The incidence and awareness of Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in Pakistani population

Retinal detachment (RD) describes the separation of neurosensory retina from the underlying pigment epithelium. There are various methods of treating RD but in many cases, an unusual delay between occurrence of retinal detachment and surgery has been observed. This study was conducted to find the extent of factors involved in delay in surgery. This cross sectional study was carried out at LRBT Eye Hospital, Lahore for 6 months. The non-probability, consecutive sampling technique was used. The demographic information was recorded. The patients were asked for causes of delay in retinal detachment surgery and all factors were measured. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 21. The mean age of patients was 52±9.86 years; the male to female ratio was 1.5:1. About 9.3% patients said that they do not know where to go, 30% patients thought that it was not a severe condition,36.4% patients thought that it would self-heal,17.1% patients didn't go to the doctor due to financial constraints whereas 7.1% patients did not have VR ophthalmologist near their residence. Statistically significant difference was found between the factors and education level of the patients i.e. p-value<0.05. Our study results concluded that people needed to be educated regarding the importance of retinal detachment and surgical procedures and complications associated with it.