Interventions in pseudophakic rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

With refinement of vitrectomy techniques over the past 30 years, the treatment of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) has transitioned from the almost exclusive use of extraocular techniques to the present time in which intraocular interventions are available and, in some practices, enjoy almost exclusive use for primary repair of RRD. Except for those situations in which a retinal detachment is associated with obvious immediate complications related to the cataract surgery, the considerations for the treatment of pseudophakic RRD are quite similar to those of phakic RRD. The current options are: use of an extraocular buckling device, vitrectomy-related procedures, intraocular gas injection with associated retinopexy, and combinations of these. Disagreement on the ideal intervention for pseudophakic retinal detachment is not uncommon and particularly so in those RRDs which lie somewhere in the spectrum between complex and simple. As is so often the case in the surgical treatment of disease, there may not be one ideal technique for a particular type of RRD; but knowledge of alternatives logically increases the likelihood of a successful result. The goal of this paper is to outline the clinical factors shown to be of importance in deciding which technique will have the greatest chance at not only achieving retinal re-attachment but also in optimizing long-term vision.