Central retinal artery occlusion

Posted by Scott, Volunteer Mentor @IndianaScott, Nov 30, 2017

Good day all! Yesterday I lost 100%% of the sight in my right eye. After a day of testing, etc. I was diagnosed with central retinal artery occlusion. Simply put they say I had a stroke in my right eye. The ophthalmologist said "99% the loss is permanent". Seeing a retinal specialist next week.

I am curious if anyone here has this condition and if your loss was indeed permanent.

Thanks for any input!

Strength, courage, and peace to all.

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@dianas

Hi Scott. I had a CRAO in July of 2021. I woke up and had no vision in my left eye it was painless. My vision will not come back according to the specialist I saw. I was 72 yrs young and it has affected my depth perception so I don't drive anymore. It has been a learning thing with going down stairs or trying pick things up is a few things. Good luck and wish you well.
Diana

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Did you ever get any vision or light in your eye back) Mine went black also after an eye stroke last month . After a few days light started coming in and I have gray clouds surrounding my central vision but this vision is not usable. I have been given so many reasons by retinal consultants. Ocular migraines ( but vision doesn’t go out this long). Vein occlusion which can be treated but because of a so called professional retina consultant making me wait three hours after this happened in his office it would have been too late. The last one I saw (in the same group of Drs) could see the plaque going up my eye and sent me to the hospital to run a CT scan and MRI . Nothing was found I guess . Was discharged the next day and told to take baby aspirin . Was never seen by an eye doctor while in there. My original retina specialist who has been treating me for myopic degenerative in the same eye never bothered calling or seeing me. This had been going on for several weeks before I finally found a new specialist who said it was an artery occlusion. What a nightmare. Hopefully you are doing better, and I wish you well.

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@ellerchim

Did you ever get any vision or light in your eye back) Mine went black also after an eye stroke last month . After a few days light started coming in and I have gray clouds surrounding my central vision but this vision is not usable. I have been given so many reasons by retinal consultants. Ocular migraines ( but vision doesn’t go out this long). Vein occlusion which can be treated but because of a so called professional retina consultant making me wait three hours after this happened in his office it would have been too late. The last one I saw (in the same group of Drs) could see the plaque going up my eye and sent me to the hospital to run a CT scan and MRI . Nothing was found I guess . Was discharged the next day and told to take baby aspirin . Was never seen by an eye doctor while in there. My original retina specialist who has been treating me for myopic degenerative in the same eye never bothered calling or seeing me. This had been going on for several weeks before I finally found a new specialist who said it was an artery occlusion. What a nightmare. Hopefully you are doing better, and I wish you well.

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Hi @ellerchim, I'm tagging @IndianaScott and @dianas to make sure they saw your question.

How are you doing?

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Thank you for asking Colleen.
I am very frustrated right now with the medical professionals. Especially the retina specialists her in Las Vegas. What my original diagnosis was now has been changed after seeing the FOURTH ophthalmologist. Now this one was says I had an Ischemic Optic neuropathy. Not one of these specialists will give me a referral to a Neuro ophthalmologist or a cardiologist so I can get a correct diagnosis. Because NONE of them seem to be able to figure out what happened to my left eye. Now my primary Dr says it was caused by repeated injections of the drug eyelea, which also happened to his father. Sorry to rattle on but I am at my wits end. Scared of what might happen down the road . Some of the so called diagnosis with limited treatment could have prevented further vision loss. But since none of these so called specialists can make up their mind. I am tired of researching online. My bad eye aches continuously from eye strain. My head aches from specialists that cannot give me answers. I just don’t know what to do or where to turn. Wendy

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@ellerchim

Thank you for asking Colleen.
I am very frustrated right now with the medical professionals. Especially the retina specialists her in Las Vegas. What my original diagnosis was now has been changed after seeing the FOURTH ophthalmologist. Now this one was says I had an Ischemic Optic neuropathy. Not one of these specialists will give me a referral to a Neuro ophthalmologist or a cardiologist so I can get a correct diagnosis. Because NONE of them seem to be able to figure out what happened to my left eye. Now my primary Dr says it was caused by repeated injections of the drug eyelea, which also happened to his father. Sorry to rattle on but I am at my wits end. Scared of what might happen down the road . Some of the so called diagnosis with limited treatment could have prevented further vision loss. But since none of these so called specialists can make up their mind. I am tired of researching online. My bad eye aches continuously from eye strain. My head aches from specialists that cannot give me answers. I just don’t know what to do or where to turn. Wendy

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Hi Wendy
I have a long history of eye problems starting with caratacts at age 37, then detachments in both eyes, and then the glaucoma set in which I've now been fighting for over 30 years. My left eye has no central vision, just a little periferal. My right eye is hanging on with about 20/40 vision but I've lost about 50% of field and I need a lot of light to read or see well. Glare bothers me a log and I'm on 3 eye drops: pilocarpine, cosopt, and rocklatan. My suggestion is to go visit one of the top eye research centers in the US such as Bascom Palmer or Wills. I have been to Bascom several times and they have been very helpful with diagnosis and refereals to great doctors. My current optimologist did a research stent at Bascom. You don't have to have a referal, you can just sign up. Have you tried one?

