Has anyone else ever been told they have scarring on their retinas?

Question

They don't know what caused it on mine, but it does cause problems in one eye for me.(although, it is on both) Noone else I know has ever heard of has this problem.

I've never had an injury i remember. In my thirties, I had an eye doc tell me I had cateracts, not the normal kind, in my forties i had a doc tell me I had something unusual on my retinas and sent me to a specialist who said scars. I am in the cleaning business, could a chemical have caused this?

Answer 1

No, but I've told lots of people! (Optometrist, retired)

I'm taking it that you are young and have no known active disease.

The most common cause of scarring on the retina would then be an old infection with toxoplasmosis.
Many people have this with no effect at all, some do acquire some retinal scarring which has no practical effect on vision and is only noticed at an eye examination, and some have severe damage to their central vision, but usually only in one eye.

"Around a quarter to half of the world’s population is thought to be infected, and around 1% of people in the UK catch toxoplasmosis each year. In the majority of cases, those affected don’t have any symptoms. "

If it is a "burnt-out" old infection the only likely risk of change is if you suffer from extremely poor health or acquire immune system problems.

It's very unlikely to be a reaction to chemicals, but macular damage has been associated with chemicals that raise blood-pressure as a toxic or side-effect.

The vast majority of people do have some sort of cataract if the eye is examined carefully. They don't progress or require treatment, and are rarely mentioned, so the popular use of "cataract" is usually taken as meaning a worsening condition that will need an operation at some point.

Answer 2

I've seen this at least twice, but in both cases it was due to injury. I suggest finding a family doctor CD and trying to figure out what's up.