THROUGH THE BUBBLE: The story of my Macular Hole: Vitrectomy and Cataract Surgery

This is the story of my macular hole, vitrectomy and cataract removal with a new lens

A few months ago at the end of February 2025 I woke up feeling a bit odd. My sight was a bit off, with some blurry and distorted vision. I put it down to some sort of visual migraine, something I experience now and then. I continued on with my day, hoping to sleep it off overnight.

The next morning it was still there. I tried shutting one eye and then the other and I realised through my left eye, wherever I looked my world was distorting and there was a big dark grey patch over everything. Things looked like they were in an hour glasses, and faces took on the look of a Salvador Dali painting with some Piccasso thrown in for good measure.

I called the optician, who got me in to have a look that morning. They took photos of the inside of my eye, and could clearly see a hole in my macular. As suspected, he confirmed it was most definitely a macular hole. He explained that the sooner it is treated, the better the chance of a good outcome. He referred me to Torbay hospital, and I took the bus home. I still wasn't driving as I was still in a splint, recovering from having two screws and a bone removed from my wrist,

I was looking forward to driving again in a few weeks time but this news scuppered any hope of that in the near future.

What is a macular hole? 

The location of the macula

As a photographer, I know our eyes are the most sophisticated of cameras, in fact so complex that no camera could ever come close.. Some unlucky people develop a hole in the very centre of their retina, the centre being the part where we see detail. The retina at the back of the eye is like our inbuilt photographic film or these days, the sensor at the back of the eye, which sends signals to our brain - our sight.

Things distort and dissapear in the middle of wherever you focus

There was a clear gap in my macular which coats the retina. This is referred to as a macular hole.  A macular hole causes an area of central blurring of vision with the distortion of vision. Straight lines become kinked and wavy. Faces distort in a wierd horror-film way. And daily life is tiring as the good eye and the macular hole eye are in constant conflict. It also makes looking people in the eye difficult. I kept thinking everything I looked at was dirty - the eqivalent of adding a dark grey layer in photoshop, at about 60% opacity.

If left untreated these horrible distortions would only get worse over time.

How did the macular hole form?

Between the lens of the eye and the sensor/retina at the back, the eye is filled with a clear jelly called vitreous. This jelly pulls at the centre of the retina, pulling the tissues apart to create the hole.

The treatment - a vitrectomy

Most people who have a vitrectomy develop a cataract with in a year, and I had the start of one forming, so the plan was also to have a new lens put in my eye at the same time.

May 2025 and I was booked in to Torbay hospital ophthalmology eye surgery unit at 7.30am

I am not in general a squeamish person. I had complete faith in the surgeon, and did not feel stressed about the actul operation, so I did not need a general anaesthetic or sedative.

On the morning of the op, after reporting in to the Eye Surgery Unit at Torbay, after a host of drops in my eye, measurements and tests I was ushered into the anaesthetic room. The anaesthetist was great, and explained everything he was doing. I think he liked that as he said most people are not interested and prefer to be knocked out!

I was in there for about half an hour. Drops, followed by injections. I didn't feel a thing. The eyeball was anaesthetised, but not anything around it. My eyelids and face were unaffected. When i was asked to look to the side, the good eye looked but the numb eye just stayed put. It must have looked so weird.

Eventually I was wheeled into the operating theatre. A sheet was placed over my good eye and the process began. I could only see blurry colours. The process took about an hour and a half. I started asking questions, like "What is that machine doing?". The surgeon calmly said "I think it's better that I tell you after we've finished." Well that shut me up and I thought I'd better just let him concentrate! The sounds and colours were fascinating. I could feel movement, a bit of pressure but not much else. The machines made noises of different notes, and some were quite musical. The worst part was getting a stiff neck.

The actual vitrectomy and other things

This is what I had done to my eye, taken from my letter and with a bit of help from google.

• A left limiting membrane peel A surgical procedure to remove scar tissue from my macula.

• Internal tamponade.I had the jelly in my eye sucked out and replaced with gas. The gas bubble would support my retina after the surgery and hold it in place.

• Pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) The surgeon removed the gel-like substance in my eye through a small incisions in the white of my eye.

• Phacoemulsification This used ultrasound to break up and suck out the clouded lens of my eye. A clear artificial lens was implanted to replace the natural lens. In other words this was cataract surgery.

• Retinopexy A laser was used to seal any retinal breaks or tears, preventing retinal detachment. This was done by applying laser burns around the break, creating scar tissue that reinforces the retina and prevents it from detaching.

