Eye Diseases – Retinal Detachment

Retinal detachment with discover vision center for example is a serious pathology whose treatment is always surgical and urgent. It can affect all categories of eyes but occurs with a certain predilection on myopic eyes, particularly those with high myopia.

The presence of a layer of fluid between the retina, the innermost layer of the eye, and the choroid, the underlying layer, anatomically defines it.

Mechanism

To fully understand the mechanism of the onset of retinal detachment, it is necessary to remember the main elements of ocular anatomy. The retina, which is the innermost layer of the eye, occupies the posterior part of the eyeball and is, throughout life, in contact with a gel called the vitreous humor, or simply the vitreous, itself contained in a thin membrane. During life, the vitreous changes and gradually becomes more and more liquid, and there comes an age, between 30 and 90 years old, when this liquefied vitreous will “pierce” its membrane to spread in contact with the retina. , pushing forward this membrane which contained it: this is called posterior vitreous detachment.

Diagnosis

A complete examination of the fundus is necessary for the face of this type of symptom because, if this vitreous detachment is a normal event, it can sometimes be complicated by a tear in the retina. Indeed, if there were pathological adhesions between the vitreous membrane and the retina before the vitreous detached, traction on these adhesions can lead to the appearance of a tear in the retina. Most often, it is the adhesion that yields, but the occurrence of flashes testifies to the existence of these traction zones while the vitreous is moving away from the retina.

Thus, if this examination of the fundus will most often conclude with a simple detachment of the vitreous without consequence, it can sometimes make it possible to discover a tear that has just formed and whose treatment is urgent.

Fundus examination showed a horseshoe tear that could be complicated by retinal detachment.

Indeed, if left untreated, the tear risks allowing liquefied vitreous to pass under the retina, and this is the very definition of retinal detachment. Before this stage, it is possible to weld the retina with a laser all around the tear to avoid this development. The laser is, therefore, always a preventive treatment for retinal detachment. When it is constituted, it is too late to make a laser, and it is necessary to pass quickly to the surgery.

Retinal detachment is still located in a lower position, with visibility of the optic nerve at the back of the eye.

When retinal detachment has set in, the essential sign, after the premonitory signs, which are those of vitreous detachment, is the appearance of a black veil gradually obscuring the field of vision. As long as the central part of the retina (macula) is not yet detached, the vision can be quantified at a good level, but as soon as the detachment lifts the macula, the vision drops significantly, and the recovery will be long after surgery.

Surgical Treatment

The occurrence of retinal detachment requires the use of surgery and contact lenses near me. The techniques are numerous and complex and depend on many factors, including the topography of the detachment and its age. It is a difficult surgery with consequences sometimes interspersed with recurrences requiring a new intervention. Visual recovery often amounts to months.

Prevention

The myopes constituting the population exposed to this pathology, it is recommended to make regular, especially before 40 years, regular examinations of the fundus. It is possible to discover areas of fragility or adhesions that risk, when the vitreous detaches, favor the appearance of a retinal tear and, therefore, of a retinal detachment. When such lesions are discovered, it is necessary again to make the laser weld the retina around these zones of fragility, but without urgency since the detachment of the vitreous has not yet taken place.