Malaysia : Woman Warns Public of Symptoms After Almost Going Blind

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Malaysia : Woman Warns Public of Symptoms After Almost Going Blind



Most people take their eyes for granted- which is dismaying to see (pun not intended), to say the least.

Facebook user Mohanaa Prkash took to Facebook to warn others after she almost lost her eye sight when she ignored seemingly insignificant symptoms.

Below is her insightful Facebook post

My intention is not to alarm, but rather to raise awareness.. someone’s eye sight could be saved by spreading this awareness! Do fwd my experience to friends and family, just pls leave out my name & photos 🙏

For me, it started on a sunday, when i saw a black speck floating around in my right eye’s vision. This sometimes happens so i thought nothing of it.

Throughout the day, there were maybe 6-8 flashes of bright light, at the right corner of my right eye’s vision. Like a fluorescent tube flashing. I did think this was weird, but since it went away the next day, I didn’t think much of it too.

Another day, and there were more black specks, and there was a blurry patch at the bottom of my right eye’s vision – like I’m wearing dusty goggles which had filled up with some water.

By Friday, the blurry patch had grown to about 1/3 of my right eye’s vision from the bottom, and it was annoying. The black specks had also suddenly gotten more severe, like there was blurry black ants crawling everywhere.

And so, on Saturday, I went to see Dr Pritam for an eye checkup. I was almost sure it had to be an infection. Dr Pritam was alarmed when he heard my description. One peek at my eyes and he told me he suspects it is a retina tear or a retina hole. Seems the black specks are called floaters, and its the pigments from the hole/tear that landed in my eyes and are floating around.

Go see a RETINA SPECIALIST, he said. Immediately. He wrote out a referral for Dr Angela Loo, top retina specialist in the country. It was 12:45 on a Saturday and her clinic in UMSC closes at 1pm, but Dr Pritam (he-who-hates-handphones) gave me her handphone and told me to call her NOW. And keep calling. Maybe go see her at her private clinic in Setia Alam.

So call I did. Persistently. She was with a patient in a complicated procedure, but her assistant sms-ed me, and I gave her my symptoms and referral and requested to see her.

And so, 3:30pm appointment. After examination under various degrees of pupil dilation, Dr Angela says mine is not a tear or a hole. It is a retina detachment. Can’t be fixed by laser. Needed full surgery. Immediately.

She asked repeatedly how long had the symptoms been going on, coz it gets to a point where although she would still do it if I wanted to, it would’ve been pointless. For me, one more day of delay would’ve been that point.

Basically, retina detachment is when the tissues holding the retina in place is no longer holding it in place. Loss of vision is permanent if not fixed immediately.

And so, I had the surgery. A gas bubble was inserted to help position my retina while it slowly reattaches itself to the backwall of my eye. How well I see after surgery depends in part on whether the central part of the retina was affected by the detachment before surgery and, if it was, for how long. Meanwhile, I have to keep in a face down position for 2 weeks.

I’m told vision may take few weeks to many months to improve after this. There are no guarantees. There is no way to prevent retina detachments, only to be diligent and take action immediately when symptoms come up.

– Sudden increase in floaters

– Bright flashes of light

– A shadow or curtain that seems to advance across your visual field.

Do forward this, you may help someone keep their eye sight one day.

Mohanna ends her post with a short list of symptoms that everybody should never ignore, and urges everyone to share her story so that no person will be unfortunate enough to lose their vision.




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