Going home...

As soon as I got home, as well as a complicated regime of various eye drops, I had to "posture" for five and a half days. This meant looking only downwards, my nose to the floor, with just ten minutes an hour allowed for looking up, stretching, going to the loo, and doing life. I was well prepared with everthing I needed within easy reach, straws for drinking, a long queue of movies on the iPad.

Looking down lets the gas bubble float at the top of the eyeball, and uses gravity to help try to push the edges of the macular hole together.

I learnt that there are three main types of gas bubble used for this procedure. A short acting gas, a medium acting gas and a long acting gas. The short acting gas lasts a few days, the medium, about four to six weeks and the long acting for much longer. I had the medium acting gas.and true to form, lasted exactly four weeks.

The bubble gradually shrinks over four to six weeks as the eye refills itself. It has been one of the most oddest experiences of my life. It is as fascinating as it is difficult to live with.

I am now on day 12 after my surgery and plan to continue to write up illustrated experiences of the gas bubble in my eye as it gradually shrinks.

There is very little on google about what it actually looks from within looking out, so I've been creating illustrations of the experience in photoshop.

This is about all I can manage to write now. I'm closing the good eye to do this. The whole thing is exhausting - I'm feeling extremely tired from it and still a bit disorientating, and slightly unsteady on my feet.

Just before my operton

I have to wear this until the bubble has completely gone

The first evening home, looking down through the massage chair

The next day after my checkup at the hospital

Once i was up again I found this a useful way to get around

me with a dilated eye at my checkup

Photoshop recreations of what my eyes sees as time goes on

So that I don't forget this most bizarre experirence of having a bubble in my eye, I decided to recreate as accurately as I can the varous stages of vision through the bubble.

This was the view through my gas bubble once I had finished the days of looking downwards (referred to as 'posturing').. It wobbles about with every movement I made, and is like having a built-in spriit level and having a huge microscope in my eye if I hold anything within an inch of it. Looking out, the view is pinched and dark. The dots in the area above the bubble are like mini floaters, at first like starlings in their thousands, and now like swarms of gnats infront of me everywhere I go, a bit like watching a 3D movie sensation. I keep wanting to swat them out of the way. I can't quite focus on them. They are just debris in the jelly and will go eventually. Things up close are magnified about five times as big at the y are. My fingers look giant!

Looking through the gas bubble after a vitrectomy, looking down a the floor

Looking up at the sky

In the garden and there were so many black specs always in view above the bubble. They reminded me of the starlings that swirl in the sky in their thousands just before coming in to roost.

Day 10 after surgery and this is what my operated on eye saw when trying to do stuff on the laptop The annoying gnats hovering in the air always in view have started to recede

I'm told that because there were tiny stitches needed, my eye would feel scratchy for a couple of weeks and although the drops have worked wonders, I still have a continual feeling as if there's a bit of grit in there. I hope this will be gone in the next few days. I might name my bubble Bob, or Michael Bublé or Michael Bubbley? Any other ideas?

Day 11 and I can now see above the slightly shrinking bubble. This is what reading looks like with both eyes open.

Day 11 and if I look down at my feet, the bubble now just about fits itself into view, proving it is shrinking well. The colour through the bubble is less charcoal and a bit more accurte. The lovely russet red at the edge is dependant on the direction of light.

I am now 14 days in, and the bubble has shrunk to about just over half of my vision. Using both eyes at once is more tiring and confusing than ever. It is making typing, reading, watching tv and using my phone diffficult. The specs in the air above the bubble are getting smaller and less intrusive and colours are less dark within the bubble. I am looking forward to the day when I can get back to my photography! Mostly I photograph wildlife and natre, and occasionally people.

15 days since surgery - a post-checkup update

I have just come back from Torbay Hospital with mixed feelings.

After reading the eye chart, where my bad eye could only just about read the top letter, the stingy eye drops to enlarge my pupil and a trip to the imaging room for a scan, I saw one of the consultants.

The eye is doing as expected at 15 days post surgry. He said it is still agitated and swollen inside and that it will take between three and six months to properly settle down and recover. It is still sore and scratchy when I blink, so i was given yet another set of drops.

Looking at the scan, he could see macular hole is partially closing but he could not tell me if what I am seeing now is how I will see out of that eye forever, or if it will gradually improve over the next three to six months.

The before and now scan of my macular hole

I am pleased that it is looking as it should at two weeks since surgery, but worried that this will be it now - I really can't contemplate living permanently with it is as it is today.

