What is a detached retina and how is it repaired?
“About the size of a postage stamp, the retina is an extremely thin tissue lining the inside of the back of the eye that allows us to interpret what we see,” says Ruben Lemos, M.D., a board-certified ophthalmologist at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic since 1981. “The eye focuses images onto the retina in much the way a camera focuses light onto film.” Most detachments occur when a break or a tear separates the retina from its attachments to the eye, allowing vitreous gel – a clear gel filling two-thirds of the inside of the eye – to accumulate behind the retina. Though about one in 10,000 people have a retinal detachment each year for no apparent reason, most detachments are caused by eye diseases, diabetes or blunt trauma – such as a tennis ball striking to the eye. “Untreated, even partial retinal separations may progress to total detachment – and, eventually, blindness,” Dr. Lemos warns. “That’s why early diagnosis and repair is urgent.” Several treatments are available to make the repairs. H
