Earlier Retinal Detachment Repair Leads to More Successful Outcomes

A vitrectomy is a procedure used to repair retinal detachment wherein a surgeon removes the eye’s vitreous gel and reattaches the retina. It is a common surgery due to its high success rate. Click image to enlarge. Prompt surgery and better baseline vision were linked to stronger visual recovery after pars plana vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD), according to a recent study.Researchers from Romania evaluated factors associated with functional outcomes after pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for RRD. They examined 136 eyes from 135 adults who underwent PPV, assessing which demographic, systemic and ocular characteristics were most strongly associated with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) six months after surgery.The mean age was 65.2 years in women and 63.7 in men; in total, there were 74 female eyes and 62 male eyes. Most patients lived in urban areas, 73.5% of eyes were phakic at presentation and 81.6% had macula-off detachments. Symptom duration before surgery “was highly variable,” reported by the authors to be “averaging 12.88 days,” according to their paper in the journal Diagnostics. Also, 9.6% of patients also presented with diabetes and 60.3% experienced hypertension.All patients underwent PPV with vitreous removal, fluid-air exchange, cryopexy and silicone oil tamponade. Combined cataract surgery was performed when necessary, and 21 patients later underwent cataract extraction with intraocular lens implantation during follow-up.Patients’ BCVA improved substantially after surgery — the average BCVA before surgery was 1.52 logMAR, improving to 0.74 logMAR at six months after surgery. Primary retinal reattachment was achieved in 123 patients, while 13 required additional surgery; all ultimately achieved retinal reattachment by six months. The authors explained in their paper that “the primary anatomical success rate was achieved in 123 patients, while 13 patients required additional surgery due to retinal redetachment,” but that “after the second surgery, all patients achieved final retinal reattachment at 6 months of follow-up.”The strongest predictors of postoperative vision outcomes were symptom duration and baseline BCVA. The researchers stated in their paper that “duration of symptoms, phacoemulsification during follow-up, and preoperative BCVA” were all factors that affected postoperative BCVA, but that “lens status, macular status, extent of retinal detachment, number of tears and PVR did not influence the postoperative outcome.” Patients who specifically underwent phacoemulsification during follow-up showed significantly better BCVA after six months. Notably, every additional day between symptom onset and surgery was associated with worse six-month visual outcomes, while patients with poorer pre-surgical vision were also predictors of similarly poorer postoperative vision.The authors concluded that surgical timing and baseline visual function may be more important than anatomical characteristics alone when estimating visual prognosis after RRD repair.Click here for the journal source. Chereji G, Chelaru VF, Nicoară SD. Predictive factors of functional prognosis in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment treated by pars plana vitrectomy—a retrospective study. Diagnostics. May 30, 2026. [Epub ahead of print].This article was developed by the editorial staff in conjunction with experts in the field. In the process, AI may have been among the editorial tools used to meet the goals of human editors, who approved all content.