This is how my phone looks through both eyes. The focus area is always out of view.

This is how my phone looks through both eyes. The focus area is always out of view.

I will be seen again in a few weeks so for now I'm determined to remain positive.

Day 15

I'm at day 15 now and the bubble is definitelly shrinking to I think about half now and i can see past the side edges more. My eye is still scrachy as if there's a bit of grit in it when I blink, but I have drops for that now which should calm it down. The sun is bright this morning, sun rays reflect out from the bubble, making light=leaks in my vision so a baseball hat and a pair of dark glasses are essential. The black spots I'm told are just bits of blood and debris from the op, and are definitely smaller but I still feel like I'm living in a cloud of midges! A bit like wearing 3-d goggles to a film called 'the invasion of the midge' '

15 days on and the bubble has shrunk to about a half. The black spots are smaller and not quite so intrusive... although I do keep thinking there are gnats around me.

18 days since my op and the bubble is definitely shrinking, I think to about a third of what it was and I can sort of see much more around it. There is still distortion. The spots are still there outside it, like in a 3-d movie, and I'm forever thinking there are flies in the house and I want to swat them away. When it's bright outside it's hard to make out anything with the other eye closed, even with a hat on. I need to buy some ordinary sunglasses, as my sunglasses are prescription ones and I'm toldd I'd have to take the lens out to use them. This is because of my new lens, therefore making the prescription they were unsuitable.

Garden view through the bubble

Outside the bubble there is still the distortion and everything is hazy.

19 days and I notice that my right eye sees colours as normal, but my operated eye sees everything in a cool blue colour temperature and sees things smaller.

19 days and I notice that my right eye sees colours as normal, but my operated eye sees everything in a cool blue colour temperature and sees things smaller.

Google says: "After cataract surgery, you might experience a temporary change in how you perceive colors, sometimes seeing everything with a bluish or lavender tint. This is because the new artificial lens allows more light, especially blue light, to reach the retina, and the brain needs time to adjust to this new information."

A bit of reseaarch tells me that it is fairly common to see a blue tint and blue haze everywhere through the new lens.. New lenses allow in more light, particularly blue light, and the brain needs time to adapt. I'm not sure about seeing everything smaller though.

I'm checking the colours of everything obsessively now, and I'm not sure how this will effect photo editing!

Through my operated eye

Through my right eye, all normal

20 days on

The bubble seems about the same size as yesterday. The annoying dots are still everywhere, making me think I've got bits in my water. There is still distortion and missing parts where I focus.

The only noticable change to report is that the bubble is having a baby! It's a tiny little black bubble, that if I look down, comes into view over the bubble's horizon- but dissapears as I look up again.

This afternoon the baby bubble has moved on . I think it has swivelled itself around to a different place. or maybe the bubble is swivelling inside?To some extent i can move it arond by wobbling my head! It now looks like a dark shadow - I guess too close to focus on.

Today i went to flick a fly out of my water, but it was one of these floating dots.

The bubble with its tiny bubble inside it appearing as a dark spot

Today marks three weeks since my eye surgery

I was cleaning the bath this morning and noticed a few more baby bubbles have appared at the edges of the bubble. Yesterday's larger baby bubble is still sliding around the place and creating havoc, making me think it's a big fat fly in front of my face. I also noticed that a few of the thousands of floating dots in the air around the bubble are becomming hollow, like miniature black polo mints.

What cleaning the bath looked like with the good eye closed.

I still have the feeling like there's grit stuck in my eye. It scratches each time I blink. Is it still some stitches not yet dissolved or could it be something accidently got stuck under my eyelid? I'm getting impatient today!

This afternoon the baby bubble grew bigger and looked like an out of focus demented bluebottle fly randomly flying about, sometimes way out of the main bubble. Then two more tiny baby bubbles joined in the party!

By nighttime all three have rejoined back into the main bubble and there’s now no sign of them anywhere!

Day 22 and baby bubble is back and it's bouncing around like a demented one-eared mickey mouse on a trampoline!

I was just talking on the phone and as soon as I hung up and stood up I noticed this new completely separate bubble.

If I move around, it floats around too. It sits mostly next to the parent bubble, but occasionally bounces off it! The mail bubble has always wobbled about like mercury with each movement of my head, but this new baby bubble takes bouncing around to a whole new level!

It looks like there are several more babies, still in the gestation period, hovering around the edge!

