Loss of Eyesight and Bypass Surgery

[Seabush]

Has anyone experienced loss of eyesight as a result of bypass surgery? A good friend of mine recently had bypass surgery around the same time my mother had valve replacement surgery. He's complaining of loss of site in one eye and believes it has to do with being on the heart-bypass machine.

Thanks

Crystal

 

[maxximom]

Hi Crystal
While I didn't have a "loss of eye sight" after my AVR and triple bypass 8 weeks ago tomorrow.. I did have some major eye problems. Soon as I got out of the ICU I noticed that from hahf way up the walls to the ceiling things were a lovely magenta color and I was seeing some interesting designs that looked loke 1940 Miami beach architectural drawings..all really weird..I was liked I had been on LSD..and I never ever tried THAT!! LOL. The doctors pretty much ignored the whole thing and thought it was the pain killers..I knew it wasn't..especially after reading some of the posts here on the forum. The first thing that I did the day after I gorrt home was to see my eye doctor (I had just had my eyes checked a week prior to surgery). She found that my vision had dropped from 20/20 to 20/65 and that there were some small bleeds on the retina.. she said that when you are removed from the bypass machine that there is a upsurge in pressure (like the p[ower surge after a blackout) that can cause the heeemmorages (sp) I am diabetic (with no eye prooblems) and that could have made me more sussepible. The pretty magenta problem took about a week to clear up and another week for my eyes to come back to their prevous vision. I still have some distrtion of vision(like floaters) but they don't bother me and are getting less every day. I was assured that all was a temporary situation..and it seems to have resol;ved. I don't know if this is of any help to your friend..and I assume that he (or she) has seen a Opthomoligist. I would be interested in what that doctor had to say. My doctor said while this isn't common..neither is it unusual.
Joan

 

[Mb]

Hi!

For whatever it is worth, my husband had AVR and MVR on 10/3. He saw in black and white only for about 12 hours after he woke up from the surgery. Hmmmmm.......

 

[Kevin M]

I've heard that temporary vision problems are common after heart surgery, but I don't know why.

I experienced slight blurriness for a week or so, but it came back to normal.

Kev

 

[Seabush]

Right Optical Nerve

Right Optical Nerve

Here's an update. My friend received two opinions on his eyesight problem. Apparently, he has no blood supply going to the right optical nerve. He says that it was a result of being on the heart/lung machine. The eye doctor says in time his vision may return in that eye. What an awful thing!

Crystal