<p>My dad (age 86) is having this surgery next week. He has to stay pretty much face down for about 2 weeks after the surgery to enable it to heal. They put some kind of bubble in the eye that has to rest against the hole for absorption and healing. There are tons of websites with tips and rental equipment (chairs, pillows, etc. to support face down posture), so I have been reading up on it. My dad lost most of the eyesight in one eye to this same disease several years ago (wasn’t seeing an eye doctor regularly, found it too late for surgery). This eye was caught early. Wondering if anyone has any experience with this surgery.</p>
<p>I had a vitrectomy in one eye earlier in the year. It was for floaters in the vitreous.The procedure was very simple, I had local anesthesia and probably a little sedation, but I was awake the whole time. They put two needles to drain the vitreous and replaced it with saline solution.Procedure took less than 20 minutes. I was in recovery for less than half an hour and went home. No special after surgery care except putting in 3 kinds of eye drops 4 times a day for a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Wish your Dad success with the surgery.</p>
<p>@cbreeze, did you have to do the face-down posture for part of your recovery period? That is the part that sounds hard…</p>
<p>Since my vitrectomy is to replace just the vitreous with saline solution, with no other repair procedures needed, perhaps your dad’s procedure to repair a macular hole involves a bit more than just fluid replacement. I searched for macular hole vitrectomy procedures and found some retina physicians don’t recommend the face down procedure and this article said the procedure involving macular hole lasts more than an hour and mine only lasted 20 minutes.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.macularholesurgeons.com/MacularHole_SurgeryWithout_FaceDown_Posturing/Welcome.html”>macularholesurgeons.com;
<p>I guess they are afraid the bubble (which I didn’t have) will damage the lens if your father hasn’t had a cataract surgery. Most retinal physicians recommend that a cataract surgery done before a vitrectomy which I did have. Did your dad have cataract surgery before?</p>
<p>Hmm… not sure. My mom had cataract surgery, but I don’t recall for my dad. I think he might have. He is having it at a facility associated with the U of Michigan hospital, so I assume they know what they are doing…</p>
<p>I know two people who had this surgery (one for a detached retina - not sure about the other). They both did the rental bench face down thing for a week (sounded like a message bench type of thing). It is a boring time (can’t see well enough when face down to either read or watch TV.) - I recommend listening to audio books or music to pass the time. For my one friend, following the surgery she still had a lot of restrictions for several months - no airplane flights, no exercise (could jostle fluid in eye.), etc. Also, it took a really long time for her eyesight to become normal post-surgery. Don’t know if your father’s recovery will be longer since he is older (my friends had this in their 50’s)</p>
<p>He is renting one of those chairs. I am going to work with him ahead of time to help him download some audiobooks to his laptop. But not sure how well this will go… he really doesn’t have much eyesight in his other eye, which is going to make it more boring, because I get the impression that vision is blurry in the surgery eye for a while. And my mom does not use the computer at all, so can’t start audiobooks for him. </p>
<p>I know he won’t be able to drive for at least 8 weeks (assume he can at all), and no flights for about 3 months. </p>
<p>I have read of people (depending on the surgery) having to do the face down thing for up to six weeks! I have an epi-retinal membrane condition that my eye doctor monitors. Because of it, I read about this kind of surgery, which could be necessary if it gets worse. Honestly, it sound pretty awful. I’m not sure I could sleep with my face downward, especially for a long period of time. Nevermind the daytime issues.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be cavalierly negative, but just thinking–anything that can be done to make this easier for him will be worth it. </p>
<p>A friend had this in his 50s. He had the advantage of seeing well out of his other eye so he was able to do some work-related things.
Is there a simpler device for recorded books? Ask at your library. Maybe your local library still has some books on CDs and you could find a portable CD player stuffed in a closet somewhere. They might be able to direct you to inter-library loans or even check out the players. Our school library used to get little players with one book recorded on it that could be checked out to kids with an IEP saying they needed it. They were about the size of an early iPod but with simple controls.<br>
If you ask around among your friends you will probably find someone with one of those portable DVD players and you could check out from the library old, familiar movies that he could follow even without seeing well. Bridge Over the River Kwai, etc. My mom is 80 and uses hers, they are much easier than newer devices.
Hugs to you all. Hope this is wildly successful in preserving his sight. </p>
<p>Yeah… I was thinking of checking out some audio books on CD from my library and taking them to him. My parents have a CD player, we could put it where he can reach it. The portable DVD player is a good idea… although I could show him how to watch a DVD on his laptop (I don’t think he knows how). The issue is actually getting DVDs for him – all video stores have closed in our home town. 
