How to Repair a Detached Retina

The retina is the part of the eye that sends visual images along the optic nerve to the brain. When the light-sensitive tissue of the retina detaches from the back wall of the eyeball, the vision gets blurry. A detached retina is a very serious issue and can cause a person to go blind if it is left untreated. A retinal tear usually happens before the detachment. Detached retina repairs can be performed by an eye surgeon.

Instructions

• 1

  Get a pneumatic retinoproxy performed on your retinal detachment. This type of retinal detachment surgery can be done as an outpatient procedure using a local anesthetic. The area around the detachment is frozen, making it easier for the surgeon to soften the eye and take a small amount of fluid. The surgeon then injects a bubble of gas into the hole. The gas bubble expands over a few days and will help move the retina back in place on the eye wall.

• 2

  Have your eye specialist perform a scleral buckling procedure to repair your detached retina. This surgery procedure can be done either as an inpatient or as an outpatient procedure depending on the severity of the retinal detachment. Scleral buckling involves having a small piece of rubber or silicone sponge attached to the white of the eye, or sclera. The substance makes an indentation of the eye wall and keeps any fluid out of the area so the retina can be reattached. The silicone or rubber is left in the eye on a permanent basis.

• 3

  Have a virectomy performed to fix a retina that has been detached. A virectomy involves removing the fluid between the eye lens and the retina. The fluid, or vitreous humor, is removed if it is cloudy and interfering with the view of the retinal detachment.