thanks Joe and all others for posting and info.. just started with the new floaters, blurry vision and flashes of light today, off to the doc first thing tomorrow. oh the joys of growing old.. -8.5 in that eye, so guess it was always a risk, though I had not thought about it until today. No known cause in my case, was 'just riding along' as it were..

YES, always get the eyes dilated. Your chances of a retinal tear are low but being near sighted definitely adds to your risk. With you being near sighted, and having the flashes and floaters, you should definitely have a "baseline" dilated exam so your peripheral retina can be evaluated for pathology. That way, you can be assured that "right then" the floaters are not an indication of anything evil and if there are any sudden changes (ie, a bigtime worsening of the floaters or flashes) then you know to call ASAP to be rechecked.

Smart man. Hope you manage to get away with just the simple procedure,

Either way, if you know someone with a massage table, that can be a huge help in recovery -- if the doc injects the gas bubble and instructs you to keep your eyes facing the floor for a week or two. Just get a flat screen TV, lie it flat on the ground, and watch some TV...

Catching up on old stuff tonight so I thought I would make one final update on this. I say final because I don't expect any change.

My eye is great now. I saw the doctor last week and was told that all is excellent. The corrected vision is 20/40 and the only reason it's not 20/20 is the cataract which I'll probably have fixed in a year or two. I am able to do whatever exercise I want with the blessing of my surgeon.

I remember being terrified I wouldn't be able to work out hard again. I can hardly remember that fear. I've just had 3 big training weeks. Think I'm going to start donating periodically to Mass Eye and Ear. I'm very lucky to live in a city with a place like that

Wow so many of you? One more thing to keep an eye on in addition to my knee and IT band and Achilles.

The only person I know with a detached retina got it ejecting out of the F16. Didn't know it was this common.

Joe, I have just come across your post and all of its replies about 10 days after my own experience with detached retina surgery, gas bubble, etc. I realize this was a long time ago for you, and I don't know how these forums work - whether you will still see these posts or not - but as an avid runner who is somewhat devastated by the sudden interruption to my half and full marathon training, I would be enormously grateful to get in touch and hear of your experience over the last few years. I, too, had surgery performed by a doctor connected with Mass Eye and Ear (OCB office), but it was emergency surgery the weekend before Christmas, so obviously I had no choice in who was doing it. I'm choosing to believe what you stated - that anyone connected with this group will have been as good as if not better than a random facility somewhere less 'world class' - but obviously I am still in the stage of worrying how my vision will return and when I can get back to training! Post surgery self-care is hard enough with teenagers and a toddler, let alone the fact that I'm now not exercising for the endorphins.

Adding another one to the list.

It has been a hard year for my left eye: cataract (and corresponding surgery in January, macular edema (a shot in the eye to fix it) in July, and lastly a black curtain in my left eye two days after the last race of the season on Sept. 18 (70.3 distance). Vitrectomy and buckle 2 days after, three weeks head down until the bubble dissapeared, and here I am one month later, in my case I was told not to train at all for at least 2 onths since day one..
Now I seem to have developed the macular edema again,and a second Ozurdex implant shot in the eye is under consideration... I am in no hurry to resume training (good thing this happened one day into off season)

Not that this thread is giving me much new info, but it is helpful to read about other athletes´ experiences with RD here. Thanks!

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Sr. Salitre