Retinal vein occlusion can cause serious vision issues, from blurry vision to sudden vision loss. If you’re dealing with retinal vein occlusion, it’s important to have a highly skilled retina specialist like Katia Taba, MD, at Personalized Retina Care of Naples in Naples, Florida, to help. Use the online appointment booking tool now, or call the office today.
Retinal vein occlusion is a condition where the veins supplying blood to your eye's retina become blocked. There are two general types of retinal vein occlusion. Branch retinal vein occlusion occurs when the smaller "branch" veins become blocked while central retinal vein occlusion occurs when the main retinal vein becomes blocked.
Branch retinal vein occlusion is as much as six times as common as central retinal vein occlusion. Nearly 14 million men and women have branch retinal vein occlusion worldwide today.
In most cases, branch retinal vein occlusion results from atherosclerosis, the hardening of your arteries. Usually, branch retinal vein occlusion develops in the area where an artery and a vein meet.
Since the artery and vein use the same connective tissue, hardening of the artery also means compression of the vein. This causes clotting and then the retinal vein occlusion develops.
The cause of central retinal vein occlusion isn't definitively known. However, it happens after a blood clot develops and limits blood flow. The exact reason for the clotting isn't known.
The primary symptoms of retinal vein occlusion are blurry vision and partial or total loss of vision in one eye. However, sometimes there aren't any symptoms at all until it's severe or until a retina specialist diagnoses it during an exam. That's one reason why it's so important to see Dr. Taba for exams regularly.
There are several treatments for retinal vein occlusion. First, it's important to manage any chronic conditions that contributed.
Atherosclerosis is often tied to other problems, such as high cholesterol, for example. By managing your chronic health problems, you can greatly reduce the chances of a recurrence of retinal vein occlusion.
Dr. Taba may recommend anti-VEGF injections, which are pain-free injections done onsite at Personalized Retina Care of Naples. Anti-VEGF injections can prevent swelling and may alleviate symptoms of retinal vein occlusion. Steroid injections are another potential option to reduce swelling. Laser surgery may help in some cases as well.
Book your appointment online or by phone now.
