Warning Signs

I lost vision in my right eye when the eye was looking around a temporary obstruction caused by a cornea abrasion. The eye muscles pulled at the back of the eye and against the retina. Slow blood leaks started at that time and progressed quickly. Dr Lowenstein’s statement "You never had an eye injury" displayed the doctor’s evident belief that a sudden change from nonproliferative to proliferative stages of diabetic retinapathy only happens in a vacuum to naughty diabetics. I know his diagnosis was wrong. The sudden change from bad but stable and non-problematic to actively bleeding stages only happened in one eye.
Despite his scoffing at the reported cause, Lowenstein found my left eye stable and did not recommend immediate PRP surgery in the years I saw him.
My next doctor, Harold Woodcomb, also determined the left eye to be surprisingly stable.
If I had been better educated about the warning signs and symptoms, I would have sought help for the right eye sooner. Some level of useful vision might have been saved. I didn’t notice the signs soon enough because my whole field of vision in that eye was moving. I was seeing double. The right eye saw images above and to the left off the left eye’s image. I had incorrectly assumed that the flashing and swirling effects were part of the muscle movement.
The dark eye does retain excellent color vision through the remaining pinhole. I noticed this when further complications on the good eye diminished my color vision.
That earlier loss had taught me retinapathy’s signs and symptoms. I have blamed no one but myself for the incident from start to finish.
Diabetics need to be aware of:

• distortions at the edges, such as when a tile floor seems wavy;
• flashing light spheres or crescents that circle or flow around the eye whether the eye is open or closed;
• gradual darkening at the edges of vision;
• small recurring floaters, which are dark spots or stringy clouds loose in the eye.

A good self test for the periphery is to look at a tile or checkerboard floor that has sharp contrast between tiles or between the tile and grout. If the edges curve or the floor looks wavy, seek immediate help.
I judge from the fact that in a 15+ year period, three doctors told me I would be blind in six months but not one of them told me what signs of active problems to look for. Educated patients are less profitable patients.
I had none of those symptoms when I began the PRP treatment. My eye had not leaked from the Cialis, it had gushed, creating not little black flecks but an enormous red wave;.
What I cannot recommend is that any patient simply take the word of his doctor that he needs PRP right away, if the patient has no actual visual signs of a problem. Study the risks and side effects of the surgery, here or on independent internet searches. The treatment can cause the precise problems it is supposed to prevent.