Retinal Vein Occlusion: What Your Diagnosis Really Means for Your Vision

Your eyes contain a network of blood vessels that support and nourish the retina, the light-sensing tissue along the back wall. If something blocks (occludes) one of the veins, it can have a serious impact on your vision.

At Retina Specialists, our team of expert ophthalmologists diagnoses and treats retinal vascular disease, of which retinal vein occlusion is one type. Here’s what you need to know about this serious condition and what it means for your vision.

What is retinal vein occlusion (RVO)?

Your eyes need a constant supply of blood to bring the cells oxygen and other nutrients and remove any waste products.

However, with any form of retinal vascular disease, these blood vessels can narrow or develop blood clots, resulting in occlusions.

RVO is a partial or total blockage of one of the veins that drains blood from your retina, the part of the eye that translates light into images you can see.

As a result, the retina can starve, and the eye can develop complications such as raised intraocular pressure, swelling, and fluid buildup that prevents light from reaching the retina. All of these require urgent treatment to prevent or minimize any vision loss.

Retinal vascular diseases are the leading cause of blindness, and for RVO, there are two types:

Central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO): blockage of the main retinal vein
Branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO): blockage of one of the smaller branch veins

The latter type is the more common, affecting between 6-12 per 1,000 people globally.

Currently, there’s no safe way to unblock a vein. However, treatments exist to help manage complications and protect your vision.

Risk factors for RVO

There are a number of risk factors that increase your chances of developing RVO:

Being over age 40 is a major risk factor, as RVO usually affects people in their 50s or 60s.

Having certain underlying medical conditions can also raise your risk:

Atherosclerosis: a buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries and veins
Diabetes: high blood sugar can damage blood vessels, causing them to leak
Glaucoma: high intraocular pressure can also damage blood vessels
High blood pressure: increases your risk for atherosclerosis and damaged blood vessels

In addition, having a prior history of retinal vein occlusion in one eye raises your risk of developing RVO in your other eye.

What an RVO diagnosis means for your vision

As we’ve mentioned, developing high intraocular pressure, having leaky blood vessels, or having fluid buildup around the retina can all impair your vision. If you fail to treat the problem, you’ll lose your sight.

Sometimes, though, you may not notice any visual disturbances like blurriness or floaters until the disease has progressed. That’s why it’s so important, especially if you’re a diabetic, to have a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once a year. Your ophthalmologist may be able to detect the early stages of disease and start treatment to preserve your sight.

Treating RVO

If your retinal vein occlusion results from a systemic cause like high blood pressure or high cholesterol, the doctor may prescribe medication to bring your numbers down to normal levels, as well as suggest lifestyle changes like modifying your diet and getting regular exercise.

If you experience inflammation due to diabetic retinopathy, when the retinal blood vessels become leaky due to high blood sugar levels, your ophthalmologist may suggest intraocular injections to reduce swelling that may cause vision loss.

The gold standard is anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) injections into the eye. VGEF is a protein that causes new blood vessels to form. Too much VEGF, though, can lead to the formation of abnormal blood vessels that become leaky and lead to swelling. The injections prevent this from happening.

For more advanced cases, the doctor may recommend vitrectomy (removal of the vitreous gel at the back of the eye), laser surgery, or a combination of both. In the case of the latter, they drain the vitreous humor and make repairs directly to the retina.

If you’re noticing blurry vision or the loss of part of your vision, especially if you have any risk factors for RVO, it’s important to make an urgent appointment with Retina Specialists to get your eyes checked out for any retinal damage. Call us at any of our five Texas offices — in Dallas, DeSoto, Plano, Mesquite, and Waxahachie. We’re here to help.