more for it than it actually costs. Ziess is taking a page out of Microsoft's playbook here by leveraging proprietary data formats and locked-down data sharing to coerce doctors into buying their equipment instead of someone else's. Except, the stakes are higher for medical products.
Glad you got an accurate diagnosis, and it would seem that prognosis for this condition is excellent with correct management/treatment.
What treatment options has the doc suggested?
Basically, that it will go away. Eventually.
Or they can drill a hole in my retina with a laser, which they think is probably a bad idea.
Medicine still seems quite "middle ages" some days...
I don't know. I think I the middle ages they would have tried to do something, even if it wouldn't work. They'd probably bleed me, or something.
Knowing when to do nothing is actually a rather sophisticated innovation.
Hi Russell,
I came across your blog while I did a search on CSR on net. I am diagnosed CSR for my right eye. Stress is the answer I got from him. And this is driving me crazy. May I ask if you have recover without undergone any operations?
Thanks,
Joan from Singapore
I was diagnosed with CSR about 10 years ago. The doctor convinced me that laser treatment was the best answer. I let him laser the leaking area. I am now blind in that eye. I went back to the Dr. and was told that scar tissue had built up in my eye (from the laser treatment) not allowing any light in. He told me there is nothing that could be done to fix it. Needless to say, I’m pissed. Does anyone know if there is a way to remove inner eye scar tissue?
Joan --
The symptoms mostly went away in about six weeks, and now (about six months later) it's basically gone.
One thing I have noticed is that my color perception is not the same in my right and left eyes, which the doctor said often happens.
Unless your retina is about to rupture or something, I think the best thing to do is wait and relax. I listened to the radio a lot.
Jon --
I'm really sorry to hear that! That's awful.
The eye doctor I saw said that laser surgery is sometimes performed, but he thought it was a bad idea. Particularly since almost all cases of CSR go away by themselves.
It's possible the scar tissue might disappear, though after ten years it's probably about as good as it's going to get.
My suggestion is that you get a new doctor. The person you saw is clearly not very good. My other suggestion is that you should keep in mind that sometimes the best prescription is to do nothing.
It takes integrity to tell a patient with a problem that it's best not to do anything, and the problem will likely go away on its own. When you're sick or hurt, it's easy to want someone to do something, but that isn't always the best course of action.
Well, the symptoms my go away in a few weeks but what they don't tell you is that they don't always stay away. I've had this for about 6 years now and during times of stress (I have a high stress job) it rears it's ugly head and comes back. I'll get episodes of it 2 or 3 times a years. I'm having one of my worst episodes now. Total distortion and double vision. To drive I have to close my bad eye and do the cyclops drive. It drives me nuts. Due to the ruptures occurring right in the center of my retina I'm not a candidate for laser surgery. I guess I should be thankful I can see somewhat out of it.
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