Retinal Detachment Posturing Strategies

I am currently going through face-down posturing following retinal detachment surgery (silicone oil, vitrectomy, capsulectomy). Immediately after the surgery I was told to do 14 days face-down, for 45 minutes per hour. That was fine as I expected it.

However I had another post-op assessment yesterday and my posturing period has been increased to four weeks now. For the final two weeks I can do 30 minutes per hour face down i.e. 50/50.

A month lying face down is a long time and I have concerns about the physical impact, and possibly the mental consequences of effectively being housebound for a month.

So I'm wondering if there are any strategies I can develop to help my mental and physical wellbeing during weeks 3 and 4. I obviously don't want to impede my retinal detachment recovery, but in weeks 3 & 4 could I:

1) Take a one hour break for lunch every day
2) Increase the 50/50 split time blocks e.g. 45 minutes on, 45 minutes off, or one hour on, one hour off?

Around point 2, I guess a key question is how important is frequency of posturing vs 'just adding up the hours'.

Any suggestions or advice appreciated.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

You should discuss this with your doctor.  You usually do not need to be face down this long with silicone oil.

Dr. O.