Retinal Tear

Symptoms

• Sudden onset of floater
• Light flashes in the eyes.
• A persistent curtain-like shadow, partially over your field of vision.
• Loss of vision.
• Sometimes, it may not show any symptoms.

Risk Factors

Risk factors are not required to develop a retinal tear, but they make the likelihood greater. These factors include:

• Advanced age
• Degree of myopia (nearsightedness)
• Associated lattice degeneration (thin patches in the retina)
• Trauma
• Family history of retinal tears or detachment
• Prior eye surgery

There is no way to predict who might develop a retinal tear or when it might occur.

Causes

An eye injury, lattice degeneration, myopia, family history of retinal detachment, or previous eye injury may be the causes behind these sight difficulties.

Treatment

Retinal tears are typically treated with laser or a freezing procedure (cryotherapy). Treatment is performed in an office setting and is very effective and quite safe.