[Results of conventional detachment surgery. I. Study planning, patients and vision results]

A consecutive series of patients with retinal detachment were examined. All patients were treated primarily with buckling procedure. Patients with redetachment, bilateral detachment, vitrectomy or history of strabismus or amblyopia were excluded. Of these 155 patients, 117 could be examined. 97% of patients without macula detachment are able to keep or improve their visual acuity. 85% of those patients with macula detachment showed an improvement of visual acuity. The most important prognostic factor for the visual outcome is the duration of macula detachment. In cases of more than four days duration a visual acuity of 20/40 or more could not be expected.