Risk factors

Factors associated with a greater incidence of retinal detachment include:

• sex - more common in men than in women
• age - degenerative changes in the vitreous - syneresis - predisposing to posterior vitreous detachment
• family history of retinal detachment
• myopia
  • risk of posterior vitreous detachment is high in these patients
  • also the peripheral retina is thinner which leads to tears or hole formation during posterior vitreous detachment (1,2)
• trauma – important in young patients, may cause premature posterior vitreous detachment (2)
• aphakia - no lens
• cataract - congenital; or following extraction -
  • accelerate vitreous liquefaction and posterior vitreous detachment particularly if there was vitreous loss (1)
  • 1 % of patients develop retinal detachment in the following weeks to years after cataract surgery (2)
• retinal detachment in fellow eye - 25% chance of the second eye being affected
• dehydration, for example, long plane flights
• diabetic retinopathy
• congenital eye diseases (1,2)

Reference:

• (1) Kang HK, Luff AJ. Management of retinal detachment: a guide for non-ophthalmologists. BMJ. 2008;336(7655):1235-40
• (2) Gariano RF, Kim CH. Evaluation and management of suspected retinal detachment. Am Fam Physician. 2004;69(7):1691-8