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@dsh33782

Hi Wendy
I have a long history of eye problems starting with caratacts at age 37, then detachments in both eyes, and then the glaucoma set in which I've now been fighting for over 30 years. My left eye has no central vision, just a little periferal. My right eye is hanging on with about 20/40 vision but I've lost about 50% of field and I need a lot of light to read or see well. Glare bothers me a log and I'm on 3 eye drops: pilocarpine, cosopt, and rocklatan. My suggestion is to go visit one of the top eye research centers in the US such as Bascom Palmer or Wills. I have been to Bascom several times and they have been very helpful with diagnosis and refereals to great doctors. My current optimologist did a research stent at Bascom. You don't have to have a referal, you can just sign up. Have you tried one?

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Thank you so much for telling me about these other places. So tired of fighting for my eyesight as you probably are. Are these eye drops helping and with what. ( I will look them up) Like you my “good” eye is 20/ 40 with severe astigmatism and developing glaucoma. My other one , I see light and distorted images. So scared what is next and none of the retinal specialists have helped or opthamologists told me exactly what happened to my bad eye. They mock me when I ask questions. I can’t thank you enough for responding and giving me options. Keep in touch. Wendy

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@ellerchim

Thank you so much for telling me about these other places. So tired of fighting for my eyesight as you probably are. Are these eye drops helping and with what. ( I will look them up) Like you my “good” eye is 20/ 40 with severe astigmatism and developing glaucoma. My other one , I see light and distorted images. So scared what is next and none of the retinal specialists have helped or opthamologists told me exactly what happened to my bad eye. They mock me when I ask questions. I can’t thank you enough for responding and giving me options. Keep in touch. Wendy

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Wendy
Those other 3 drops are all for glaucoma to keep the pressure down. My last pressures were 9 and 11. Yes, it is a little worrysome to think about what is next. But the good news is that I am 78 now and can still see. Let me know if you decide to get appointment with one of the eye research centers? Here are the top ten spread around the US:
https://donhigginsesophagealcancerstory.com/toprankedUSA.html

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@dsh33782

Wendy
Those other 3 drops are all for glaucoma to keep the pressure down. My last pressures were 9 and 11. Yes, it is a little worrysome to think about what is next. But the good news is that I am 78 now and can still see. Let me know if you decide to get appointment with one of the eye research centers? Here are the top ten spread around the US:
https://donhigginsesophagealcancerstory.com/toprankedUSA.html

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Wendy
Whoops I sent you link to top cancer centers instead of top eye centers. Here are the top ten eye centers:
https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/ophthalmology

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@dsh33782

Wendy
Whoops I sent you link to top cancer centers instead of top eye centers. Here are the top ten eye centers:
https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/ophthalmology

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So many thanks. Will
Check them out tomorrow especially Bascomb palmers virtual visits. Glad to hear you are doing good. My pressure in each eye is around 16. Don’t want to fly too far away. Nothing is really close to me except in Ca and their ratings seem to be lower. Hopefully, now I can get more info. Great that your optometrist told you about these places. Like I said mine offer no help at all .

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@ellerchim

So many thanks. Will
Check them out tomorrow especially Bascomb palmers virtual visits. Glad to hear you are doing good. My pressure in each eye is around 16. Don’t want to fly too far away. Nothing is really close to me except in Ca and their ratings seem to be lower. Hopefully, now I can get more info. Great that your optometrist told you about these places. Like I said mine offer no help at all .

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Wendy
I think any of the top 10 eye research centers would be very good. You may want to just choose the closest. The top ten were ranked from much larger group of eye research centers around the US.
Don

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I had an eye stroke during a TAVR procedure to replace my aortic valve. A chip of calcium lodged in the intersection of two small arteries. The good news was it didn’t keep moving to the brain. I’ve lost sight in 25% of the lower left quadrant of my left eye. Likely forever!

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