| To understand how a detached retina surgery can | | | | immediately consult a doctor without fail. |
| be performed, we need to understand what | | | | Retinal surgery is a type of eye surgery involving |
| retinal detachment is. In a layman’s language, | | | | the repair of a detached retina. The retina |
| it is a disorder of the eye where the retina gets | | | | transmits signals or messages to the optic nerve |
| separated from its attachment to its underlying | | | | and the brain or nervous system, thus completing |
| tissue within the eye. Retina is a thin layer of | | | | the cycle of vision. The specific type of surgery |
| light-sensitive tissues on the back wall of the eye. | | | | will depend on the type, size, and location of the |
| When we look around, light from the objects we | | | | detached retina. |
| are trying to see enters the eye. The light image | | | | Laser surgery or a freezing treatment called |
| is focused onto the retina by the cornea and the | | | | cryopexy may be recommended for small holes |
| lens. The retina translates that focused image into | | | | and tears. It creates a scar/adhesion around the |
| neural impulses and sends them to the brain | | | | retinal hole to prevent fluid from entering the hole |
| through the optic nerve. The retina can be | | | | and accumulating behind the retina and |
| compared to the film of the camera. | | | | aggravating the retinal detachment. Cryopexy is |
| Retinal detachments are basically results of retinal | | | | mostly done in cases where there is a lot of fluid |
| break, tear or hole. The tear allows vitreous fluid | | | | behind the hole. |
| to seep through it under the retina, and peel it | | | | A scleral buckle is a tiny synthetic band that is |
| away like a bubble in wallpaper. It is the fluid that | | | | attached to the outside of the eyeball to gently |
| separates the retina from the back of the eye. | | | | push the wall of the eye against the detached |
| The common symptoms are flashing lights and | | | | retina. The bands are generally not removed. The |
| floaters. Flashing lights are caused by the vitreous | | | | most common side effect of a scleral operation is |
| gel pulling on the retina or a looseness of the | | | | the myopic shift. |
| vitreous, which allows the vitreous gel to hit | | | | Vitrectomy involves removal of the vitreous gel |
| against the retina. Floaters on the other hand, are | | | | and is combined with filling the eye with a gas |
| caused by condensation in the vitreous gel and | | | | bubble (SF6 or C3F8 gas). The gas is often |
| are described by patients as spots, strands, or | | | | injected into the eye to replace the vitreous and |
| little flies. In case the patient experience a shadow | | | | reattach the retina (known as a pneumopexy); |
| or curtain that affects any part of the vision, this | | | | the gas pushes the retina back against the wall of |
| can indicate that a retinal tear has progressed to | | | | the eye. |
| a detached retina and the patient should | | | | |