The small bubble sits next to the parent bubble

The small bubble occasionally floats away from the parent bubble

Today I am "trying" to recreate the extraordinary view when I shut my eyes. Not there yet, but this is the closest I could get so far.

How people look with my macular hole

This was a hard one to recreate but today felt the right day to do it. it was easy to make in photoshop, but hard emotionally. Emotionally tricky because this is how people look to me through each eye. Using both is a confusing mix of the two. It's how people looked when the macular hole first appeared but without the added white haze. I do not see any improvement yet, and I now must wait the three to six months to find out if this is how my world will be from now on or if it will get better. It will never be perfect again, so I am hopeful for something inbetween.

This morning the bubble is definitely a bit smaller. Baby bubble has left the building but more seem to be coming. Not my nommucino but this is how it looks while enjoying it The grey splat is nothing new, but seems more obvious and goes wherever I look. Much less of the little floating black spots though.

Morning coffee through the bbbble

I'm having another go at recreating what I see with closed eyes.

Eyes closed take two.

Looking down at my lap this afternoon and this new "big" baby bubble suddenly appeared as well as that tiny ultra black dot one much further out, like it's making for independence. I can only see the baby little and the baby large in focus. The parent bubble has gone a bit hazy, though there are still plenty of bubble eggs waiting along the edges waiting to hatch.

Twenty four days since eye surgery and my gas bubble is getting noticably smaller by the day.

As Michael Bubbléy shrinks it appears more definied and somehow blacker. This morning I can not quite manage to see the bottom of it, so it must be sitting right at the top of my eye now.

The black spots no longer look like gnats or flies, but are more like a load of soot floating around in the air wherever I look. I keep thining they are on my skin and clothes, like someone has attacked me with a permanent black marker in my sleep. There is still distortion and the splat of dissapearing grey wherever I focus, and I must learn to be patient. Today I feel impatient and fed up, and still very tired and a bit emotional.

Looking down on the bathroom floor

25 days after vitrectomy

The bubble seems to be getting exponentially smaller by the day. Eyes closed, and it often looks like this.. a dark ring with eyes open, the opposite when eyes shut.

eyes closed

Day 26

The last week or so, each time I wake up, wherever I focus, the grey splat area flashes away for about half an hour or so, itnterruppting my sacred Nommucino making. I need to ask about this at my next checkup, sometime in July.

This is what I think you see if you look at me, but of course, only I can see the shrinking bubble dangling around the place wherever I look. It feels like it's hovering juust above my cheek!

The bubble dangling just above my cheek and the out of focus area flashes away every morning..

Day 27

It's four weeks tomorrow since I had the vitrectomy and the bubble is getting exponentially smaller. It looks darker, nearly completely black. There are still specks in the air but not nearly as intrusive as they were. I'm guessing in the next few days it will be gone altogether. I'll know by sometime between September and December if the bubble has done it's job or not. Patience required!

How the bubble looks if I look at my hand

Wow! Over the course of the morning, mr bubble has shrunk to virtually nothing. It's so low in my vision (high in the eye) that I can hardly see it now. A tiny very black dot that causes a halo around it and some soot in the air is all that's left.

The rapidly dissapearing bubble

And then it was gone!

And just like that my Mr Michael Bubbléy bubble is gone! It’s left the thousands of sooty bits behind, floating in the air, like small dark dots. Things still look dirty and things still look distoreed, and I still see disappearing things behind the grey splats, and no noticeable improvements yet.

Eye check-up

At 29 days I went for a check up, to check on the flashing lights and sore, gritty feeling I've been experiencing. I had the usual dilating drops and a scan before being seen. The flashing eposides and the gritty sore feeling may take some time yet to settle down, but there is nothing particulary to worry about. The good news is that the hole is continuing to close. I must be patient though. Next checkup is in four weeks.

During my rather long (it felt long anyway) examination the doctor quietly looked in my eye through what seemed an array of lenses and light sources. At one point he inserted this special contact lens to look inside my eye.

But what a treat went on inside my eye as the he peered inside. There were spectacular colours, amazing patterns and textures, all dancing about in a spectacular light show. I thought I MUST remember this in all its glorious detail.

I got home and had to sit indoors with sunglasses on for a few hours as my pupils were still huge and I was very light sensitive, especially from having both eyes dilated. I tried really hard to remember what my my eye saw but I can't properly recall it. I'm not sure if I can ever recreate it, but I've had a go in photoshop this evening and this is the closest I could get.

Trying to recreate what my eye saw as the doctor looked inside.

31 days since surgery

I am pleased to report that my eye is now starting to adapt to its new lens. Peripheral vision is less hazy!

