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Brisco

Eye problems?

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Perhaps this isn't the correct forum for this - if so, I apologize.
A wuffo friend (a nurse) says that skydiving can cause retina detachment. I've seen many different injuries and other medical problems posted on these forums, but have never seen anything about this. Has this ever happened to anyone? I'm not talking about anything like this being caused by collisions or bad landings, but just from the act of skydiving and parachute deployment. I guess a REALLY hard opening might cause it. Any thoughts?

Brisco

Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

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If memory serves, Joe Kittenger suffered detached retinas at one time...but not from jumping...from his days of testing ejection systems, specifically high speed ejections. the unaerodynamic blob that pops out of the cockpit isn't as aerodynamic as the the airfoil it's departing and tends to slow rapidly, possibly causing retinas to detach.

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Having had one major and two minor surgeries on my eye in the last calendar year and likely needing one more in the next few months, I would say that my surgeon would have grounded me if there was any possibility of that, especially because my right eye is "fragile" as is the sinus where he drilled a bunch of holes...he kept me grounded for exactly 4 weeks after my major one in June, and his recommendation when I got back was "perhaps a full face helmet...but only if it doesn't bother you too much". I didn't go into a full face (can't afford it), and while I have crashed badly, nothing ever happened to the vision. Sore, yes. Achy, sure. Actual problems? Not a one.

Ciels-
Michele


~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

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Thanks all. It all sounded a little far-fetched to me too, but she's brought it up like three times now (according to her, "I've seen the damage") so I thought I'd ask. Seems I heard about detached retinas from bungee jumping - and that sorta makes some sense, but skydiving? Although if I don't soon get this landing thing figured out, some of these face first landings might cause me a problem!

Brisco

Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

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Brisco,

Welcome to skydiving:)
The detached retina is unique- usually it is something like, "My next door neighbor's nephew's friend went skydiving and his 'chute didn't open...."!

By the way, plfs or a controlled butt slide are better than faceplants!;)

maura

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Retinal detachment is much more previlant in Bungee Jumping, it is caused by the increased intraoccular presaure exserted when you go head down and then get dragged back up by your feet. All of the presure ibn your body is force towards your cranium and the internal presure in your eye is much higher, this can cause youre retina to come away from the internal wall of your eye.
Not a good thing, thats why I don't jump off of little 600 foot towers, 14000 feet is safer
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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By the way, plfs or a controlled butt slide are better than faceplants!


PLF only, or good soft stand ups. Butt landings can cause scoliosis (the spine instead of been straight like this |, gets curve like this /). Happened to me, the pain is big, and the drugs don't work that good and worst of all am grounded for 2 weeks (doctor's order).

HISPA 21
www.panamafreefall.com

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By the way, plfs or a controlled butt slide are better than faceplants!


PLF only, or good soft stand ups. Butt landings can cause scoliosis (the spine instead of been straight like this |, gets curve like this /). Happened to me, the pain is big, and the drugs don't work that good and worst of all am grounded for 2 weeks (doctor's order).



There is a huge difference between butt landings and controlled butt slides. I have done both; broke my cocyx while on student status because of a butt landing and have done many a controlled butt slide since returning from my femur injury.

There are more than a couple places that land tandems in a controlled butt slide (I am not going to get into the debate of whether they should or not, just accept that they do) and they do not result in spinal injuries to the TMs.

Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money.

Why do they call it "Tourist Season" if we can't shoot them?

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There is huge difference between butt strikes and butt slides.
15 years ago I had a butt strike so hard that it herniated a disc in my lower spine. The pain almost drove me to suicide! Drugs were useless and the only things that got me back in the air were thousands of sit-ups and hundreds of stretching exercise to pull my spine back into alignment.
On the other hand, I have probably done a thousand tandem butt slide landings without further injury to my spine. The main reason for butt slide landings is that half the students experience "jelly knees." Even if the instructor has enough muscle to support all their weight, sooner or later he has to let them sit in the grass.
A secondary reason for doing butt slide landings is that modern tandem canopies generally arrive with plenty of excess forward speed. Since few students can run that fast, tandem instructors have an annoying habit of tripping over their students' feet. It is far simpler to tell the student to get their feet well out in front and plan for a butt slide landing.

Oh, the latest generation of tandem student harnesses deliberately hold the students' legs in a sitting position to make butt slide landings easier.

