Central Serous Retinopathy question?

Question

Is it a serious disease? Why most online search says that it occurs mostly in males?
Shall I just ignore coz it will heal by itself?
I'm a female, 25 years old, no other conditions but had been diagnose having Central Serous Retinipathy for unknown cause Scheduled for fluorescein angiography tomorrow and later on for laser treatment.
Please let me know any infos. Thanks!

Answer 1

Complete the angiography. It is worthwhile having the condition confirmed.

Background:
This summer I underwent two very stressful events, one at work and another with an ill family member. Not long after, the sight in my left eye changed suddenly.

I am near-sighted, but noticed difficulty reading the newspaper. With my right eye closed, I noticed:
1) objects appear smaller
2) colors register differently (distorted)
3) images are dimmer,
4) substantially blurrier vision, and
5) a large, dark shape hovering just off center in my left eye.

After I saw my eye doctor, I underwent the fluorescein angiography. It confirmed the source of the fluid build up behind my retina. The angiography also ruled out the presence of abnormal blood vessels (a more serious condition).

My advice:
Hold off on the laser treatment. The fluid build up dissipates in 4-5 months, and full visual acuity returns after the 6th month.

Lasers should be a last resort, or used in cases of recurrent CSR. While laser treatment cauterizes leaking vessels, it may produce a noticeable, permanent blind spot. I would accept a few months of blurriness over a blind spot any day.

Lastly, if you have undergone severe stress lately, explore deeper relaxation techniques, and make a concerted effort to deal with it. Ultimately, as your stress level falls, your body will be better able to heal itself.

Best of luck.

Answer 2

Central Serous Retinopathy Recurrence

Answer 3

Retinopathy is a condition in which deterioration of the retina is caused by damage to, or over-production of, the blood vessels in the retina.

Central serous retinopathy is a slight accumulation of fluid in the macular region of the eye thatlies between the retinal pigment epithelium and the outer segments. A relative central scotoma (area of lost or depressed vision within the visual field surrounded by an area of less depressed or normal vision) results, but usually resolves spontaneously within a few months.
Serous means thin and watery-like serum.


Central serous retinopathy is characterized by an accumulation of transparent fluid at the posterior pole of the fundus (base), causing a circumscribed area of retinal detachment at the posterior pole.


When left alone, central serous retinopathy heals spontaneously within 4 to 8 weeks, with full recovery of visual acuity.

Although no medication has thus far proved effective in treating central serous retinopathy, a beneficial effect of laser photocoagulation has been reported in several studies. Findings indicate that direct photocoagulation of the leakage point not only shortens the acute phase of the disease but also lowers the recurrence rate to about one fifth of what would be expected without active treatment.

Answer 4

It is not normally a serious disease, though some people do end up with appreciably impaired central vision.
No-one can promise you an effectively total recovery, even if that's the likely outcome.

It simply does crop up more often in males.
(If I suggest we're more stressed, which seems to be a pre-disposing factor, I'm sure I'll get something thrown at me. The causes are not really understood in detail. "Idiopathic" is a great word = "It just happens")

Have your fluorescein angiography, to confirm the diagnosis, but laser treatment is not often recommended, at least in the in th UK, unless there is a clear target not too centrally located.

I had this in my right eye five years ago (when very stressed!)
My acuity totally recovered in about six weeks, but I can still detect a faint and small colour vision defect *if* I look for it on a colour vision test.

Optometrist, retired.

Answer 5

These answers are fairly complete. The angiogram is just going to show some pigment dropout and a little smokestack leak.

But you already know that that's there. Still some go ahead and to the angiogram anyway.

As far as laser goes, I'm not EVER in a hurry to laser this as it goes away by itself MOST of the time. So cooking is good, sometimes, but healing by oneself is 'better'.

If there are multiple cystic spaces and multiple areas of leakage, this will give the retina specialist an idea of whether to treat or not.

There's no need to rush.

Answer 6

I had fairly bad occurrences of CSR about 7 years ago over a 2 year period of time. Now have permanent damage that reduces my eyesight in my left eye. One such cause of CSR has recently been found to be from high levels of glucocorticoids which is created in the adrenal gland under high levels of stress. High levels of glucocorticoids can also occur with the use of steroidal type medications. Mine was caused by using Flonase nasal spray. Symptoms went away the day after discontinuing use. I've tried re-use of Flonase several times after and CSR symptoms always occurred the following day and went away immediately after terminating use. If using Flonase or any other brand of steroid-type nasal nose spray, discontinue use. There are probably other oral steroidal medications that will produce similar results.