I'm feeling a little more human now. I want to thank you for all the amazing comments I have received below and have read on social media. It is so heartening to know how very helpful my words and image recreations have been. My hope is to do more with them.

These are some of my favourite comments:

• Thank you so much! I passed it on to my family too… it really helped us understand what is going to happen.

• Thank you so much for your blog and photos, finally something to show others of how my operated eye is now seeing the world!

• Amazing! I am going to get my kids to read your blog. They are always asking what it was like , the vitrectomy…and how I saw with the bubble! I wish there was more pictures of how we see the world. You included some which is wonderful. The post is exactly how I see right now….Thank you for the blog

• Your blog is wonderful! Well done! I actually missed my Michael Bubblé when he finally waved goodbye as I'd got so used to seeing him bobbing away

• What you have written describes my experience perfectly. It’s good to know what to expect about the bubble in the coming days.

• I think your showing what the bubble looks like, and how MH (macular hole) impacts our vision is extremely useful. There's very little of this online.

• That’s exactly what my little bubble was like.

• Your illustrations have been spot on!

• Brilliant pictures! As said before, spot on!

• Girl that was exactly what it looked like!!!!

• I Love your photo they are spot on!! Keep them coming.

• That’s exactly what my little bubble was like

• Your illustrations have been spot on!

• Brilliant pictures! As said before, spot on!

• Another wonderful rendering.

• We read surgeon perspectives on surgeries but can't find anything from the patient perspective.

• I love that you are doing this! AND yes I think you should show this to your Dr …this is the most serious thing I’ve been through in my life AND I’m 62!!

• There is nothing available, I've found, that even comes close to even approximating what it looked like for everyone as you have done. I've tried to explain to others the imagery, but as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words."

• Great! So helpful so us all!

• The blog (and illustrations) are a pleasure to read. I did a pencil sketch two years ago trying to approximate the bubble, but yours is spot on. I liked the Michael Bublé comment. Gave me a chuckle.

• TY so much! Very helpful.

• Following as you add more, its great & love the photos, they are perfect!!

• I agree: this was a pleasure to read! And you were actually more informative than my surgeon!

• You have made a personal stress a reassuring guide for others experiencing the same procedure.

• It’s been absolutely fascinating reading your blog, although I’m really sorry you’ve had to go through all of this.

• I’ve found your reports and particularly the images, fascinating.

• You are doing a terrific--and challenging --job of putting us literally (almost) inside your head seeing what you're seeing. Thanks for that effort!

• Your daily updates are a revelation, and so helpful. It's hard to understand what you're going through but the images say it all. Keep up the good work. And thank you!

• Your images are amazing Naomi. They really help us understand what you’re seeing, but I wouldn’t have the first idea how to start producing an image like these.

• These have been, and still are, a fascinating collection and insight (excuse the pun) into what it’s been like for you.

• I'm sorry that you have to go through this but it is fascinating the way you are telling this story!

• Nommie, yours is an extraordinary record of the journey you are on. It is so unsettling to have one’s perception of the world altered in a radical way, and you are encapsulating the reality of the personal experience in an imaginative way. Well done - and may normal service be resumed rapidly.

• It is a good thing you have done this blog Naomi- it will help others who have to experience this same thing.

• Hi Nommie, what a tough old journey you have had/ are having. But how wonderful you explain it all - fascinating and enlightening, particularly with the pictures. I feel that every optician/ opthalmologist should reference this on their website.

• It is fascinating to watch, and I think your blog would be so useful to others awaiting this procedure.

• That is both brave and a brilliant account of your condition. Your photoshop interpretation of what you can see could be valuable to medical professionals treating the condition and patients not knowing what to expect. Please keep up the recording the process just as you wanted to be informed during the operation your remarkable creativity is allowing you to participate in this rare experience in a way that helps others.

• It's really good account and visuals too. I hope it helps others going through it as well as maybe doctors too. Your photos really capture what it's like seeing through an eye recovering from it.

• You have made a personal stress a reassuring guide for others experiencing the same procedure.

• I am so proud of you. Your detailed and personal documentation of this entire experience has the potential to help so many people. Just think how helpful it would have been to you if you had been able to consult such a guide and to know what to expect.

Thank you for reading!

If you'd like to write your thoughts or make a comment, please write your comment below, or get in touch using my contact page. I'd love to hear from you!

I found this very interesting interactive thing from a blog by somone suffering from retinal detachment so have embedded it here: