Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of clinical Asymptomatic Retinal Detachment (ARD) in myopic population.

Methods: A retrospective study including all myopic individuals who underwent ophthalmic evaluation prior to excimer laser procedures at the Hadassah Center for Refractive Surgery between March 2002 and March 2006. Medical records were reviewed to extract demographics and refraction, and to identify patients who were diagnosed with asymptomatic retinal detachment.

Results: Data were collected on 6547 myopic individuals (12815 eyes), of them 2907 (44.4%) were males and 3640 (55.6%) were females. Mean age was of 31.5±10 years (range 18 years to 64 years). The mean preoperative spheric equivalence was -4.42±2.07 (range -0.75 to -16.00). The mean best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/20 (range 20/32 to 20/12.5). Five eyes (0.039 % or 1 of approximately 2563 eyes) of four patients had clinical ARD which was diagnosed during the routine preoperative examination. Three eyes underwent successful scleral buckling procedure while two patients were lost to follow up.

Conclusions: Clinical asymptomatic retinal detachment is uncommon, it accounts for minority of retinal detachments in myopes and may be diagnosed during routine ophthalmoscopy prior to refractive procedure.