[Long-term visual recovery after scleral buckling of macula-off retinal detachments]

We retrospectively investigated long-term visual recovery in 32 macular reattached eyes which had been followed up for more than five years after surgery. In 17 eyes (53%), the best-corrected visual acuity at 5 years after surgery was > or = 2 lines better than best-corrected visual acuity at 3 months postoperatively. For these 17 eyes, the mean visual acuity continued to improve for up to 10 years after surgery. In the other 15 eyes, visual acuity changes were within 1 line. Improvement of long-term postoperative visual acuity was found to be statistically correlated with younger age, no or mild myopia (< -5D) and shorter duration of macular detachment (< or = 30 days). Surgeons should be aware that the visual function of reattached retinas may recover in the long-term, especially in eyes with these features.