Certain symptoms, such as sudden-onset flashes of light and floaters before the eye may be the sign of retinal tear or posterior vitreous detachment – a condition characterized by separation of vitreous (a gel-like fluid that fills in the eye) from the retina. Age-dependent changes in the vitreous weaken the bonds between the retina and the gel. The vitreous can separate from the retina spontaneously or due to trauma. It is more common in myopic patients. Cataract operation and traumas facilitate the detachment.

“Floaters”, also called specks or flecks in the field of vision, develop when the deposits in the vitreous, which are the cells and small bleedings that fall into the gel during the vitreous detachment, move into the axis of vision due to ocular movements. Traction of the retina by the vitreous causes the “flashes of light”.

Retinal tear may develop by 10-15% in sudden-onset vitreous detachment. Since retinal tears can cause retinal detachment, when the vitreous leaks behind the retina through the tear and separates the retina from the outer layer of the eye, retinal tears should be treated. Tears may develop secondary to various etiologies, especially including trauma, without posterior vitreous detachment.

For treatment of retinal tears, location of the tears is identified using lens through dilated pupils and the tears are sealed by laser shots. Thus, the retina around the tear is sealed to prevent leakage of fluid behind the retina and the resultant retinal detachment.

Retinal detachment causes a shadow or black area in a part of the field of vision and it may lead to partial or complete loss of vision. It should be urgently operated on. Delayed surgery decreases the success rate. Blindness is inevitable, if it is left untreated. In the operation, we place silicone bands beneath the conjunctiva – the outermost membrane layer of the eye – to apply external pressure on the eye. After the fluid, accumulated between retinal layers is removed, the tear is sealed by laser or cryotherapy and then we inject gas into the eye (pneumatic retinopexy) to enable attachment of the retina.