My retina tore about two years ago. I have a family history of this sort of eye trouble, plus I am very nearsighted and middle-aged.
I woke up one morning, went outside and had thousands of new round floaters in my eye. It was like living in a snow globe.
My mother had a tear and detachment 35 years earlier and she had been preparing me for this to happen. Within a few hours I saw an opthalmologist who sent me immediately to an eye surgeon, since it was a large double rip. Within an hour, the surgeon, with the help of a small laser had scarred the area around the tear, so it would refasten itself to the back of my eye.
In another day the rip would have progressed to a full detachment, and shortly thereafter i would have irreparably lost vision in that eye.
For a few weeks the images from that eye were not as vivid as from the untreated eye. I have lots of new, large floaters in that eye, but I have gotten used to them and rarely notice.
With contact lenses, which I have worn for 40 years (I do take them out at night) I see very close to perfectly.
The whole ordeal only took 2 hours, and there was no recovery time needed.
I am very lucky and grateful. I am thankful for my excellent vision.
I will contrast this with my mother’s experience 35 years earlier soon.