From your visit
You have been referred to a retina specialist: what to expect
Reviewed November 2026 · Dr. Sam Khoury, Optometrist
This page is for patients examined in this office and referred to a retina specialist, for a retinal tear or detachment, diabetic changes, macular degeneration, a blocked retinal vein, or another finding at the back of the eye.
If you were referred urgently, go to the appointment you were given even if your vision seems fine today. Before or after it, call the same day for sudden vision loss, a shower of new floaters, flashes, or a shadow or curtain across your vision; after an injection or surgery, also for increasing pain, redness or light sensitivity. Call the retina office or (609) 246-0236. If the office is closed, or you cannot reach us, go to a hospital emergency room — most have an ophthalmologist on call.
A retina specialist is an ophthalmologist with extra years of training in the back of the eye, and in the lasers, injections and surgery used there. You have been referred because something found here needs one of those, or needs a specialist's opinion on whether it does. Your images and exam findings have been sent ahead, so the specialist starts from what we already know.
The first visit
- Plan on two to three hours. Retina visits are long: dilation, imaging, the doctor's examination, and often treatment the same day.
- You will be dilated, so bring sunglasses and a driver. Near vision is blurry for about four hours.
- Imaging usually includes scans of the retina and sometimes an angiogram: a yellow dye injected into an arm vein while photographs are taken of the blood vessels in the retina. The dye turns your skin and urine yellow for a day. It is safe for most people; tell them about any allergies and kidney problems.
- Bring a list of your medicines, your insurance cards, the name of the doctor who manages your diabetes if you have it, and any questions written down.
The treatments, and what they are like
- Laser, for a retinal tear
- Done in the office the same day, under numbing drops, through a lens held on the eye. A few minutes of bright flashes and some aching. It seals the retina around the tear so fluid cannot get underneath. Usually that is the end of it, with a check a few weeks later.
- Injections, for diabetic swelling, wet macular degeneration or a blocked vein
- The main treatment for all three, and the one that worries people most beforehand. The eye is numbed thoroughly and cleaned, and the medicine is injected through the white of the eye in a few seconds. Most people feel pressure, not pain. Afterwards the eye is often gritty for a day, and a red patch on the white of the eye at the injection site is common and harmless. The medicines stop abnormal vessels leaking and growing. They work best as a series, usually monthly at first and then spaced out as the retina responds, and they are given millions of times a year.
- Surgery, for a detachment, bleeding or scar tissue
- Done in an operating room, usually as a day case under local anesthesia with sedation. The specialist will explain the specific operation. Some involve a gas bubble in the eye that requires holding a particular head position for days afterwards and no flying until it has gone.
After an injection or surgery
- Expect a gritty, watery eye for a day after an injection; a red patch on the white of the eye; a few new floaters that settle; and blurred vision for the rest of the day.
- Do not expect, and call the retina office the same day for: pain that increases over the first days rather than easing, redness that spreads, light sensitivity that gets worse, or vision that drops after it had cleared. Infection inside the eye after an injection is very rare, but it is an emergency when it happens, and those are its signs.
- Use the drops you are given exactly as directed.
- Keep the schedule. Injection treatment works because it is repeated. Missed visits are the commonest reason it fails.
How this office stays involved
The retina specialist sends a report back here after each visit. Your routine eye care, your glasses, and the monitoring of everything else about your eyes continue here, and once the retina is stable, some specialists share the follow-up with this office so you are not driving to both. If you are unsure who to call about something, call here and we will tell you.
Treatment at a retina practice is billed to your medical insurance. The injected medicines vary a great deal in cost; the retina office will discuss coverage and the options with you before you start, and it is reasonable to ask.
Your next visit here
Keep the appointment you were given here, usually after the specialist has seen you, so the two plans line up. If you do not have one, call once you have been seen.
Khoury Eye Care, Hamilton Mall, 4403 Black Horse Pike, Mays Landing.
Sources
The figures and recommendations on this page come from the following. Ask at your visit if you would like a copy of any of them.
- American Academy of Ophthalmology. Age-Related Macular Degeneration Preferred Practice Pattern. 2019.
- American Academy of Ophthalmology. Diabetic Retinopathy Preferred Practice Pattern. 2019.
- American Academy of Ophthalmology. Posterior Vitreous Detachment, Retinal Breaks, and Lattice Degeneration Preferred Practice Pattern. 2019.
- Avery RL, Bakri SJ, Blumenkranz MS, et al. Intravitreal injection technique and monitoring: updated guidelines of an expert panel. Retina. 2014;34(Suppl 12):S1-S18.