Hi. I'm online and happy to answer your question today.

I am a retina specialist and I fully understand your concern. Pan Retinal Photocoagulation (PRP) is done when abnormal blood vessel growth from your husbands diabetes gets to the the point where it threatens to destroy his retina and his vision. PRP sacrifices the peripheral retina, and as such some of the side vision and night vision, in order to preserve the area of the retina called the macula. By saving the macula your husbands reading, driving, central vision and his ability to see well enough to do everyday tasks is saved.

So. The fact that his field of vision is now darker and his peripheral vision is much worse is to be expected.....but, let's discuss his problems with reading and seeing road signs in the distance now that he is about 4 days post PRP.....

There are a number of reasons that he might now have worse central vision. In some cases, after PRP, especially if a lot of laser is needed in one session, the macula can swell (macular edema). If it is just from the laser treatment this should resolve in a few days or weeks.

Another cause is called diabetic macular edema. A special test, called a fluorescein angiogram (which your husband may have had before) can diagnose this issue. If it persists gentle laser can be used in the macular area to help with the swelling.

It is also possible that the diabetes has damaged the blood supply to the macula.....in this case treatment is very difficult.....

A consultation with a retina surgeon would be able to tell you exactly what is going on. Of course, the majority of general ophthalmologists are very well trained in dealing with diabetic retinopathy like your husband has.

Does this make sense to you?

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I see that you are offline. I'll switch over to the Q&A system. This system works a lot like 'text messaging' but an email is sent to each of us anytime something is posted to this thread. We can continue to work on your question there..... :)