What Is A Detached Retina?

Detached Retina Repair

This article is focused on answering the question what is a detached retina and what can be done about detached retina repair. 

Most of us have heard of a detached retina, or a retinal tear. But many of us don't understand the processes that takes place when it happens.

The retina is the nerve layer at the back of your eye. This is where light focuses after passing through the lens. The sensations are then transmitted to the brain, which processes them as images, allowing you to see. The retina is frequently compared to the film in a camera.

Inside the eyeball, between the lens and the retina, is a viteous, transparent gel that light also passes through. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, the gel separates from the retina. As it does, it may tug hard enough to tear the retina. Fluid may pass through the tear, lifting the retina off the back of the eye.

Detached retina signs This can be a serious, vision-threatening event. If it happens to you, you begin to see flashes, eye floaters, or a gray shadow.

What causes detached retina? There are a number of detached retina causes and circumstances that make a detached retina more likely. These include:

• glaucoma
• having had previous surgery for cataracts
• a severe blow, trauma or injury
• having already had a detached retina in your other eye;
• a family history of detached retina
• being nearsighted

Fixing a detached retina A detached retina normally does not heal itself nor will it just go away with time. Fixing a detached retina almost always requires surgery.

There are several ways of fixing a detached retina. One of the most common is a process that involves cryotherapy, or freezing. This seals the retina back in place on the back wall of the eye. It can be done in the ophthalmologist's office, and it is not painful.

Most retinal tears need to be treated with laser surgery or cryotherapy (freezing), which seals the retina to the back wall of the eye. These treatments cause little or no discomfort and may be performed in your ophthalmologist's office. Treatment usually prevents retinal detachment.

Another procedure is known as pneumatic retinopexy. This involves injecting gas into the vitreous space inside the eye. The gas bubble closes the tear by pushing it against the back wall of the eye. It's possible to do this procedure in your ophthalmologist's office.

Another treatment involves placing a flexible band called a scleral buckle around the eye. The scleral buckle counteracts the force pulling the retina out of place. Fluid is drained from under the detachment, which allows the retina to slip back into place. This procedure is done in an operating room.

A vitrectomy involves removing the vitreous gel from the eye and replacing it with a gas bubble. Eventually, the gas bubble is replaced by fluids from your body. The vitrectomy is sometimes combined with a scleral buckle.

Detached retina surgery recovery Eye surgery has risks, but when you consider that an untreated detached retina almost always causes severe vision loss or total blindness, the risks seem worthwhile to most people.

The procedures described above have high success and safety rate, although a second operation is sometimes necessary. Nonetheless, there is always a possibility of an eye infection, bleeding or cataracts.

Unfortunately, repairing a detached retina is not a "quick fix." Recovery from detached retina surgery usually takes a long time - meaning months. Vision may never return to being as good as it was before the detachment. This is especially true when the retina detachment is severe.