What is retinal detachment?
Retinal detachment is a serious eye disease that occurs when the retina moves from its usual location. That is, it ceases to be in intimate contact with the uvea and sclera. When this occurs, the retina, which is the photographic film of the eye, does not work and therefore the image that the eye creates and sends to the brain is no longer created, i.e. the patient stops seeing well.
What are the symptoms of the beginning of retinal detachment?
A patient should be alerted and go to the ophthalmologist to check that a retinal detachment is not starting when he/she starts having symptoms. He notices that in his visual field there are usually black spots that move and look like flying flies. When the patient notices that he/she has some flies or spots that move, especially in one of the eyes, then this process may be starting and it is necessary to go to the ophthalmologist so that he/she can explore the retina, make an analysis of the back of the eye and ensure that we are not facing the beginning of a retinal detachment due to a retinal hole.
Is it possible to prevent retinal detachment?
It is possible to prevent it if the patient goes to the ophthalmologist when the retina is still in place. At that stage when the patient notices some floaters, the retina already has a hole that is starting the process but has not yet fallen off. If the ophthalmologist sees the patient, performs an analysis of the back of the eye and diagnoses the tear, what he will do is a laser treatment by shooting around the tear and sealing the hole. This way, by closing the hole, the process is prevented from continuing and the retina from falling.
What are the most effective treatments?
There are several treatments for retinal detachment once the retina has fallen from its location. They are always surgical treatments. That is to say, they involve putting the patient in the operating room, putting the eye to sleep and either introducing ourselves inside the eye by means of trocars and performing a surgery called vitrectomy in which we clean the inside of the eye and place some gases or buffering liquids that expand the inside of the eye and put the retina back in place; or from outside the eye by placing some silicone bands that squeeze from the outside to achieve the same objective, that the retina and the sclera are put back together again.
The aim of these surgical treatments is to put the retina back in place. The problem is that the retina is a neural tissue and the fact that it has been delocalized and that we put it back in its place does not ensure that its subsequent functioning will be as perfect as it was before. In other words, surgical treatment of retinal detachment always has a poor visual prognosis. It is therefore very important to perform preventive treatments, if possible, before retinal detachment occurs.
What are the consequences of retinal detachment, is it possible to lose vision?
Unfortunately, the visual consequences of a retinal detachment can be serious and therefore it is true that vision can be lost. The retina is made up of neuronal cells that, when they become dislocated, even if they are put back in place, they may not function as they did before. That is why it is very important to go to the ophthalmologist with the premonitory symptoms of detachment and not to have to undergo surgeries that always have an uncertain prognosis.