Despite multiple treatment options for retinal artery occlusion, none have been proven to cure the condition.
The retinal arteries are critical for delivering oxygen and nutrients to the retina to create vision. When a retinal artery becomes blocked, all the downstream tissue stops working, causing a sudden loss of vision. Multiple modalities to reverse a retinal artery occlusion have been attempted (e.g. hyperbaric oxygen, laser, surgery, breathing into a paper bag, eye drops, clot-busting medicine, etc.), but nothing has been proven to work reliably. Most importantly, retinal artery occlusions can be the precursor to a stroke in the brain and warrant an urgent medical workup to determine the cause of the “eye stroke.”