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My eye injections

Posted By andromedajb73

"My eye injections"

About: Fremantle Hospital and Health Service / Ophthalmology Department

(as the patient),

I've been having eye injections for over 3 years and I'm having trauma now more than I've ever had. I believe the person injecting me is doing something wrong because I'm sure my eyes are bleeding and blood red for a week at least, and I'm extremely uncomfortable like I've never been before. I don't like to talk badly about anyone at Freo hospital, coz I've always been looked after very well, but this has happened each time I've had the injection from the same person, and it just shouldn't be this much of a problem. I'm usually fully recovered from the injections after a day or 2, but it's now taking more than a week to recover, and I feel this isn't right. I believe people are cringing in public when they see the way my eyes are blood red and I have to wear dark sunglasses everywhere I go. It's now the weekend when I wrote this story and I had the injections over a week ago and I'm still feeling like I've been punched 5 minutes ago in both eyes. I'd like to know who I can discuss this with because I really do think an opportunity to learn something can be the positive to come out of this.

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Responses

Response from Neil Doverty, Executive Director Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals Group, South Metropolitan Health Service 2 years ago
Neil Doverty
Executive Director Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals Group,
South Metropolitan Health Service

Submitted on 19/10/2021 at 1:23 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 1:24 PM

picture of Neil Doverty

Dear andromedajb73,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback.

I encourage you to contact the Ophthalmology Department as we would appreciate the opportunity to organise for you to be reviewed and discuss your concerns. Please phone 9431 2240 at your earliest convenience, and ask for the Ophthalmology Program Manager (Tricia). If Tricia is not available a message will be passed to her to call you back.

Intravitreal injections are commonly used to administer medications to treat a variety of retinal conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusions. The eye being injected is firstly numbed with anaesthetic drops and then with a subconjunctival injection of lignocaine. A special instrument called a speculum may be used to keep the eye open. The eye is then washed with an antiseptic solution to decrease the risk of developing a sight-threatening infection.

It is quite normal to feel pressure or mild discomfort during the procedure and for a day or two after. Patients may also see floaters straight after the injection or notice bleeding on the surface of the eye (subconjunctival haemorrhage). Up to 20% of patients may experience a subconjunctival haemorrhage and if this does occur it can take up to a week to dissipate. This is not an indication of incorrect technique.

Fremantle Ophthalmology runs multiple injection clinics weekly, staffed by a nurse and a registrar. Being a teaching hospital, our practices are regularly reviewed by senior retinal consultants and comply with RANZCO guidelines for intravitreal injections. As there is a very small risk of developing a sight-threatening infection, all injection patients are encouraged to contact the department immediately with any issues they are having after their injection.

Continuous improvement in our service delivery and patient feedback is very important to us and registrars continually take steps to identify areas of improvement to get the best outcomes for all patients.

Again thank you for providing your feedback.

Neil Doverty

Group Executive Director, FSFHG

On behalf of

Fremantle Ophthalmology Department

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by andromedajb73 (the patient)

I know what happens as well as anyone, and as I've said previously, I've been having these injections for over 3 years now. I think the practitioner is damaging my eye with something they're doing differently to others have in the past. The trauma I've had with this particular practitioner is way worse than any other trauma or discomfort I've had in the 3 years I've been having these injections. I just don't want the same person doing it next time I have an injection, so can I please request for someone else?

The previous person I had before the current person did it in a couple of seconds and I had no discomfort at all. I've had 4 injections now from the same current person and it's been the same horrible trauma each time. I'm sure the time my eye is in the speculum is the problem, and the damage is at the bottom of my eye, which isn't where the injection goes into my eye. I believe previous practitioners haven't even used the speculum, and I've had no trauma when they do that. Also, the time they take to actually inject is way too long, and this current practitioner has a shaky hand, which is quite noticeable. It's not right that I've had this 4 times in a row, and I have no doubt it's an indication of a poor technique in my opinion.

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