Treatment

Retinal Detachment Treatment & Repair

Retinal detachment is an eye emergency that needs urgent repair. personalEYES offers retinal laser, eye injections and retinal detachment surgery to protect your sight.

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What is retinal detachment?

Retinal detachment is when the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye, pulls away from the tissue that supports it. Without urgent repair, a detached retina can cause permanent vision loss in that eye.

What are the symptoms of retinal detachment?

Retinal detachment symptoms are painless. Detached retina symptoms and retinal tear symptoms include:

Sudden flashes of light
A sudden shower of new floaters
A dark curtain or shadow moving across your vision
Sudden blurred or lost vision

Retinal detachment is a medical emergency. If you notice any of these retinal damage symptoms, get a same-day eye assessment or go to the nearest emergency department.

What causes a detached retina?

Most detachments start with a retinal tear or retinal hole. As the gel inside the eye (vitreous) shrinks with age, it can pull on the retina and tear it. Fluid then passes through the break and lifts the retina away.

Your risk is higher if you are short-sighted, over 50, have had cataract surgery or an eye injury, or had a detachment in the other eye.

What are retinal treatments?

Retinal treatments are procedures that protect, repair or stabilise the retina, the layer at the back of the eye that turns light into signals for the brain. They may reduce swelling, control abnormal blood vessels, seal a retinal tear or reattach the retina.

Retinal diseases are a leading cause of vision loss in adults. Our options include:

Eye injections (anti-VEGF and steroid)
Retinal laser
Photodynamic therapy (PDT)
Vitrectomy and retinal detachment surgery
The Ozurdex implant

Retina eye care is often ongoing. Some conditions need one treatment, while others need monitoring or repeat treatment for years.

How are retinal conditions diagnosed?

A retinal eye exam starts with drops that widen the pupil so your doctor can see the retina, macula and blood vessels. Tests may include an OCT scan, widefield retinal photos and fluorescein angiography.

What is fluorescein angiography?

Fluorescein angiography is a diagnostic test, not a treatment. A dye is injected into a vein, and photos are taken as it moves through the blood vessels at the back of the eye.

It can show leaks, blocked vessels or abnormal new vessel growth, and helps plan your treatment.

How does retinal laser treatment work?

Retinal laser uses focused light to make tiny treatment spots on the retina. The spots seal a tear, stop leaking vessels or slow abnormal vessel growth. This is called photocoagulation. It is often done in the clinic and causes little discomfort.

Laser for a retinal tear or retinal hole

Laser is a common retinal tear treatment. If a retinal tear or retinal hole is found before the retina detaches, laser creates a ring of small scars around the break. As the spots heal, they secure the retina and lower the chance of a detachment.

Pan-retinal photocoagulation (PRP)

PRP is the main laser for proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Many laser spots are applied to the outer retina to make abnormal new vessels shrink and reduce the risk of bleeding.

What are the retinal detachment treatments?

Retinal detachment treatments close the tear and return the retina to its normal position before more vision is lost. Most detachments need urgent retinal detachment surgery. The right detached retina treatment depends on the size and position of the detachment, whether the macula is involved and your lens status. Options include:

Vitrectomy: removes the vitreous gel and uses gas or silicone oil to hold the retina in place
Scleral buckle: a silicone band on the outside of the eye supports the repair
Pneumatic retinopexy: a gas bubble presses the retina back, with laser or freezing treatment
Laser or cryotherapy: seals the retinal tear as part of the repair

If a gas bubble is used, you may need to keep your head in a set position and must not fly until the bubble is gone.

What is photodynamic therapy?

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) uses a light-sensitive medicine and a cool laser to close abnormal blood vessels in the eye. The medicine goes into a vein, then the laser activates it. PDT is used for selected retinal conditions.

What is a vitrectomy?

A vitrectomy is microsurgery that removes the clear vitreous gel from inside the eye so the surgeon can reach the retina. It is used for retinal detachment, macular hole, epiretinal membrane, bleeding that does not clear and some diabetic eye problems. The gel is replaced with fluid, gas or silicone oil.

What are intravitreal steroid injections?

Intravitreal steroid injections place a corticosteroid medicine inside the eye to reduce inflammation and retinal swelling. Treating the eye this way limits side effects in the rest of the body.

