My Blurry Right Eye and CSR Experience

By Jose Uzcategui March 14th, 2010 Personal 8 Comments

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It’s been a little more than 5 weeks since my vision in my right eye went blurry.

In this post, beyond telling the story, I want to document what’s happening for future reference. So bare with me if I get a bit too detailed.

The blurriness on my right eye, as I recall, became apparent in a matter of days. Since starting working at Snaptech Marketing I’ve been staring at a screen more than usual so I thought I was just straining my eyes.

The First Optometrist: Dr. Gandham (Feb 16^th)

On February 16^th, a couple of days after first noticing the blurriness and it was obvious this was not normal, I went to the optometrist. I told Dr. Gandham the reason for coming in was my blurry right eye. He did the routine check, dilated my pupils and used the stereotypical equipment to look inside my eye.

“Your eyes are totally healthy”, he said. He then tested my vision and, indeed; I needed glasses. So I left the doctor’s office with my new prescription. I didn’t buy the glasses because I wanted to shop around. It was my chance to look intellectual and I wasn’t going to blow it with the first pair that crossed me.

So I took my time.

The Second Optometrist: Dr. Danielson (Feb 18^th)

Two days later after Dr. Gandham I was definitely sure this was not an regular “you need glasses” case. My vision was blurry right in the middle of my sight. If I looked a few inches to the right of the screen I could see things clearly. But once I looked back, the blurriness followed.

My peripherals were working fine, it was the centre, middle, bulls-eye vision that was blurry.

At this point I decided to go back to the doctor and op-in for that retinal colour picture. It was an extra $45 so I told Dr. Ghandam to take it if necessary.

Dr. Denielson, a older and more boring looking guy, took me in and took the pictures. “Your eyes look healthy…” But when he tested my vision he said that I couldn’t see 20/40 and agreed that it wasn’t normal. So eye send me to the “eye-surgeon”.

I don’t know about you, but if an optometrist tells me I need to go to the “eye-surgeon”, my first thought is “surgery”. That’s what “surgeon” means, right?!

So I got an appointment to what I thought was take my eye out.

The Third Optometrist: Me

After that prognosis I did what most people, smart and stupid, would do: research the Internet… After reading a few people talking about similar symptoms, I was worried I had ocular herpes.

…I’ll stop right there.

The Eye Surgeon: Dr. Boyd (Feb 22^nd)

Dr. Danielson referred me to Dr. Boyd, whom he labeled as, “The Eye Surgeon”…

In preparation for what I thought was going to be eye surgery, I researched Dr. Boyd on RateMds.com. Most people had bad things to say, he was rude, impatient, impolite… To which I thought, “Great! This guy is the Dr. House of eyes!” After all, no one had complained about anything but personality.  (…and I wanted to convince myself that this guy was good).

So I got to Dr. Boyd’s, he dilates pupils, looks into my eye “hmmmm… I think you have a little bit of swelling there…”.

Okay, first of all, this was a blow to my respect for the first two doctors. How can Dr. Boyd see the swelling in the first 5 seconds looking into my eye, using the same instruments as the first two?! (Perhaps he really is the Dr. House of eyes).

Dr. Boyd explains that I have “Choroidopathy”, also known as “Central Serous Retinopathy (CSR)” or just “Retinopathy”.

This condition’s causes are unknown but there’s a connection between CSR and stress or Type A personalities.  I’m not Type A, that’s for sure. But maybe I was stressed.

(All this happened amidst the end of my probation period at work, a breakup, and refinancing my apartment.  But I didn’t feel stressed. Perhaps I wasn’t listening to my body. Perhaps I’m not listening now, because it’s not going away yet. )

Treatment? Walk it off! Chances of recovery are excellent, according to the doctors and everyone I ask, but it can up to 2 months. I’ve already passed the one month mark, so I hope this goes away in the following days.

Today

I just came back from another optometrist who fitted me with contact lenses, Dr. Ho (Metrotown). I’ve been reluctant to buy lenses because the prescription on my right eye is uncertain.  But I’ll buy a cheap pair from clearlycontacts.ca and go from there.

…a few months later, in June.

All is back to normal. They were a scary few weeks, but all is good now.

I kept the lenses thought, it turns out that my left eye is the bad one. Not a huge difference, but I do see more comfortably with glasses especially when reading or looking at the computer.

The End…

…so I thought.

Update: April 6th, 2011 (One Year Later)

Mother%@#&$!… it’s coming back – same eye. The blurriness is not as defined as last year, but is not as strong either.

I’m not sure why. They say CSR is related to stress, and I am under relatively high stress, but not nearly as most people around me.

A year ago, when it first came about, I also thought to myself, “man, I know I’m a bit stressed… ending a relationship and work pressure, but if this is stressful enough to get an eye blister, all non-millionaire parents would be blind…”

There is one suspect, though. Both times I was from being with someone to being alone, which made me crank my work out routine. Every time I do that, I start drinking protein shakes almost daily.

My suspect, the protein supplement. I’ll give you of the supplement, which hasn’t changed in the the last two years since I don’t drink it regularly.

It might be a bit far fetched, but it’s all I have now.

Second Visit: Dr. Boyd (May 31st, 2011)

I managed to go to my local walk-in clinic and get a referral for Dr. Boyd as I knew what was wrong.  After a few questions, the family doctor referred me. Though I think just wanted to get rid of me.

Once in Dr. Boyd’s office he was a bit puzzled about (a) why a family doctor referred me so easily and (b) why was I there.

I’ve been using this post as a diary and I forgot an key entry, “Dr. Chui”.  Boyd referred me to Chui, she was the specialist for “the back” of the eye.

So after a couple of minutes, I was making another appointment with Dr. Chui.

Dr. Lica Chui (July 13th)

I actually saw Dr. Lica Chui last week, but let’s consolidate entries here. She remembered me. But just because I didn’t cancel my appointment after getting better last year

Today I had an appointment with the UBC VGH Eye Care Center in Vancouver. They did a fluorescein angiogram. The nurse recognized me from last year. He said, “I remember you from last year. You passed out, right?” I guess it’s good to be memorable like that.

Anywho, after the angiogram I went straight to Dr. Chui’s. She loads the pictures on her computer and explains what’s happening and that we could laser the area since is far away from the optic nerve.

I thought she was just being hypothetical. No, she meant right now.

Laser Time

I had to decide right there if I wanted the laser. At first I said no because of the risk. But then Lica told me that the other risk is that I’ve had the CSR for 4 months now and that having water there for so long might affect my vision permanently. (And now I’m closing my eye as I type, self-conscious).

Then I said yes.

We went to a different room and she took what it looked like a contact lens attached to a small magnifying glass, put some gel on the contact lens-looking part and stuck it on my eye. She then said the good ol’ “look straight”. As I obliged I saw green flashes. like 1 every 3-5 seconds. After 10 flashes or so, it was done.

My vision is still the same. But theoretically it will go back to normal in a few weeks as the leak is sealed. Let’s see.

…this post just got super long, eh?