Retinal detachment repair three weeks ago tomorrow. Vitrectomy with a gas bubble, and I came out with a wristband saying NO FLYING and a leaflet that said the same in bigger letters. Fair enough.
Here is my problem. For the first fortnight the bubble was this big dark wobble across the bottom of my vision and I could watch it shrinking day by day. As of Monday it has gone. Completely. I look down, I look up, nothing there. My daughter is getting married in Portugal in twelve days and I have a flight booked that I did not cancel because I was hoping to be exactly where I am now.
My next clinic appointment is not until the week after the wedding. The surgeon said "the gas needs to be gone" and as far as I can tell it IS gone. Has anyone flown once the bubble disappeared from their vision without waiting for the clinic to say so? Is there any actual difference between me not being able to see it and it not being there?
Please do not decide this off a forum, Keith. My father in law had the gas bubble op and his consultant was very clear that the bit you can see and the bit that is there are not the same thing. Ring the eye clinic in the morning and explain about the wedding. They will fit you in for a pressure check, they do it all the time.
#3September 4, 2026, 8:20 am Keith, the direct answer is that the bubble dropping out of your vision is not evidence that the gas has absorbed, and only your ophthalmologist examining the eye can confirm that it has. Please do not fly on the basis of what you can or cannot see.
Here is why the two are different. As the bubble shrinks its edge sinks below your line of sight, and by the time it is small enough to be invisible to you a residual volume can still be sitting at the bottom of the eye. At a cabin altitude of roughly 6,000 to 8,000 feet any trapped gas expands by roughly a quarter, and in a sealed eyeball that expansion becomes pressure very quickly, high enough to cut off the blood supply to the retina and optic nerve. That is the mechanism behind the wristband, and it is why the guidance is an absolute no rather than a wait-and-see.
How long the gas lasts depends on which one your surgeon used. Air is gone in days; the medium-acting gas most commonly used is largely absorbed in about 2 to 3 weeks; the longest-acting gas persists for around 6 to 8 weeks. That is why the general guide is often 2 to 6 weeks and sometimes longer, and why three weeks could mean gas gone or gas very much still there depending on a detail you may not have been told. Your discharge letter will name the gas. The full picture, including silicone oil and the mountain-road point, is in flying after eye surgery.
What I would do in your position is exactly what Deborah says: ring the clinic today, tell them the travel date, and ask for an earlier check. If the surgeon examines the eye and confirms the gas has absorbed, you get a date and a letter. If they cannot see you before the flight, that is your answer, and it is not one a forum can change. Whether you personally are fit to fly is a decision for the team who operated on you and knows your eye.
Dr Helena Boyd said:
three weeks could mean gas gone or gas very much still there depending on a detail you may not have been told
This bit is the whole thread. Mine was the long-acting gas and I was told eight weeks minimum, and I could not see the bubble from about week five. Three weeks where I could not see a thing and it was still in there. If I had gone by my own eyesight I would have flown with gas in my eye and I do not like thinking about that.
Also, for what it is worth, my surgeon said the same rule applied to the drive back to my sister's over the hills. Not just planes.
Right. Rang the clinic first thing, felt a bit of a fool, they were not remotely surprised and I am in on Tuesday for a check. The letter says SF6 which the nurse tells me is the two to three week one, so there is at least a chance.
Nigel, three weeks of not seeing it and it still being there is exactly the thing I needed to hear and did not want to.
Update for anyone searching this later. Seen on Tuesday, gas confirmed gone, pressure fine, and I have a one paragraph letter from the registrar saying I am fit to fly from that date. Flying Saturday. Insurer wanted the letter emailed over before they would confirm cover, which I would not have thought of.
Thank you all. The daughter is relieved, mostly that I stopped talking about my eye.
Lovely outcome. Have a wonderful wedding, and keep the drops in your hand luggage, the cabin air will make that eye feel like sandpaper.
