Characteristics of bilateral retinal detachment
Reviewed by Sofia Rokerya

This was a retrospective study based at a tertiary centre which analysed the specific characteristics of bilateral Rhegmatogeous detachment, taken from the review notes of 300 patients (600 eyes) who had bilateral retinal detachment (RD) surgery between January 2005 and June 2021. Interval between initial and subsequent RD surgery was 2.6 ± 2.8 (mean ± SD, median 1.5) years. Symptoms were reported by the patients for 20 ± 75 (median 5) days before presentation in the initial eye and 12 ± 32 (median 4) days in the subsequent eye. Two hundred and twenty patients were male (73%), and mean age at initial RD was 55 years. One hundred and eighty three (61%) of the initial RD eyes were phakic. In the initial eye, more patients had a detached macula, worse visual acuity and more quadrants involved. Vitrectomy with gas tamponade was the most common used surgery. Primary anatomic success rate was higher in the subsequent eye (90%) compared to the initial eye (83%). There was a high symmetry between the eyes in terms of type of retinal break, number of breaks and presumed localisation of the causative retinal break. The conclusions derived were as follows: Patients with bilateral RD were more commonly male and younger in the group of all RD patients. The majority of fellow eye RD occurred within two years after the RD in the first eye. Second eye RD was less advanced and had a better anatomical repair rate. Despite their experience in the first eye and despite typical symptoms, patients presented only after a mean of 12 days with RD in the second eye. The anatomic result in the first eye is not a predictor for the anatomic result in the subsequent eye. Strengths: Large sample size, single centre study. Limitations: Retrospective nature with possible incomplete or inaccurate documentation, and missed event such as patients visiting other clinics.

Characteristics of bilateral retinal detachment.
Radeck V, Schindler F, Helbig H, et al.
OPHTHALMOLOGICA
2023;(246):99-106.