Debris in Eye Long After Kenalog

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m trying to comment on a comment by Cecil, can’t find his thread here, so I’ll just ask my question in a new one and hope he sees it.

Low-Thyroid people aren’t supposed to have Kenalog injections, I didn’t find out until after my third one. Kenalog is slow to drain out even for healthy people, and I seem to still have some from 6 yrs ago, vision greatly reduced, didn’t know why until 3rd injection, this year, and seeing the debris looks exactly the same.

Opthalmologist says she assumed my thyroid med was working, so that she could ignore the warning.

Anyone ever heard of this? I’m an elderly person and diabetic, had cataract surgery and lots of laser surgery for extra blood vessels, diabetic retinopathy, don’t even drive very far any more, family not understanding any of this, and not accustomed to helping, sure don’t want to have to have a vitrectomy. Heard of any other solutions? TIA. :confused:

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Hmmm. Cecil’s column, I assume you meant this one: What are those threads that float in your field of vision? - The Straight Dope … was written back in '86.

I’m going to move your thread to a forum where I think you’ll get better responses. Cecil rarely comes here to post, and almost never about an individual’s medical situation. However, we have a number of posters who are doctors and med students and others in the profession, who might be able to respond and help you out.

Good luck. You might want to seek another opthamologist for an official second opinion, who could look at every aspect of your situation.

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And I’m going to move it again, to the forum where we put requests for medical information, advice, and anecdotes.

Hope someone can help, but as Dex says, you should probably check with a doctor.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

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Kenalog appears to be a corticosteroid injection for antiinflammatory use. Apparently your doctor thought it would help with the eye irritations?

The Kenalog has benzyl alcohol, which seems to be the substance that limits use through toxicity. Correct?

I don’t really have any helpful information.

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It’s more for diabetic macular edema rather than diabetic retinopathy, but have you asked your ophthalmologist about off-label use of Avastin? Typically it’s used for age-related macular degeneration but seems to help with DME too.

I know nothing about Kenalog remaining in the eye for long periods of time, sorry, or what result that might cause.

It’s possible that any needed vitrectomy might just be due to the condition of your vitreous due to floaters, accumulated blood, that sort of thing, rather than anything from the Kenalog. Have you asked your ophthalmologist to explain what the debris is from? There isn’t really any way to deal with accumulated floaters or blood other than a vitrectomy, to the best of my (limited) understanding.

Disclaimer: I work in ophthalmology, but am not a nurse or doctor.