Deteriorating vision?!
Question: When I was younger (like 6 years old), I got a tiny splinter of metal in my left eye. It didn't stab my eye- more like laid itself down on my eyeball. I was young and just thought it was dirt and didn't tell anyone. After a while, I finally told my mom because I could still feel it there. She took me to the doctor and they told me that it had basically turned into rust there and they had to physically scrape it off of my eyeball. They told me that it would effect my vision a little, but I would be fine. Instead of 20/20, i had 20/30 vision in that eye, and normal in my other eye.
Now I'm 18 and I think my vision in my left eye is getting worse. If I close my right eye I notice a definite difference than that of my right eye. Could my vision be deteriorating in my left eye as a result of that incident? Will I need to get glasses?
I'm going to the eye doctor soon, I just wanna know what to expect.
Answers: When I was younger (like 6 years old), I got a tiny splinter of metal in my left eye. It didn't stab my eye- more like laid itself down on my eyeball. I was young and just thought it was dirt and didn't tell anyone. After a while, I finally told my mom because I could still feel it there. She took me to the doctor and they told me that it had basically turned into rust there and they had to physically scrape it off of my eyeball. They told me that it would effect my vision a little, but I would be fine. Instead of 20/20, i had 20/30 vision in that eye, and normal in my other eye.
Now I'm 18 and I think my vision in my left eye is getting worse. If I close my right eye I notice a definite difference than that of my right eye. Could my vision be deteriorating in my left eye as a result of that incident? Will I need to get glasses?
I'm going to the eye doctor soon, I just wanna know what to expect.
metal particles are removed from corneas all the time. They will form rust rings and these are removed with little burrs. If the area is centrally located, it will affect the vision. But if it's off the visual axis, usually no vision is ever affected. Usually a small scar can be seen years later.
But metal inside the eye can lead to siderosis which involves the metallic ion being deposited in tissues causing inflammation later in life. Sometimes this is toxic, other times not. The lens can be affected and turn a slightly different color. But that can be removed (cataract) and replaced with an implant.
If the ciliary body is involved, the way the eye focuses the lens, the muscles can be affected and the ability to focus can be diminished. Retinal problems can also occur, but that is really, really rare, as are optic nerve problems.
A significant number of people find they need glasses around the age of 18 or so because they go on to school and have to read, study, try... just to keep 'normal' grades. The increase in close work with reading and the computer can lead to needing computer glasses or reading glasses or both.
Let us know what the eye doc finds....