They are used for some cases of diabetic macular oedema, retinal vein occlusion and swelling after eye surgery. Steroids can raise eye pressure or speed up cataract, so follow-up checks matter.

What are anti-VEGF eye injections?

Anti-VEGF injections block a protein that drives leaky, abnormal blood vessels in the eye. They treat wet macular degeneration, diabetic macular oedema and retinal vein occlusion. Many people need a series of injections.

What is the Ozurdex implant?

Ozurdex is a tiny, dissolving steroid (dexamethasone) implant placed inside the eye. In Australia it is used for diabetic macular oedema, swelling after retinal vein occlusion and some types of uveitis at the back of the eye.

Which retinal diseases do we treat?

Our retinal team assesses and treats a wide range of retinal diseases, including:

Wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
Geographic atrophy (advanced dry AMD) in selected patients
Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema
Central and branch retinal vein occlusion
Retinal tears, holes and retinal detachment
Macular hole and epiretinal membrane (macular pucker)
Central serous chorioretinopathy
Cystoid macular oedema
Vitreous haemorrhage and vitreous opacity
Retinal vascular disease
Complex eye trauma affecting the retina
Inherited retinal diseases
Retinopathy of prematurity

AMD is the most common macular disease in Australia, and diabetic eye disease is rising as more people live with diabetes. Regular eye checks help find both before vision is lost.

How do you choose a retinal specialist?

A retinal specialist is an ophthalmologist with advanced training in the medical and surgical care of the retina. Choose one who reads your scans with you, explains whether you need treatment now and plans your long-term care. Looking for a retina specialist? Sydney, NSW and ACT patients can see our retinal team at personalEYES clinics. Questions to ask:

What is my exact diagnosis?
Is treatment urgent?
Is the goal to stabilise, prevent loss or improve vision?
How many treatments might I need?
Which symptoms need an urgent review?

Your surgeons

Specialists you can trust.

All doctors

Dr Adam PlantVitreo-Retinal, Medical Retina & General Surgery

B.Med (Distinction), PhD, RANZCO

Dr Angela JenningsMedical Retina & Cataract Surgery

MBBS(Hons), BSc(Med), FRANZCO

Dr Joshua KirkMedical Retina, Cataract and General Surgery

BBiotech (Hon I), MBBS, MMed, FRANZCO

FAQ

Common questions.

There is no set timeframe, which is why retinal detachment is treated as an emergency. A detachment can spread over hours, days or weeks. Once the macula, the centre of the retina, detaches, the risk of permanent loss of central vision rises. Without treatment, it can lead to blindness in that eye.

A detached retina does not hurt, so you will not feel it in the eye. You notice it in your vision: flashes of light, a burst of new floaters, a shadow or curtain spreading from one side, or blurred vision. These changes can appear over hours or days and need same-day care.

Most retinal detachments are caused by a tear in the retina. As the vitreous gel shrinks with age, it can pull on the retina and tear it, letting fluid seep behind it. Less common causes are scar tissue, often linked to diabetes, and fluid build-up from inflammation or other eye disease.

Yes. A dilated eye exam can show a retinal tear or detachment, sometimes before you notice symptoms. Your optometrist or ophthalmologist uses drops to widen the pupil and checks the outer edges of the retina. If you have new flashes or floaters, ask for a dilated exam the same day.

Yes. Many retinal tears can be sealed with laser before they cause a detachment. The laser makes a ring of tiny scars around the tear that bond the retina in place as they heal. Not every tear needs laser, so your doctor will check its size and position first.

In most cases, no. Laser can seal a tear before the retina detaches, or wall off a small, contained detachment. Once the retina has lifted away, surgery such as vitrectomy, a scleral buckle or pneumatic retinopexy is needed to reattach it and protect your vision.

Most people go home the same day with mild blur and light sensitivity. Your eye may ache for a day or two. Ask your doctor when you can return to exercise and heavy lifting, and attend your follow-up so the seal can be checked. Seek urgent care if flashes, floaters or shadows increase.

No. A detached retina will not reattach on its own. Without surgery, the detachment tends to spread and vision loss becomes permanent. A small number of contained detachments are monitored instead of operated on, but only a retinal surgeon can make that call after a dilated exam.

Sometimes, but not always. Vision may improve after treatment, but sight already lost to retinal damage cannot always be recovered. For many conditions, the main goal is to stop or slow further loss, so early treatment gives you a better chance of keeping your vision.

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