Risk Factors for Postoperative Retinal Detachment Following Cataract Surgery

Purpose: To determine the relation between patients’ age and degree of myopia on the risk of postoperative retinal detachment following cataract surgery. Setting: University-based cataract referral practice. Patients and methods: This is a retrospective study. The chart of all patients in the practice of 1 surgeon (K.M.M) who had cataract surgery by the Kelman phacoemulsification technique between 1991 and 2010, were reviewed to identify patients (those who had retinal detachment) was associated with 4-control who didn’t detach but had surgery around the same time. Result: Forty-three cases of retinal detachment were identified, the mean age at time of cataract surgery for the RD cases was 57.3 ± 14.7 years (range: 4 to 96 years) and for the control was 69.8 ± 12.9 years (range: 9 to 75 years), p < 0.0001, mean SE refraction error for the RD cases was -4.8 ± 4.7 diopters of myopia and for the control group was -1.6 ± 4.3 diopters of myopia p < 0.0001. Conclusion: The study shows that risk of retinal detachment and the degree of myopia is linear up to 12.00 diopters of myopia then starting to decline, and the risk of retinal detachment is the highest in age group between 50 to 59 years.