[Peripheral retinal correspondence after retinal detachment]

Occasionally, patients who underwent surgery for complicated retinal detachment report spatial distortions. This may be due to a translocation of photoreceptors when they become reattached to the pigment epithelium. We wanted to find out if, and to what extent, similar translocations occur after a simple buckling operation.

Binocular retinal correspondence was used as an indicator of photoreceptor translocation. Correspondence was measured in the peripheral visual field at eccentricities of 5, 10 and 20 degrees, using a mirror haploscope. We examined two normal observers, one patient having had surgery for complicated retinal detachment including retinotomy, and 23 patients who had simple radial buckling operations.

The patient who had received complicated detachment surgery including retinotomy revealed a tremendous shift in correspondence. Of the 23 patients who had simple radial buckle operations, only 10 were able to sustain central fixation while being tested in the periphery. Of these 10 patients, 2 showed distortions of peripheral retinal correspondence in the area of previous retinal detachment. However, only one of them remembered some spatial distortion after surgery.

As a rule, photoreceptors become correctly reattached after radial buckle operations for retinal detachment. Rarely, vertical or horizontal translocations of about 1 to 2 degrees occur, but this does not usually lead to metamorphopsia.