Maybe I can check out DVDs too, and get my library to extend the normal lending time, which is short on DVDs.</p>
<p>MD here. A vitrectomy for a macular hole is totally different than a vitrectomy for floaters (or vitreous detachment/vitreous syneresis). Yes, it’s important to stay face down as requested by your retina doc so that the air bubble can float away from gravity and keep pressure on the back part of the retina. His eyesight will be very blurry due to the air bubble and with the poor vision in his other eye from macular hole (or other macular disease) he is probably best off listening to audio books or podcasts. Not sure if he will be able to see much on a DVD. If you want to try DVDs but don’t have access to them, you might want to try Netflix streaming for a monthly fee and try to set the computer below the donut and teach him how to stream some old TV shows. Netflix streaming is $11 per month, I believe.</p>
<p>And one of the side effects of vitrectomy is that he will develop a cataract in the future which will also require surgery. But cataract surgery is a lot easier recovery. You are in great hands with UMich. I’ve got a bunch of friends there including the chair!</p>
<p>I have Netflix streaming, so know how it works. I feel like under normal circumstances I could teach him the steps for streaming, but not sure he will be able to handle it face down. He needs the mouse on his laptop… and my mom (who some of the time will be the only one there with him) does not use the computer at all, so she won’t be able to help start things for him. I will be there for a couple of days before the surgery so we can try some options out. He also has never downloaded or played a podcast.</p>
<p>Also… he is hard of hearing. So anything he plays will be heard (loudly) by the whole household. :)</p>
<p>My sister-in-law’s sister had to do this last summer. She was face down for a little over a week, but it could have been longer. Because she did so well she was able to end the face down stuff earlier than they had anticipated. Her sister came over during the day to keep her company. I don’t think that she was able to read or use the computer. My sister-in-law told me that the dr. said that if she could see the baseboards she was looking up too much. </p>
<p>My husband’s aunt had the procedure this spring. She cares for her husband who has Alzheimer’s. She also assists with her sister-in-law who lives near by, and her brother who lives about 25 minutes away. She was telling my husband about the upcoming surgery and said that the doctor wanted her to keep her head down, but she didn’t know if she would be able to do that. Since she is out in CA and the rest of the family is in the Midwest, it started a phone frenzy, which ultimately led one of my husband’s sisters to fly out to help for several weeks. The gentleman who delivered the table said that he had known of several people who did not use the table as required and lost their sight. That scared the aunt. She had to keep her head down for about 10 days. It was not easy for her and she couldn’t do it without help. </p>
<p>Yes, my dad knows he could lose his sight if he is not compliant. I think he is pretty determined. I do think it will be hard for him. As my brother said, he gets a stiff neck just from riding in the car, can’t imagine how this is going to feel for him… and he is someone who always is reading or using his mind somehow, so I think it will be very boring.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a shame to go thru a full vitrectomy but have a poorer than anticipated outcome because you didn’t stay face down for the amount of time. I believe the recovery for a macular hole is easier and faster than for a retinal detachment though I am not positive about this.</p>
<p>BTW, I check out lots of audiobooks from my public library. I put in the requests and they come in from many other libraries, and I get to keep them for 3 weeks and renew them 3 times for a total of 9 weeks. Maybe you or he could start putting in the requests for the audiobooks now. </p>
<p>Headphones are also a good investment for him.</p>
<p>I suspect healing at age 86 is slower than for younger people, though. </p>
<p>Netflix sounds like a good idea. Our local and county libraries have tons of books on CD.</p>
<p>Maybe he should rent the bed that is like a massage bed?</p>
<p>You can rent chairs that keep you in the face down position (like a massage chair), and there are pillow sets that also help you sleep in that position that you can rent as well. There are actually a ton of internet sites on this with products, tips, etc. I was surprised at how much is available.</p>
<p>I had the vitrectomy, gas bubble and scleral buckle for a retina detachment in Sept. 2012, not for a macular hole. The gas bubble was a pain, having to stay face down. We rented the chair but I wasn’t all that comfortable using it. The face rest could be used in bed and that’s where I spent the majority of the time, face down listening to music, very boring. I only needed to be face down for a week, though. Two would have been really hard. Had to eat with my plate on another chair to keep the face down position. Any laptop or DVD player screen would have to be flat on a surface to maintain the position.</p>
<p>You can’t see out of that eye until the gas bubble dissolves over the period intended. Gradually over time you do see more light and at the end as the bubble shrinks and separates you see one or more little round bubbles.</p>
<p>It’s the vitrectomy, not the gas bubble, that greatly accelerates cataract development. I had cataract surgery in that eye 4 months later. </p>
<p>I was 63 at the time.</p>