23. Rollercoasters Are Not Your Friend When You Have an Eye Issue
I saw this young guy in the ER once who had gotten into a drunken brawl with some guys at a bar. When he woke up the next morning, he started getting some vision changes. He said that it was like a “black sheet coming down” on his left eye. This is a textbook symptom for retinal detachment. Picture an incredibly thin, delicate membrane on the back of the eye, slowly peeling off because of trauma. It’s an emergency in ophthalmology because if it fully detaches, you get permanent vision loss.
You basically need to immediately go for surgical repair, and then be extremely careful with that eye for weeks afterward. You even have to keep your head down most of the time for the next couple days to help the re-attachment process take.
So, naturally this guy goes and rides roller coasters all day at the local theme park with his buddies. He first presented to our ER two days later with permanent vision loss in that eye. Six Flags was not worth it, poor guy.
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