Retinal Detachment: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Sight

By John Choi, MD

A retinal detachment can cause vision loss, even blindness. But it is treatable.

What Is the Retina?

The retina is the inside lining of the eyeball, the “wallpaper” of the eye. This lining contains your vision machinery such as photoreceptors. Problems with the retina can affect your vision.

What Is a Retinal Detachment?

The retina lays flat against the eyeball wall like wallpaper. The eye is filled with a gel called vitreous, which is attached to the retina. As you get older, the vitreous shrinks. It pulls away from the retina, sometimes tearing the retina and causing it to separate from the rest of the eyeball wall–a retinal detachment. Left untreated, there is a risk of losing vision, even going blind.

Some conditions increase the chance of having a retinal detachment:

Nearsightedness
Weak areas of the retina
Previous retinal tear or detachment in the other eye
Previous cataract surgery
Glaucoma
Previous severe eye injury
Family history of retinal detachment

How Can You Tell If You Have a Retinal Detachment?

The following symptoms may mean you have a retinal detachment:

Sudden new flashing lights
Sudden new floaters in your vision
Shadow in your peripheral vision like an eclipse
Dark curtain moving across your vision

If you experience any of these symptoms, you should see your eye doctor as soon as you can to find out if you have a retinal detachment.

How Is a Retinal Detachment Fixed?

Your eye doctor should refer you to a retina specialist if he or she suspects you have a retinal detachment.

If the retina is torn but not yet detached, the specialist can seal the tear in the office to prevent a detachment.

If the retina is detached, it must be reattached to protect your vision. Sometimes this can be done in the office. Often surgery is required. The surgery is an outpatient procedure.

After your retinal detachment is fixed, vision may take months to improve. Sometimes the vision does not fully recover or improve at all. The more severe or the longer you’ve had the detachment, the less the vision may improve. Again, if you suspect you have a retinal detachment it is very important you see your eye doctor immediately.