Roller Coasters and Retinal Detachment: Case Series and Review of Acceleration-Deceleration Retinal Injury

Anecdotal reports and limited reports suggest a possible link between activities involving rapid acceleration and retinal detachment. We present two novel such cases and review existing literature to investigate the plausibility of this association and delineate in what populations such an association may be more likely.

We report 2 cases of retinal detachment following roller coaster riding. The first, a 24-year-old woman with a family history of retinal detachment, presented with floaters after consecutive rides and was found to have an inferior temporal macula-sparing retinal detachment with associated retinal breaks. The second case, a 25-year-old female with a history of high myopia, presented with visual field defect and was found to have a macula-on retinal detachment with an accompanying tear at the edge of an area of lattice degeneration. Both were successfully treated with pneumatic retinopexy followed by laser retinopexy.

Rapid acceleration/deceleration forces, such as those experienced on roller coasters, could potentially lead to retinal detachment. Structural predisposition is likely necessary for acceleration/deceleration injury to lead to retinal detachment, with all known cases having risk factors, including high myopia and positive family history. These same forces in eyes without structural predisposition have resulted in hemorrhage, but not detachment.