{"id":1992,"date":"2026-10-20T08:55:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laseristanbulclinic.com\/eye-health\/retina-glaucoma\/retinal-detachment-warning-signs-and-urgent-surgery\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T12:59:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T12:59:49","slug":"retinal-detachment-warning-signs-and-urgent-surgery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/laseristanbulclinic.com\/en\/eye-health\/retina-glaucoma\/retinal-detachment-warning-signs-and-urgent-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"What Causes a Detached Retina? Warning Signs and Urgent Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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  4. What Causes a Detached Retina? Warning Signs and Urgent Surgery<\/span><\/li><\/ol><\/div>\t\t\t

    What Causes a Detached Retina? Warning Signs and Urgent Surgery<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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    \"Retina<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    What causes a detached retina is usually the ageing of the clear gel inside the eye, which shrinks, pulls on the retina and tears it, letting fluid slip underneath. Short sight, previous cataract surgery, eye injury and family history raise the risk. New floaters, flashes of light or a dark curtain are warning signs and need same-day care. Retina specialists Do\u00e7. Dr. Muhammet Derda \u00d6zer and Op. Dr. Aysan Bayram treat detachments in Istanbul.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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    Sudden flashes, new floaters or a shadow over your vision? Get seen today.<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

    The NHS, the US National Eye Institute (NEI) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) give the same advice: go to an eye doctor or an emergency department right away. In the UK, call NHS 111. Do not wait for a routine appointment, and do not wait to travel anywhere for treatment. If you are already in Istanbul, message us and we will arrange an urgent examination with a retina surgeon: {{urgent appointment availability and how to reach the coordinator}}<\/span>.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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    What causes a detached retina?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t

    A retinal detachment happens when the retina, the thin light-sensing layer lining the back of the eye, is pulled or pushed away from the tissue that feeds it.<\/strong> A detached retina stops working, so the vision it supplies fades. Doctors recognise three types, and each has a different cause:<\/p>\n\t\t\t

    Type<\/th>What causes it<\/th>Typical situation<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    Rhegmatogenous<\/strong> (the most common type)<\/th>A tear or hole in the retina lets fluid from the eye’s gel seep underneath and lift it off, like a bubble forming under wallpaper<\/td>Ageing of the vitreous gel, short sight, previous eye surgery, injury<\/td><\/tr>
    Tractional<\/strong><\/th>Scar tissue on the retina’s surface pulls the retina away from the back of the eye<\/td>Mostly advanced diabetic eye disease; also retinal vein occlusion and sickle cell retinopathy<\/td><\/tr>
    Exudative<\/strong><\/th>Fluid collects under the retina without any tear, because blood vessels or the layer beneath leak<\/td>Inflammation, infection, tumours and some vascular conditions; usually treated by treating the cause<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t
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    What is the most common cause of retinal detachment?<\/h3>

    The most common cause is posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) leading to a retinal tear.<\/strong> The vitreous is the clear gel that fills the eye. With age it liquefies and shrinks, and eventually peels away from the retina. This is normal and usually harmless: according to EyeWiki, the AAO’s clinical encyclopedia, PVD affects most eyes by the eighth decade of life, typically starting in the sixth or seventh decade, and earlier in short-sighted eyes or after cataract surgery. The NHS notes that it is not clear exactly why PVD leads to detachment in some people and not others.<\/p>\n

    When the gel peels away smoothly, nothing more happens. When it sticks to the retina and tugs hard enough, it makes a tear. A 2025 review in Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift<\/em> explains that a rhegmatogenous detachment needs three ingredients together: traction on the retina, a full-thickness break in it and liquefied vitreous that can flow through the break.<\/p>\n

    How often does a tear form?<\/strong> EyeWiki reports that people who have symptoms during a PVD have about a 15% risk of a retinal tear, and the 2025 review found that 14.3% of people attending with flashes or floaters had a tear or a detachment. When the PVD also causes bleeding into the gel, the chance of a tear is much higher: EyeWiki quotes 50\u201370%, against 15% without bleeding. How often does a tear become a detachment?<\/strong> EyeWiki states that 33\u201355% of symptomatic horseshoe-shaped tears with continuing traction progress to detachment, and that sealing the tear promptly with laser or freezing lowers that to under 5%. That is why a tear found early is a very different problem from a detachment found late.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

    Who is most at risk of a detached retina?<\/h3>

    The NHS, NEI and AAO list the same main risk factors. The figures below come from a 2025 review (Xiong et al.) unless stated.<\/p>

    Risk factor<\/th>What the evidence says<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    Short sight (myopia)<\/strong><\/th>About a tenfold higher incidence in people with more than 3 dioptres of myopia; up to 50% of detachments in eyes with their natural lens occur in short-sighted people. Severe (degenerative) myopia is a listed NEI risk factor.<\/td><\/tr>
    Cataract surgery<\/strong><\/th>A risk of about 0.5\u20130.6% after cataract surgery, roughly ten times the general population, or about 1 in 500 operations in people over 40. Up to 44% of people presenting with a detachment have had cataract surgery. A tear in the lens capsule during surgery raises the risk further.<\/td><\/tr>
    Eye injury<\/strong><\/th>A serious blow or penetrating injury can tear the retina. NEI recommends safety goggles for risky activities and sport.<\/td><\/tr>
    Family history or a detachment in the other eye<\/strong><\/th>The NHS and AAO list both. The review reports up to a 10% risk of a detachment in the fellow eye. Inherited conditions such as Stickler and Marfan syndromes also raise the risk.<\/td><\/tr>
    Weak areas of retina<\/strong><\/th>Lattice degeneration (thin, weak patches) and retinoschisis are NEI risk factors; EyeWiki calls lattice degeneration the most important risk factor for rhegmatogenous detachment.<\/td><\/tr>
    Age and sex<\/strong><\/th>The peak is at 60\u201370 years, with a smaller peak at 20\u201330 years in highly short-sighted people. Men have about twice the risk of women.<\/td><\/tr>
    Diabetic retinopathy<\/strong><\/th>Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is the most common cause of tractional detachment.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>

    How common is it?<\/strong> A 2024 systematic review of 33 studies from 21 countries, summarised in the 2025 review, put the incidence of rhegmatogenous detachment at 12.17 per 100,000 people a year worldwide and 14.52 per 100,000 in Europe, and found it rising over time. EyeWiki gives a rough figure of 1 in 10,000 people. It is uncommon, but it can be treated if it is caught in time.<\/p>

    Eye floaters: when to worry and when vitrectomy helps <\/svg><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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    What are the warning signs of a detached retina?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t

    The warning signs and symptoms of a detached retina are a sudden shower of new floaters, flashes of light, and a dark shadow or grey curtain across part of your vision.<\/strong> The NHS, NEI and AAO describe the same signs:<\/p>\n\t\t\t