What Are Treatments for a Detached Retina?

A detached retina is a very serious problem that needs immediate surgical intervention to save your vision. Retinal detachment robs your retina of necessary oxygen--the longer it goes without oxygen the greater your chances of permanent vision loss. It can result from advanced diabetes, trauma and inflammatory conditions. Early intervention will help preserve your vision. Treatment will depend on whether you just have a hole or tear in the retina, which precedes detachment or if the retina has already separated.

Warning Signs

• Certain warning signs typically appear that indicate a hole or tear in the retina, which can turn into detachment. They include suddenly seeing floaters--small pieces of debris in your field of vision. Floaters resemble spots, hairs, or strings. You might also experience sudden bursts of light in the eye, a shadow over part of your visual field or acute blurred vision.

General Treatment Information

• Surgery is the only treatment option for this condition. Several surgical options exist for both repairing tears and detachment. If you receive treatment before detachment, you will likely preserve almost all of your vision. If your retina becomes detached, the extent of your vision loss will depend on the severity of the detachment.

Procedures for Retinal Tears

• Retinal tear surgeries are usually outpatient procedures. You need about two weeks for complete healing, and your vision might be temporarily blurred after the operation. The following procedures are used to repair a retinal tear.

  Laser surgery, also known as photocoagulation, involves directing a laser beam through a specially made contact lens or ophthalmoscope. The laser produces burns around the tear. The resulting scarring causes the retina to attach to underlying tissue.

  Freezing or cryopexy is used for hard-to-reach tears, usually along the retinal periphery. This procedure uses extreme cold to freeze the part of the retina near the tear. Freezing the area around the hole produces a scar that helps attach the retina to the eye wall. This procedure can cause redness and swelling in the eyes.

Procedures for Detached Retina

• Doctors use three different surgeries to repair a detached retina. The type of surgery you undergo will depend on the type, size and location of the detachment.

  Pneumatic retinopoxy is best for uncomplicated attachments stemming from the upper half of the retina. This is an outpatient procedure done under local anesthesia. The first step involves freezing the tear. Your surgeon will then soften the eye by removing a small amount of fluid. The next step is to inject a gas bubble into the cavity. This bubble expands over several days and helps push the retina back to the wall of the eye. The gas will go away after several weeks.

  Scleral buckling can be done on an inpatient or outpatient basis, depending on the severity of the detachment. It involves attaching a small piece of silicone sponge or rubber to the sclera (white of your eye). This material indents the wall of the eye and keeps fluid from getting in the way of reattachment. This buckle usually remains in the eye permanently.

  A virectomy requires removing some of the vitreous humor, the fluid between the retina and lens of the eye. This is necessary if the fluid is clouded and interferes with the surgeon's view of the detached retina or if scarring lowers the effectiveness of retinopoxy or scleral buckling.

Attachment Surgery Results

• Surgical attempts to reattach the retina are not always successful. Even if your retina is successfully reattached, it does not ensure normal vision. If the macula, the central part of your retina, was detached, you are unlikely to regain your previous level of sight. The extent of vision loss hinges on how long the macula was detached. Improvement can take several months and, in some cases, you may not regain any of your lost vision.