RETINAL DETACHMENT - twice in the same eye

[R. Tewari]

My mother had a retinal detachmet around 7 years ago. It was repaired using
laser and the scleral buckle. Her vision had recovered to about 80% of
what it was before the detachment.
Now after 7 years the same eye had a detachment again. The surgeon now
suggested that they would not do a buckle replacement instead would try a mix
of laser and "gas filling" techinique. I dont recall the technical term
but the procedure involves filling a liquified gas behind the eyeball
which exerts pressure on the retina helping it attach. The gas slowly
discharges. I really did not understand the procedure very well.

I was wondering how standard this procedure is? What are the chances of
recovery given that this is a second detachment in the same eye?
Is there any statistics about how often retinal detachments recur?
What are the kinds of precautions to be taken to avoid it to happen.
My mother had a very high myopia when she was young and had cataract
surgery when she was in her late thirties. Recently she has developed
age related diabetes also - the doctor said the the retinal detachment
is not related to the diabetes as that was a recent problem and her blood
sugar was normal earlier.

If anyone has any pointers to more information, statistics, procedures,
causes of retinal detachment please do send me a mail.

Renu
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Renu Tewari
c1r...@watson.ibm.com
tew...@cs.utexas.edu

[ShiftWork Systems]

Could "c1renu" (who posted this message) give us another EMail address.
I just got "user unknown" when trying to mail.

- Michael Bate

[Michael Kelley]

A second detachment is not uncommon. The surgeon is going to inject a gas
inside the eye,like blowing up a balloon. This helps seal the retina
against the back of the eyeball. This is not related to the diabetes
problem.

mk

[chas.]

Mine was poor workmanship and striations of some sort in the
vitreous pulling the retina away from the wall. Had a vitrectomy
with the second detachment.

I have had 3 Scleros, 1 vetrectomy, 1 primary cataract, 1 secondary
cataract, need a vitrectomy and have a primary cataract in that eye.

Damn it get borish, but I can see!!!!!!!!!!! and it only hurt for a
little while. That and extended periods of no sex or beer. I don't
like that part, no I don't.

Chuck Fellows

[Foveola]

Redetachment of the retina after prior detachment can happen in a minority
of successful retina cases; often, the cause is buildup of scar tissue on
the surface of the retna, whch in turn, pull sthe retina off;
Vitrectory and membrane removal are the techniques I believe you are
describing; both are standard in advanced/complicated cases, and the
chance of success gous down somewhat when compared to the chances of
success for the initial surgery; other materials, such as silicone oil,
acan be put in the eye if the retna continues to detach; of course, the
technique o fchoice is left to the discretion of your retina doctor