Comments on: Wallpapering a Curved Ceiling

By: Bob A.

Bob A. — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:26:51 +0000

Your husband can now look forward to the only fun part of retinal surgery, As the bubble gets smaller, your vision improves but the refraction at the spherical surface of the bubble becomes greater. The bubble begins to look like a shiny black marble at the bottom (actually the top) of your eye. If you get bored you can rock your head and make the little marble roll from side to side and watch it get smaller every day until one day it is totally gone. Then you can celebrate.

By: Yoron

Yoron — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:33:48 +0000

Doesn’t sound like much fun, especially if one like to read.
You better be sure that he follows the Doctors orders here…

Good luck.

Yoron.

By: Mike M

Mike M — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:24:42 +0000

Always good to put things in perspective: I have just spent a year whinging about the nasty Weiss Ring floater I am stuck with after a posterior vitreous detachment and retinal tear. It and its floaty friends are still annoying the hell out of me, but posts here have me counting my blessings.

Good luck!

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:31:58 +0000

Hello! I think we’re paddling the same canoe. My husband had scleral buckle surgery two days ago; diabetic retinopathy treated in April, scarring over the summer, retinal detachment in August with a vitrectomy, then scarring and holes resulting in the lovely scleral buckle on Monday. Here’s hoping for a great outcome for both guys!

By: Wallpapering a Curved Ceiling : Sophoblog

Wallpapering a Curved Ceiling : Sophoblog — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:09:09 +0000

[...] Wallpapering a Curved Ceiling [...]

By: NGC3314

NGC3314 — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:12:30 +0000

Is it just the timing of seeing the Hubble release picture after your blog entry, or do you also see that ACS galaxy pair looking sort of like an eye with a bubble in it? Best wishes, of course, on his recovery – I remember being worried out of my gourd waiting for a diagnosis of what turned out to be a mere fluffing of retinal layers.

By: Julianne

Julianne — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:59:09 +0000

Is the detachment and the cataract surgery related?

They’re not unrelated, but it’s not directly causal either. Previous eye surgery is one of the risk factors, as is being caucasian and nearsighted. He just lost on the odds.

By: Sili

Sili — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:19:53 +0000

Is the detachment and the cataract surgery related?

I’ll keep my toes crossed (not that it helps).

I’m squeamish – very (despite my recent adventure into mousekilling), but the “human level” made me laugh. Shoulda got him to fix your pictures.

By: Lawrence B. Crowell

Lawrence B. Crowell — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:49:02 +0000

Good luck on this. Success with this procedure is pretty good. The retina (wallpaper) more or less has a curvature to match the back of the eye, so it is not that tough to do.

L. C.

By: Ralph Hartley

Ralph Hartley — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:29:52 +0000

Having experienced laser retinal surgery myself (though not for a detached retina), I have nothing but sympathy for you and your husband, and really hope he has a good outcome.

However, I do have to take exception to one thing you said, especially since it appears in the title of the post:

> Now, if you’ve ever tried to wallpaper a curved surface, you know it’s not easy to get some intrinsically flat thing to stick smoothly to the inside of the curve

The retina is not an “intrinsically flat thing”, it is curved just like the inside of the eye. It is at least possible in principle to spread the retina back onto the inside of the eye without stretching folding or tearing.

You still have the problem of getting a thin, fragile, sheet of slime stuck back where it belongs, but getting it spread out on a flat surface would be impossible.