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My ophthalmologist warned me that because I have severe myopia I should take care to avoid anything that involves high impact. Due to the retina being spread so thin it is possible to tear or detach it. So martial arts, skiing/snowboarding, and yes skydiving are not recommended. I've continued with such activities without incident, but have been very cautious (as far as you can be - you can't avoid getting knocked around some times.)

I suspect that anyone can detach a retina if they are hit hard enough (you might die from the trauma first). Realistically , I don't think skydiving imposes any greater risk for retinal detachment/tearing than normal activities for the average person. My impression is that people love to come up with reasons why one shouldn't partake in an activity such as skydiving.

I'd recommend that anyone who does have severe myopia mention to their ophthalmologist that they do take part in higher impact sports and see what they think. They probably won't understand the nature of skydiving so it would be good to have better examples of equivalent impact.

Cheers,
NewGuyB|

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I have over 500 bungee jumps and my retinas are still there. I had an instant canopy opening and they still are there. I think my liver is in the place of my spleen and vice versa after this one;)

jraf

Me Jungleman! Me have large Babalui.
Muff #3275

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Hi I Would like to ask a fee questions as I want to start skydiving frequently,
I ruptured my eyeball 2years back (choroidal rupture and subretinal hemorhage) and have blurred vision would skydiving and the pressure worsen my problem?
The reason I ask is , I went up on a plane as a PAX to get a feel and on decent it felt like my eye wanted to explode and I had blurry vision(more than normal) for 2 days . The pilot explained that the plane does not pressurise as quick as the body so that's why I had pain/discomfort, he also said if I skydive my body will pressurise quicker and I will not have pain/discomfort.
I went to my Opthamologist and he said my eye is fine and vision is improving. But he never gave me a CLEAR "YES" or "NO" to jump and feels I should take up another Sport but anything could affect my EYE. Please do Give feed back as I would like to Jump Soon. And my eye is getting better so I don't want to stop that.B|

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Eye Trauma with Hyphema.
3 months ago at work, an air hose disconnected while coiling, flicking me directly in my left eye. Eye sight became foggy in the left eye straight away(minimal pain). I was asked to sit to reduce eye pressure and possible further bleeding. I was taken straight to the hospital which did an ultrasound scan for retinal detachment and an eye exam, with OCT and other eye assessment machines.Reffered immediately to an Opthalmologist (eye surgeon ) whom treated me with eye drops to reduce pressure and assist removal of blood through the channels in the eye. They included atropine for several days,

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I have an eye condition in one eye called Central Serous Retinopathy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_serous_retinopathy which screwed up my vision in my right eye, 10+ years before I started jumping. It is a little like a detached retina in small spots. Some unknown cause caused a fluid leak and ended up scaring my retina. Skydiving has not had any affect on it that I can tell. When it first happened I worried about shock forces like shooting rifles and such.

Like someone said bungee jumping might be a different animal, but skydiving is pretty tame most of the time.
Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

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In July of 2015 I had a vicious malfunction when my right touggle came loose and wrapped around either a riser or lines just below it. It not only had me perpendicular to the ground but the right side would try to open the collapse and it felt like I was being jackhammered. That night I had a strange and very unpleasant feeling in my head and I started to see lots of floaters and strange spots. In September I had surgery to reattach my retina.
But what caused what, which is the horse and which is the cart? No idea. Fortunately I've always been paranoid about detached retinas from boxng and martial arts. Educate yourself on the signs and take it very seriously whether you skydive or not.

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It has been 3 months. I went for 2 jumps the other day. No flare ups foginess or tension over the left eye the next day. My vision is still blurry, I am told it will take months for my left pupil to return to normal size due to the trauma, and with it my visual acuity in left eye. All medication an eye drops have ceased. Apart from an flash which sometimes occurs when I look to the right, could indicate possible small tear in retina. I have no other problems. I can pick up weights now with the left hand without an tension headache. I no longer have to sleep in an sitting position. Medication included prednefrine forte x6 drops daily, lipodene, Dui Trav (once only), initially, antibiotic ointment and other. I have to be monitored for glaucoma Once a year. Four years to full recovery.

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Interesting.

I have Retinitispigmentosa and and consulted my ophthalmologist on detached retina's in skydiving and bungee. He suggested that my thinner retinas would have LESS of a chance of detaching compared to normal ones as the inertia of them is less but the join to the eyeball is the same.

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