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Old May 28, 2012, 06:05 PM   #19
EyeDocMD
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Join Date: May 28, 2012
Posts: 1
Quote:
Slugs will do it.
The very same thing happened to me.
The light flashes and big floaters, right after shooting lots of slugs one afternoon.
The doc said it was, indeed, the beginnings of retinal detachment.
In addition to not shooting anything that had a lot of recoil, he also warned about flying.
If a pressurized cabin suddenly lost pressure, the results could be very nasty to the eyes.
Ditto for scuba diving.
Fortunately, a supplement from the health food store has greatly helped.
It's Eye Vision by Jarrow.
Everything is much better, much less flashes and floaters and better night vision.

Hope yours improves, too.
And no, no more slug shooting.
I'm an ophthalmologist and see patients with these complaints every day. New floaters, which are sometimes associated with flashes are a symptom of vitreous detachment. Sometimes this can lead to a retinal detachment. If you really had "the beginning of a retinal detachment" (meaning at least an actual tear in the retina) you would have required either a laser procedure or surgery. The symptoms of flashes/floaters are associated with vitreous degeneration, which is an age related degeneration of the collagen containing, jelly-like fluid that fills the posterior portion of the eye (behind the iris/pupil and lens). As the vitreous degenerates slowly over decades it no longer conforms as well to the shape of the eye and eventually separates (or detaches) from the nerve, retina and blood vessels - often suddenly. 95% or so of the time this happens and only causes floaters which improve (though usually don't "go away" completely). A relatively small percentage of the time this can lead to a tear in the retina, which can then lead to a retinal detachment. It can occasionally tear a blood vessel and lead to a hemorrhage within the vitreous. When someone has a vitreous detachment and the retina is not damaged, the flashes (if present at all) fade away with time (over minutes to months) and the floaters typically become less noticeable over time. There is no vitamin treatment for this (don't waste your money). Your symptoms have improved because of time, not the vitamins.

I don't see why someone couldn't continue to shoot after a vitreous detachment. Vitreous detachment is essentially universal. I see people who come in with their "story" about how it happened and they could have been doing about anything at the time it occurred (driving, reading, watching tv, etc). Trauma can accelerate or cause the vitreous detachment and perhaps recoil from shooting could lead to it, but once the vitreous detaches (if it does indeed detach completely at the time) the process is essentially over.
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