On the final day of September this year the retina of my right eye just decided to come loose. The retina is that part in the back of the eye that contains the nerve endings sensitive to light. There are two kinds of nerve endings, the ‘rods’ and the ‘cones’. The rods are sensitive to low light and peripheral vision, and the cones have three kinds of receptors for detecting red, green and blue wavelengths of light. They are also responsible for sharp details. If the retina becomes detached…you have no vision! Trust me I speak from experience!

The most common eye issue leading to surgery is cataracts. Each year around four million people undergo cataract surgery. In contrast there are only an estimated 225,000 detached retina surgeries.

By age 80 over half of all Americans have cataracts and it is the leading cause of vision loss. Cataracts are the clouding of the lens. The lens fine-tunes the light entering the eye so that it falls on the retina and is clear. When it becomes cloudy the light doesn’t reach the retina.

The problem was first identified as early as 800 B.C. in India. To remedy the problem a needle was stuck in the eye and the lens was pushed out of the way.

It sort-of worked, but only temporarily and usually infections set in and the sight in that eye was lost. It wasn’t until 1747 that Jacques Daviel performed the first documented surgery to completely remove the lens. The cloudiness was gone, but your eye couldn’t fine-focus. In 1949, Sir Harold Ridley inserted the first artificial lens in an eye. He noted that RAF pilots during the war would get pieces of the shattered acrylic cockpits in their eyes. No infection would result from these pieces, so he got the idea to place an acrylic lens in the eye and see if it worked. It did.

The first surgery to reattach a retina was successfully accomplished in 1920. There had been attempts as early as 1805, but it was Jules Gonin that is given the credit for the first modern retinal reattachment.

A variety of things were tried from 1930 to 1970 when a procedure called a ‘vitrectomy’ was perfected.

This involves removing the fluid of the eye called the ‘vitreous humor’, reattaching the retina using lasers, and then re-filling the eye with a saline solution, a gas bubble, or an oil bubble.

Before cataract surgery and retinal reattachment, people just went blind. Like so many things, when it comes to eye health the good old days weren’t that good!

I discovered my retina problem on Sept. 30. I had the vitrectomy done the next day in Hastings. A gas bubble was placed in my eye, so I had to remain face-down for three days. I would lie face-down for 50 minutes and then could be up for 10 minutes every hour. I could sit or stand, but I had to look down. It was a long, very long three days.

The purpose of lying face-down is so the gas bubble will float up against the retina holding it in place and allowing it to heal. Then your body has to reabsorb the gas, so the bubble slowly gets smaller and smaller. During that time your vision, as you would guess, is distorted. It takes about five-to-seven weeks for your body to absorb the gas.

Why did my retina come loose? Who knows? My surgeon told me that some people are more prone to retinal detachment and that age plays a part. Yep, just another indication that I’m old!