Ask An Expert: Vision Problem

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Ask An Expert: Vision Problem

Question:

My optometrist referred me to an ophthalmic surgeon because I have a leakage in the back of my eye. What is this? What may have caused it, and what are the treatments?

Answer:

I suspect that the optometrist is referring to a leakage from a blood vessel in the back of the eye (the retina). A leakage can occur in several conditions. The most common is diabetes. Another possibility is age-related macular degeneration. Some leakage is benign and distorts the vision for a while, then goes away; this is called central serous retinopathy.

The leakage blurs vision by either lifting the retina up slightly or actually spreading inside the retina and separating the layers from each other. A test called optical coherence tomography or fluorescein angiography can demonstrate this leakage more clearly.

Most leakage is treatable by the retina specialist. A laser is usually used to treat a leakage. There are some new treatments that involve injecting substances into the eye itself.

Don Bienfang, M.D, is an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and the Senior Surgeon in the Department of Surgery and Chief of Neuro-Ophthalmology in the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Last updated:	July 16, 2007