What is Retinal Vein Occlusion?

The retina is a thin neural tissue on the back surface of the eye that is responsible for perceiving light send the light signals to the brain. The retina has arteries that gives it nutrients and vein that carries away blood back to the heart. When retinal veins can be blocked (or occluded) by a clot in the vessels. This causes a backlog of stagnated blood in the retina. This causes a loss of oxygen in the retina as well as spillage of blood and fluid into the substance of the retina, causing varying degrees of vision loss. The loss of oxygen in the retina can induce new blood vessels to grow on the surface of the retina or on the iris. The abnormal blood vessels can bleed into the eye and cause vision loss, they can also clog up the drainage of fluid out of the eyeball resulting in high eye pressure (neovascular glaucoma).