Clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of pediatric rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

The objective of this study was to analyze the characteristics and surgical results of pediatric rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). The medical records of 30 eyes of 29 patients younger than 18 years of age who underwent vitreoretinal surgery due to RRD were analyzed. The gender, age, laterality, duration of presenting symptom, etiology, ocular and systemic co-morbidities, type of breaks, lens status, presence of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and its grade, initial and final best-corrected visual acuities (BCVAs), surgical management, number of operations, duration of follow-up, functional and anatomical success, and complications were noted. As the most common predisposing factors were trauma (trauma group) and myopia (myopia group), the data of these patients were further analyzed. The mean age was 12.6 ± 3.0 years. There were 23 male (79.3 %) and 6 female (20.6 %) subjects. The most common etiologic factors were high myopia (40 %) and trauma (36.6 %). Functional success rate was 70 % (n = 21) after the primary surgeries and was 80 % (n = 24) after the secondary surgeries. There were no significant differences between the trauma and myopia groups regarding the presence of total retinal detachment, macula-off status, and the rate of PVR worse than grade C. Although the preoperative mean BCVA and the initial and final retinal reattachment rates of the groups were statistically similar, trauma group had significantly higher postoperative mean BCVA compared to myopia group (p = 0.013). Myopia and trauma were the most common etiologic factors for RRD in children. The visual outcomes of trauma-associated RRD were better than those of myopia-associated RRD.