I’m a retina specialist. I’ve given over 150,000 thousands of eye injections to patients across Oregon. And I’ll tell you something I don’t usually say out loud: I have never received an eye injection myself. So when patients ask me, “What does it feel like?” — I can describe the medication, the technique, and all the sceince. But I can’t honestly describe the sensation, first hand. For that, I have to step aside and let the people who actually know — my patients — answer in their own words.
Below are real, unedited excerpts from Google and Healthgrades reviews left by patients at Retina Care of Oregon. They describe what an intravitreal eye injection actually feels like at Retina Care, as administered by me, Dr. Peter Karth — before, during, and after — and how the experience compares to injections they received at other clinics.
Why I’m Letting My Patients Answer This Question
Eye injections — formally called intravitreal injections — are the most common procedure in retina care. They are the standard of care for wet macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, retinal vein occlusion, and several other conditions that threaten vision. Millions are given every year in the United States.
And every week, a new patient sits down in my chair and asks the same question: “Is this going to hurt?”
Many retina doctors will say: “They might hurt a little, but its worth it to save your vision…” Others may say: “Well, mine are usualy painless” or “I try to make them as good as they can be.”
But they don’t say “I can promise you my injections are painless..and more than that, my technique is sensationless…” But that answer comes from me — the person holding the needle, not the person receiving it. So, I’d rather you hear it from the patient side, not the doctor side.
What Patients Say It Feels Like Before the Injection
Almost every first-time injection patient walks in nervous…often very nervous. Being nervous is normal, expected, and — based on what these same patients say afterward — always disproportionate to the actual experience.
What Patients Say It Feels Like During the Injection
This is the question every patient really wants answered. Does it hurt? What will I fee? The clinical facts: the eye is fully numbed first using two different ways, the needle is much finer than the one used for a flu shot, the injection itself takes about one to two seconds, and it’s delivered through the white of the eye where pain receptors are less.. and are fully numb. My propritary technique yeilds results that patients love.
Whats is just as important is that patients never see the needle. Never. My technique is unique some that you will never see a needle at all!
I could tell you my technique is ‘perfect’ or ‘painless’ or ‘sensationless’, but I won’t. I’ll let my patients tell you in their own words. Here is how patients describe the experience from the chair:
What Patients Say It Feels Like After the Injection
The post-injection experience is, for many patients, the most surprising part. Many patientswalk out with a sore, bloodshot, irritated eye. Here is what they actually report:
“My Other Doctor’s Shots Hurt. Dr. Karth’s Don’t.”
Many of the patients who come to Retina Care are not new to eye injections. They have been receiving them at other practices — sometimes for years — before they switch. Their comparisons are direct and unprompted:
I don’t share these quotes to boast. I share them because if your current injections hurt — if your eye is sore for days afterward, if you dread going in, if the room spins when you think about your next appointment — that is real information worth acting on. Technique vary substantially between providers. The drug is usually the same. The experience does not have to be.
If you live in Oregon and need an evaluation — or if you’re currently getting injections at another practice and they hurt more than you think they should — we see patients at four locations across the state:
- Eugene / Springfield — Garden Way office
- Salem
- Roseburg
- Oregon Coast — Coos Bay, Bandon, Coquille, Florence
Call our office at 541-873-8462 or request an appointment online. New patient referrals are welcome — and patients are welcome to self-refer for second opinions.