Floaters

One day, Ban complained about a strand of hair kept getting into his eye. He suspected it was this abnormally long unruly eyebrow hair. I showed him that I had one too, which is longer, but it doesn't bother my eye. He was then curious as to why his shorter eyebrow hair got into his eye.

He later realised that there are floaters in his right eye. I told him that I have one or two of them for decades and I vaguely recalled that they were harmless. I suggested to him that he googled about it to be sure. Couple of days later, he told me that according to some medical websites, sudden onset of floaters warrant a visit to the doctor. He wasn't sure whether he should go straight to an ophthalmologist or not. I suggested consulting a GP first. Well, GP suggested to see the specialist :D

Ban chose to consult the ophthalmologist that the GP recommended i.e. Dr Kewaljit Singh. Subang Eye Specialist Centre was more than 20 mins away by car. Belatedly, I remember there is a much nearer, the newly opened Asia Eye Specialist Centre but in any case, might as well consult the recommended specialist.

We spent a total 3 hours there 😬In summary,

  • We cannot prevent onset of floaters. No amount of supplement or prayer can stop it, his words. 
  • 9 out of 10 times, there's nothing wrong with the eye despite presence of floater. The worry is the 1 out of 10 times i.e. there's a tear in the retina that if left untreated can cause retinal detachment.
  • First round check: nothing seems amiss. Cheers around. Doctor wants to double-check. Then spotted a small tear :(
  • Laser is used to weld around the tear to prevent the tear from becoming larger. Nothing can be done about the flap.
  • No strenuous activity for a week. Can do other stuff e.g. driving, walking, cooking after the effect of the eyedrops fade away. Follow-up after a week.
  • Complete recovery in a month.

After  I informed my family about the above, my mum advised my sisters and I to go for regular eye check, based on her own experience. To my surprise, both my sisters go for eye check once a year and two years, respectively but apparently checked by optometrist with appropriate machine and there's no 20-30 min dilation of pupils for thorough check as done ophthalmologist.

Hence, the next day, I made appointment with the ophthalmologist, Dr Poh, at Asia Eye Specialist Centre. Spent about an hour there. 

She first checked without the dilation: all ok. When given the choice, I chose the more thorough check after dilating the pupils. First time ever I experienced this: it made my eyes tired and they twitched if I tried to keep them open. Doctor said it was normal but neither my mum or Ban experienced this. The thorough check result was good too. There's a 5-10% emergence of cataract and so it's at a very early stage. She said can check in one or two years time. Later, I chose the yearly check-up. It isn't expensive (RM 155) for a yearly check up. Better safe than sorry.

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