H34: Retinal vascular occlusions

H34.0: Transient retinal artery occlusion

The retina is a layer inside the eye. It contains a lot of sensory cells that can perceive light. There are sensory cells for colors and sensory cells for light and dark. The sensory cells pass the information on to the nerve cells in the optic nerve.

An artery supplies the retina with oxygen-rich blood and nutrients. This retinal artery gives off various small branch arteries.

In your case, an artery in your eye has closed up temporarily.

When an artery in the eye closes up temporarily, the retina no longer receives sufficient blood. Suddenly the vision from that eye becomes worse than usual.

Blood vessels can close for different reasons. A blood clot can block the blood vessel, for example. Or fats and calcium may have been deposited in the blood vessel. This gradually makes the blood vessel narrower and it can sometimes close up entirely.