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Vitreoretinal Surgery

Retinal detachment

Image of a retinal detachment


Image of a Macular hole

 

Vitreoretinal surgery is required to treat conditions that affect the back of the eye, these include diagnoses such as: Retinal detachment, diabetic retinopathy, macular hole, macular degeneration, epiretinal membranes (macular pucker), severe eye trauma, opacities of the vitreous and complications of cataract surgery, including dislocated cataract fragments and severe infection.

Recent advances in vitreoretinal surgery have brought great benefits in the treatment of conditions that previously would have resulted in blindness.

Approximately 90% of retinal detachment cases can now be corrected with a single operation, and new vitreoretinal techniques offer effective treatment for increasingly common conditions such as macular holes, vitreomacular traction, epiretinal membranes and some forms of macular degeneration.

Vitreoretinal surgery often involves the insertion of special gasses into the eye to tamponade (apply gentle pressure) to the retina, to support a detached retina or help close a macular hole. These gases go away spontaneously after a number of weeks. Patients are sometimes required to posture in certain positions following vitrectomy surgery with gas, however the need for this has reduced with the evolution of improved surgical techniques.

Vitreoretinal surgery (VR) is often performed under local anaesthetic just like cataract surgery (although general anaesthetic is sometimes required). Also stitches are often not needed and recovery is painless and rapid.

 

 

 

 

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