Long-term visual recovery after scleral buckling for macula-off retinal detachments

The authors retrospectively investigated the long-term visual recovery in 32 macular reattached eyes that had been monitored for more than 5 years after surgery. The best corrected visual acuities were better at 5 years postoperatively than at 3 months by two lines or more in 17 eyes (53%). In these 17 eyes, visual acuities continued to improve for up to 10 years after surgery. In the other 15 eyes, the visual acuities remained within one line of the 3-month values. Improvement of the long-term postoperative visual acuity was found to be statistically correlated with younger age, no or mild myopia (>-5 diopters), and shorter duration of macular detachment (< or =30 days). Surgeons should be aware that the visual function of reattached retinas may continue to improve over the long term, especially when these beneficial factors are present.