Learn About Retinal Vein Occlusion
Retinal vein occlusion is a blockage of the small veins that carry blood away from the retina. The retina is the layer of tissue at the back of the inner eye that converts light images to nerve signals and sends them to the brain.
Central retinal vein occlusion; CRVO; Branch retinal vein occlusion; BRVO; Vision loss - retinal vein occlusion; Blurry vision - retinal vein occlusion
Retinal vein occlusion is most often caused by hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and the formation of a blood clot.
Blockage of smaller veins (branch veins or BRVO) in the retina often occurs in places where retinal arteries that have been thickened or hardened by atherosclerosis cross over and place pressure on a retinal vein.
Risk factors for retinal vein occlusion include:
- Atherosclerosis
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Other eye conditions, such as glaucoma, macular edema, or vitreous hemorrhage
The risk of these disorders increases with age, therefore retinal vein occlusion most often affects older people.
Blockage of retinal veins may cause other eye problems, including:
- Glaucoma (high pressure in the eye), caused by new, abnormal blood vessels growing in the front part of the eye
- Macular edema, caused by the leakage of fluid in the retina
Symptoms include sudden blurring or vision loss in all or part of one eye.
Many people will regain vision, even without treatment. However, vision rarely returns to normal. There is no way to reverse or open the blockage.
You may need treatment to prevent another blockage from forming in the same or the other eye.
- It's important to manage diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels.
- Some people may need to take aspirin or other blood thinners.
Treatment for the complications of retinal vein occlusion may include:
- Focal laser treatment, if macular edema is present.
- Injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) drugs into the eye. These drugs may block the growth of new blood vessels that can cause glaucoma.
- Laser treatment to prevent the growth of new, abnormal blood vessels that leads to glaucoma.
Tennessee Retina
Akshay Thomas is an Ophthalmologist in Clarksville, Tennessee. Dr. Thomas is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinal Vein Occlusion. His top areas of expertise are Retinal Vein Occlusion, Uveitis, Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), Late-Onset Retinal Degeneration, and Vitrectomy. Dr. Thomas is currently accepting new patients.
Ursula Erfurth-Schmidt practices in Vienna, Austria. Ms. Erfurth-Schmidt is rated as an Elite expert by MediFind in the treatment of Retinal Vein Occlusion. Her top areas of expertise are Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), Late-Onset Retinal Degeneration, Geographic Atrophy, Vitrectomy, and Cataract Removal.
Nicolas Feltgen practices in Goettingen, Germany. Mr. Feltgen is rated as an Elite expert by MediFind in the treatment of Retinal Vein Occlusion. His top areas of expertise are Retinal Artery Occlusion, Retinal Vein Occlusion, Mesenteric Venous Thrombosis, Vitrectomy, and Trabeculectomy.
The outcome varies. People with retinal vein occlusion often regain useful vision.
It is important to properly manage conditions such as macular edema and glaucoma. However, having either of these complications is more likely to lead to a poor outcome.
Complications may include:
- Glaucoma
- Partial or complete vision loss in the affected eye
Contact your provider if you have sudden blurring or vision loss.
Retinal vein occlusion is a sign of a general blood vessel (vascular) disease. Measures used to prevent other blood vessel diseases may decrease the risk for retinal vein occlusion.
These measures include:
- Eating a low-fat diet
- Getting regular exercise
- Maintaining an ideal weight
- Not smoking
Aspirin or other blood thinners may help prevent blockages in the other eye.
Controlling diabetes may help prevent retinal vein occlusion.
Background: \- To understand diseases of the retina and the eye, information is needed about people with and without such diseases. Researchers want to study these people and follow them over time. They also want to study body tissues and blood to understand the nature of eye disease. Studying genes, cells, and tissues may help them understand why some people get eye problems and others do not, or why some pe...
Summary: The Farseeing Study will explore long-term effectiveness, safety, and treatment patterns among patients being treated with faricimab in real-world, routine clinical practice in China. It is a primary data collection, non-interventional, prospective and retrospective, multi-center study designed to collect real-world, long-term data to gain clinical evidence on faricimab, by observing cohorts of pa...
Published Date: January 29, 2024
Published By: Audrey Tai, DO, MS, Athena Eye Care, Mission Viejo, CA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
Arepalli S, Bessette A, Kaiser PK. Branch retinal vein occlusion. In: Sadda SR, Sarraf D, Freund KB et al, eds. Ryan's Retina. 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2023:chap 55.
Flaxel CJ, Adelman RA, Bailey ST, et al. Retinal vein occlusions preferred practice pattern. Ophthalmology. 2020;127(2):P288-P320. PMID: 31757503 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31757503/.
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